18.4% of Ghanaians Admit to Offering Bribes, Police Ranked Atop List of Corrupt Institutions

• A recent report from the Ghana Statistical Service noted that 18% of Ghanaians admitted to offering a bribe
• The top public institutions perceived as prone to bribery were the Police Motor Transport and Traffic Division
• The highest bribery incidences in the country were recorded in the Greater Accra Region and the Ashanti Region

A report from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has indicated that 18.4% of Ghanaians admitted to giving a bribe in 2024.

The report also noted that men were more likely to engage in bribery than women when engaging with public officials.

Presenting findings from the Governance Series Wave 1 Report, Omar Seidu, Head of Social Statistics at GSS, indicated that 55.7 per cent of the population had contact with public officials between January and December 2024.

GNA reported that the top public institutions perceived as prone to bribery were the Police Motor Transport and Traffic Division (MTTD) at 61.0%, Police General Duties at 46.7%, the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at 37.9% and the Traffic Management Authority/City Guard at 34.4%.

For locations, the highest bribery incidences were recorded in Greater Accra at 22.0% and Ashanti at 18.1%, while the lowest were in Savannah at 1% and North East at 1.1%.

Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, welcomed the report as timely, stating that corruption remained a major impediment to Ghana’s development.

Ghana statistics: concerns about police professionalism

According to an Afrobarometer Survey in 2024, only 23% of Ghanaians felt the police always operated professionally. Additionally, only 17% of believed police officers never partook in crimes.

Similarly, only 17% of Ghanaians said the police never used excessive force, while only 26% of citizens felt that the state had done enough to reduce crime.

Only 28% of Ghanaians said they trusted the police. In the most recent survey, released on February 14, Afrobarometer noted that 63% of Ghanaians said 'most' or 'all' police officials were corrupt.

During his victorious campaign to be president, President John Mahama pledged to crack down on corruption in a final campaign plea to voters ahead of the December 7 polls.

"I will fight corruption to restore integrity and fairness, which are two critical ingredients missing from the governance of Akufo-Addo and Bawumia,” he said at the time.

Ghana drops again on Corruption Perception Index

YEN.com.gh also previously reported that Ghana's score dropped on the Global Corruption Perception Index from 2024.

It ranked 80th out of 180 countries and territories assessed in the latest report released by Transparency International.

The Ghana Integrity Initiative said the lower score signalled a setback in the country’s anti-corruption efforts thus far.

Since 2015, Ghana has experienced a gradual decline in its score on the index, dropping five points in the past decade.

Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.

Source: YEN.com.gh