More than half of Ghanaians afraid to report corruption cases – Afrobarometer report reveals

More than half of Ghanaians are afraid to report corrupt cases to the respective anti-graft agencies for action, a new Afrobarometer survey has revealed, ABC News can report.

According to the report, six in 10 Ghanaians (61%) believe they risk retaliation or other negative consequences
if they report incidents of corruption.

Out of a total of 2,400 respondents sampled, only one-third (34%) said they can report corruption without fear of retaliation.

This revelation, denounces the effectiveness of the Whistleblowers Act passed in 2006, which seeks to offer protection to concerned citizens wanting to speak out about the corrupt practices of others in the public interest.

Meanwhile, the Afrobarometer survey found that more than half of Ghanaians say the level of corruption in the country has increased and the government is doing a poor job in fighting it.

The report, released by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), revealed that the government’s anti-corruption efforts have declined sharply since 2017 after more than doubling three years ago.

Also, Ghana ranked 78^th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018.

“More than half (53%) of Ghanaians say corruption in the country has worsened “somewhat” or “a lot” during the year preceding the survey, a 17-percentage-point increase compared to 2017. This follows a huge (47-percentage-point) improvement between 2014 and 2017”, the report noted.

The study also found that among key public officials in Ghana, the police, judges and magistrates, Members of
Parliament, civil servants, and tax officials are most widely perceived as corrupt.

“The police are the institution that the largest number of citizens report bribing to access services. Among those who had contact with key public services during the previous year, four in 10 say they paid a bribe to avoid problems with the police (42%) or to obtain police assistance (39%),” it found.

The survey showed that the Army, religious leaders, and the presidency were seen as the most trusted public institutions while opposition political parties, local government officials and tax officials are least trusted.

Read the latest Afrobarometer report below:

Source: ABCNewsgh.com