Joyce Bawah Mogtari, an aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, has explained what may have contributed to the Ghana Police Service’s perception of corruption.
She stated that because the police are one of the first institutions involved in human interactions, the perception of them being corrupt will grow.
She made these remarks on Thursday, July 21, during a discussion about the perception of corruption within the police force on the New Day show with Berla Mundi.
The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) ranked institutions that accept bribes in their 2021 report.
- Let’s demand that the government handle the economy more effectively – Mogtari
- The issue of Adwoa Safo is solely political; the NPP wants to protect the majority of one – Bawah Mogtari.
The Ghana Police Service, the findings also noted, continues to be the foremost public institution perceived most corrupt.
The Programmes Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, also observed that hospitals and health centers, in general, have become places where bribes exchange hands in Ghana.
She said though the Ghana Police Service ranks high among institutions perceived most corrupt, the health sector is also becoming known for the canker.
Ms Addah made this known in an interview on TV3‘s News 360 on Wednesday, July 20.
“You realised that [with] health institutions, citizens said they engaged with health institutions even more and they pay more bribes there,” she pointed out to host Paa Kwesi Asare.
“So, it is not like they are saying that because citizens encounter the police on our roads, it is there they pay bribes.
“They encounter nurses, they encounter doctors, they encounter teachers, they encounter utility service providers, they encounter tax agents, they encounter people at the lands department and some of these bribes, if you quantify are even more than what the police [take] but yet still the police came up tops.”
A 2021 report by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Ghana Statistical Service and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranks institutions that receive bribes.#3NewsGH pic.twitter.com/rhvHvCzugq
— #3NewsGH (@3NewsGH) July 20, 2022
Reacting to this, Joyce Bawah Mogtari who is also a private legal practitioner said “With the Police for example, I recall that years ago when similar conversations were taking place, the impression was that it is because they are also you first port of call in terms of citizens’ engagement. You are either coming into contact with the Policeman or you are in contact with a doctor or nurse because these are the most common social encounter areas where citizens will come across persons within a certain formal bracket.
“That may also contribute largely to this endemic perception about perceived corruption especially within the Police service.”
She added “But funny enough, when I saw this report, I had another conversation with an officer in another branch of the security service and her point is that it is even worse in the Military, it is also prevalent in the Navy.”
