Oti Region has emerged as the region with the highest direct bribery request cases involving public officials in the country.
According to data from the United Nations, the region recorded 98% of such cases.
The Western North region on the other hand recorded the lowest cases, amounting to 24.8%.
Although the report said there is a substantial regional variation in the modality of how bribery is initiated, it also noted that when focused on direct requests by public officials in each of the 16 regions of Ghana, the data show that the share varies from as little as 24.8 per cent to as much as 91.8 percent.
“In other words, 9 out of 10 bribes in Oti are directly requested by a public official, while that is the case of just 2 out of 10 bribes in the Western North region. Such a large share of bribes being directly requested by public officials may suggest that acts of bribery do not come to the attention of the relevant authorities or that when they do, they are not investigated or there is no follow-up,” the report added.
According to the survey, about two thirds of bribes are paid before a service is rendered.
“Such a large share of bribes being paid in advance of a service is an indication that the payment of bribes to public officials is often expected in Ghana. It also further underlines the bargaining power of public officials, whose position of relative power enables them to solicit a payment in exchange for the promise of providing a public service that should have been rendered upon request and, on occasion, even free of charge,” the report added.