An alarming corruption report from 2022 has brought attention to the pervasive issue of bribery within Ghana’s public sector.
The findings reveal that police officers have shown the highest vulnerability to bribery among all public officials, with an alarming prevalence rate of 53.2 percent.
Conducted collaboratively by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the survey provides a troubling glimpse into the scope of corruption.
Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) Officers and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) customs officers also stand out with significant bribery rates of 37.4 percent and 33.6 percent, respectively.
Interestingly, elected government representatives exhibit notably lower involvement in bribery, registering a mere 2.9 percent.
Different forms of bribes are given to public officials. A striking 84.8 percent of bribes in Ghana are in the form of cash. While the exchange of a public service for another service and offering food and drink are less common, rural areas (17.8 percent) show a higher tendency to use food and drink bribes compared to urban areas (10.1 percent).
The cumulative value of cash bribes in Ghana nearly amounts to a third of the Ministry of Education’s 2021 budget.
Urban cash bribes are 1.5 times larger than rural ones, with the national average bribe standing at 348 Ghanaian cedi. Considering approximately 17.4 million bribes were paid in Ghana in 2021, the annual sum for cash bribes to public officials is around 5 billion Ghanaian cedi, equivalent to 32.9 percent of the Ministry of Education’s 2021 budget.