Ghanaians paid GH¢5 billion as bribes to public officials to facilitate services – UNODC report

In 2021, a total amount of GH¢5 billion was paid to public officials, by Ghanaian citizens, in order for them to facilitate the processing of various services, a report by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has said.

According to the report, these monies were paid for services in the areas of health, education, transportation, security, and justice delivery in the year in review.

The report concluded that these monies formed one-third of the budget of the Ministry of Education.

"To put the numbers into perspective, this corresponds to almost one-third, 32.9 percent, of the 2021 budget of the Ministry of Education," the report said on page 139.

The preface of the UNODC report was signed by the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kwabena Annim, and the Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Richard A. Quayson, in which it also cited 17 million instances of bribery incidents.

The report added that officials of the Ghana Police Service formed the highest percentage of people who took bribes, with the smallest amount of bribes at an average of GH¢220, GH¢174, and GH¢91 respectively, whereas Lands Commission staff took bribes of GH¢1,669.

It added that prosecutors, judges, or magistrates took bribes in the region of GH¢1,208, while Ghana Immigration Service officers took monies in the region of GH¢850.

"It is notable that the largest average bribes are paid to public officials with whom most citizens have little contact in their daily. lives. This may suggest that large bribes, although relatively rate, are generally paid to influence important decisions by public officials, which can have substantial economic or personal consequences; for example, by influencing land-related decisions, immigration matters, or prosecutors and judges," it also stated.

See the full document below:



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