Latest Afrobarometer Survey Finds Police Most Corrupt Ghanaian Institution: Ghanaians Have Zero Confidence in Public Institutions And Officials

Nothing surprising there but the latest Afrobarometer report published has as much as 89% of Ghanaians viewing the police service as the most corrupt public institution.

The report was conducted between May and June this year, sampling the views of 2,400 Ghanaians across all ten regions.

In the report published on citifmonline.com, the overwhelming feeling is that Ghanaians have little to no trust in public officials and institutions. Aside the police, almost all other public sector officials fared poorly except the military; which somehow retained the overwhelming trust of the public.

The institutions identified as having little trust from the populace included the tax department, local government, police, parliament, ruling party, the electoral commission, president, courts of law, and the opposition.

Aside believing the police to be the most corrupt, 71% of respondents also felt the government has done little themselves in tackling the canker of corruption.

The only other institutions that the public trusts most, aside the military are religious and traditional establishments.

There is nothing remotely surprising about the results of this survey, and I’m pretty sure another one conducted even now would yield very similar results. Somehow I felt ECG deserved a special mention, but the survey was quiet on that.

The police have long been perceived as corrupt, and this is due to the actions they exhibit in the course of carrying out their duties. The top brass have tried various means to distance themselves from that, but actions speak louder than words and Ghanaians experience these things on a daily basis.

Government and other public institutions also deserve the rap they’re getting, though how religious leaders retain the trust of the respondents beats me. Maybe things would change when the latest shenanigans of Obinim and the likes are factored into the latest report.

The Afrobarometer report is a periodic survey carried out to gauge the response of Ghanaians on several issues and is conducted by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD).