Mensah Thompson of ASEPA writes….

1. We have taken our time to carefully read and analyze CDD’s Afrobarometer report and the response from the Ghana Police Service and on this ocassion we are tempted to side with the Ghana Police Service against the Afrobarometer report.

2.  

   

   It is important for every discussant who may attempt to elaborate the Afrobarometer report to draw the distinction between Corruption Perception and Actual Corruption.

3. The qualitative measurement of Corruption Perception among Citizens should largely NOT be misconstrued for Actual Occurrence or Indulgence of corruption as that may result in a dangerous simplification which may not auger well for the fight against Corruption.

4. The Afrobarometer report largely measures the qualitative perception of corruption, Perceptions are largely drawn from what people see and experience and on that basis it is easy for respondents based on what they see and experience on our roads on a daily basis to score the Ghana Police Service as the most corrupt institution.(that’s understandable)

5. In terms of Actual Incidence and Quantum of indulgence itself, Ghana Police may be least among the top 10 most corrupt institutions in Ghana.

6. It is therefore extremely simplistic to leave Institutions like the Presidency which supervises leakages that costs the poor tax payer millions of cedis every year to cite the Ghana Police Service as the most corrupt institution because of the 5cedis or 10cedis they collect on our roads.
   Again if a Police officer indulges in corruption, it affects the person he extorts only or few people but if the Presidency engages in corruption it affects the entire nation and even beyond.

7. Don’t get it wrong, we are by no means endorsing the unacceptable extortions on our roads by the Ghana Police Service, far from that, we are just emphasizing the point that the best way to measure Corruption to arrive at any meaningful assessment of who is the most corrupt entity is to use the quantum of the act itself and the degree of impact on the larger population and on that basis the Ghana Police Service cannot be the most Corrupt institution in Ghana now.

8. However this should be wake-up call to the Ghana Police Service, that sometimes perception in itself is everything, that they may NOT be the most corrupt institution but because of their overt extortions on our roads their image keeps dwindling and it may be time for some concerted effort to address this image nosedive.

9. The IGP, Dr.Dampare, has been very proactive with the image reformation but a lot more work needs to be done and the reforms needs to institutionalized to effect the needed change in their image among the larger population.

10. Until then Ghanaian would continue to hold on to their narrowed perception that the Ghana Police Service is the most corrupt institution in Ghana when in actual sense the Presidency is the most corrupt institution in Ghana as we speak!
    And that is the sad reality.

Mensah Thompson
Executive Director, ASEPA
0542120628