OUTSIDE ASSESSMENTS:MEASURING CORRUPTION INCIDENCE IN GHANA.

INWENT ALUMINI EXPERIENCE WITH GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT – USING INDICATORS TO INCREASE POLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITY, INFORM POLICY PROCESS AND POLITICAL DEBATE

GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT WORKSHOP,

SAFARI COURT HOTEL, WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA

2-5 NOVEMBER, 2009

UNDP, INWENT & NID

JOHN YAW AMANKRAH

LABOUR STATISTICIAN AND DEVELOPMENT PRACTITIONER, GHANA

amankrahj@yahoo.co.uk.

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OUTLINE

1)INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND2)METHODOLOGY3)MAIN FINDINGS4)LESSONS LEARNED, CONCLUSIONS

AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

Presentation provides findings of a study on corruption incidence in Ghana, conducted in 2008 for the former Office of Accountability, of former President Kufuor’s government following a course in Applied Statistics in Governance and Human Rights from the InWent Institute at Bonn, Germany in 2007.

Using insights gained from the 2007 InWent training in governance assessment and recognising the methodological challenges in measuring perception of corruption, this study was essentially an attempt to assess the level of knowledge, magnitude and involvement of corruption at the household and enterprise levels in Ghana.

It was the first time such a comprehensive study on corruption has been undertaken in Ghana since Ghana joined other countries to introduce various initiatives to address the corruption challenge in Ghana which is one of the key commitments adopted by the AU, NEPAD, APRM.

The objective of the study was to provide baseline indicators on corruption in Ghana : following increased political focus given to addressing corruption to inform The Office of The President in tackling the issue of corruption in Ghana to monitor progress of poverty reduction and government ‘s accountability and probity

agenda.

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2.0 METHODOLOGY- Scope and Coverage

The study was done at two levels at both the household and enterprise levels and across sectors nationwide:-.

1) Household probability sample survey of Ghanaian households who have knowledge and experience of corruption through their dealings with officials in both public and private sectors.

2) Establishment-based survey of a random sample of officials in the public and private sector institutions as well as media houses in urban centres who interact mostly with people from both the public and private sectors in their working life. These officials include top management as well as middle and low-level officials working in Ministries, Departments and Agencies who are administrators, secretaries, accountants, auditors and procurement officers. 

The time frame considered for the study was a period of 12 months preceding the study in 2008. The study was done in 103 sampled communities across all the ten regions of Ghana while a sample of 230 establishments was also canvassed for the study.

Data was collected from a total of 2,502 household’s respondents and 193 officials working in 85 establishments in both public and private sector as well as media houses in the country were can.

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METHODOLOGY (CONTD.)-Sample Design The sample used in the study was a household-based

probability two–stage stratified sample covering the entire four ecological zones of the country.

A two-stage sample design was adopted.The first stage of sampling involved constructing a frame for the selection of communities with a population of not less than 200 people which were stratified across the entire country. In all, a total of 103 communities were selected proportional to the total population in each region using systematic probability proportional to size selection.

For the second stage, a listing exercise was undertaken in all the 103 selected communities to enable two adult members in each of the selected 1545 households to be selected for the study.

In addition, 131 establishments and 39 media houses located in the urban centres in Ghana were randomly selected using the systematic sampling method. In each of the establishments two officials in the following five categories of positions were targeted for the study: (1) top management, (2) accountant, (3) auditor, (4) procurement and (5) Others comprising clerks, drivers, messengers, typists and secretaries.

Note: Ghana was ranked 69 by Transparency International ‘s 2007 Corruption Perception Index (CPI 2007)on a list of 180 countries with a score of 3.7 out of maximum score of 10.

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METHODOLOGY(CONTD.)-Survey Instruments

Two types of instruments were used to collect information using a direct interview technique supplemented by the use of key informants’ survey to check for validity, consistency and reliability. These instruments were household and enterprise questionnaires.

The questionnaires were designed to provide ordinal scores for corruption and also to provide cardinal scores of corruption. Ordinal scores were used to measure the level of perception at both the household and enterprise levels. Cardinal scores were used to measure both the direction, magnitude of participation and involvement of corruption as well as knowledge of corruption at both the household and enterprise levels.

The study also used a variety of statistical tools and analysis to measure

(1) the direction and magnitude of participation and involvement of the respondents in corruption, and

(2) and knowledge of corruption. Survey data on these variables were analysed from 2,502 household’s

respondents across the ten regions and the four ecological zones of Ghana: coastal, forest, middle belt and savannah.

At the workplace level, the study also analysed survey data from 193 officials working in 85 establishments in both public and private sector as well as media houses in the country.

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3.0 MAIN FINDINGS Level of perception of corruption About one out of every two of Ghanaian households respondents

(52%) as against about one out of every three respondents in workplaces (31.1%) think that the level of corruption is high i.e. over 70 percent.

24.2% of the youth aged 18-35 think that the level of corruption in Ghana is high i.e above 70%

More men (26.3%) than women (25.7%) think that the level of corruption is high.

There is a strong inverse relationship between how people in

households think about the level of corruption and the level of education. The lower the level of education the higher the level of corruption is thought to be.

About four out of every five respondents who rate the level of corruption to be high have not been educated beyond the secondary school level.

Corruption is rated to be high by more people in the private sector than those in the public sector while more people in the public sector than those in the private sector think that the level of corruption is low.

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MIAN FINDINGS (CONT’D) Participation and involvement in corruption About one out of every four household member (23.6%) was bribed

by a Politician, a Private individual, Public Servant, Civil Servant and Others during the past twelve months while a similarly proportion (23.9%) bribed or attempted to bribe a Politician, a Private individual, a Public Servant, and a Civil servant during the same period.

Public Servants who are known to demand bribe most are The Police, Customs, Internal Revenue Service, The VAT Service, Accountant-General, Immigration and Pensions Officials and other Public Servants involved in national sports issues, especially in selecting national teams.

About one out of every two respondents knows that officials from Education and Health demand bribe. Staffs from second cycle educational institutions also demand bribe and are also bribed more

The proportion of accountants who are bribed by officers is about five times higher than that of auditors. Auditors are the least bribed Officials among Civil and Public servants.

The region with the highest participation and involvement of corruption was Greater Accra (28.3%) while Western Region had the least participation and involvement in corruption(1.2%)

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MAIN FINDINGS (CONTD.)Knowledge of corruption 27.2% of household respondents know an official who bribed someone,

31.2% know an official who was bribed by someone while 28.7% know an official who demanded bribe from someone

95.4% of household respondents know that officials from The Police Service demanded bribe from someone while 39.9% know that Civil Servants were bribed by someone.

72.4% of household respondents know that Judges/Magistrates and other Officials from The Judicial Service were bribed by someone

39.2% of household respondents know that Officials involved in education delivery including officials in tertiary educational institutions who demanded bribe from someone while 35.6% know that Officials involved in health delivery who demanded bribe from someone.

15.6% of workplace officials know Directors who bribed or attempted to bribe.

13.4% of Officials know officials in workplaces connected with land matters who bribed or attempted to bribe someone.

22.6% of typists, clerks, secretaries know the types of people who bribe officials in workplaces. 25.8% of officials in public institutions with 15.6% of them being in top management know private individuals who bribed or attempted to bribe officials in workplaces

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MAIN FINDINGS(CONTD.)Evidence for knowledge of corrupt practices 44.9% of evidence available by household respondents

on knowledge of officials who were bribed by someone can be substantiated while 35.2% of evidence were media evidence.

39% of evidence available by household respondents and 46.9% of evidence available at the workplace on knowledge of officials who demanded bribe from someone cannot be substantiated.

18.4% of evidence available at the workplace on knowledge of officials who were bribed by someone were based on media evidence

Substantive evidence constitutes 74.1% of evidence on officials who demanded bribe while 47% of evidence available on officials who bribe as well as officers who were bribed can be substantiated. About 2 out of every 5 persons who have knowledge about corrupt officials have substantive evidence to prove it.

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4.0 LESSONS LEARNED,CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS From the evidence outlined in this study it is clear that Ghana faces a

formidable task in addressing the corruption challenge in Ghana. Some key themes emerge from the study which are of fundamental importance in addressing the corruption challenge in Ghana. Many aspects of this challenge will require new policy options.

Firstly, the issue of corruption is not well-understood by the general population and that corruption needs to be properly defined. It became evident from study that most Ghanaians who perceived public officials to be corrupt based their perception on acquisition of material wealth. Though this may have some relationship with corruption, this relationship is weak unless it is further related to sources of income.

 Secondly, it became evident from the study that household respondents and officials working in media houses willingly want to talk about corruption than officials in working in public establishments. However, at the workplace level junior officers such as drivers, cleaners, messengers, secretaries were willing to talk more about corruption than senior officials.

 Thirdly, bribery and corruption is high among officials in education and health delivery and this has grave implications in addressing poverty and also achieving our MDGs.

 

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LESSONS LEARNED (CONTD) The study also found out that Political Party Faithfuls and Political

Party Foot Soldiers are not likely to be trusted and that about one out of every five of these types of officials are most likely to be bribed.

  The study found out that the high level of corruption was mostly

media allegations which cannot be substantiated. These media allegations should be investigated officially. When the media allegations are not investigated officially, it continues to keep the level of corruption to be high.

  One other key finding from the study is that there is indeed some

substantive evidence available in the public domain and that it is recommended that action should be taken by the Government to follow up on the evidence available in the public domain that can be substantiated. As the study shows it is comforting to note that Auditors are the types of officials who are least prone to corrupt practices and therefore the most likely officials to be trusted upon in addressing the corruption challenge.

 

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LESSONS LEARNED (CONTD) One of the key major methodological challenges that faced the

Ghanaian experience in measuring corruption was non-response which was very high in workplaces than at the household levels. This necessitated a lot of call backs and follow-up actions to be taken with its implications on time and cost. Thus measuring corruption in Ghana is indeed a formidable task for Ghanaian development practitioners.

  Again, the other major methodological challenge in the Ghanaian

experience of measuring corruption is that people’s perception of corruption seemed to be politically motivated and that people don’t want to talk about it with its implications on the error margin in measuring corruption.

  Finally, there are various aspects of corruption in Ghana beyond

the scope of this present study and that building capacity for Govt and non-Govt stakeholders to conduct Governance Assessments should be intensified to monitor national development plans.

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[STATISTICAL SERVICE]

Thank You

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

End of presentation 1