“Something for the boys?” is an unwanted question that far too many have been asked. One third of Ghanaians have reported paying a bribe in the last year. For drivers in general, it is common to face fees at check points and other stops.
A study conducted by the Institute of Economic Affairs has revealed that the Ghana Police Force continues to be the most corrupt institution in Ghana. The study found out that the total bribes faced by truckers equated to a range of 14 and 82 pesewas per kilometer.
While the populace condones the corruption, and high percentages of the population want penalties of position revocation or imprisonment in place for it, petty corruption is something people face on a daily basis.
The study conducted by researchers at two American universities, Kweku A. Opoku-Agyemang of University of California, Berkeley and Jeremy D. Foltz of University of Wisconsin-Madison, examined the effects of petty corruption on truck drivers in Ghana.
Bribes are often requested to supplement low or inadequate income, which can often be the salary of low level government agents. Basic economic theory suggests that increasing wages would lessen bribe occurrence as there is lessened need for income supplements.
Using this strategy, several countries have had success in decreasing corruption by increasing government agent salaries. However, when this strategy was implemented in Ghana there were very different results. When Ghana put in place the Single Spine Salary Structure, which doubled the salary of police officers, there was actually an increase in the occurrence of bribes and their price.
The result after increasing salaries was that the incidence of bribes increased by 19% and their price increased by approximately 27%. The study found that neighboring Burkina Faso, whose police did not receive salary increase, did not have not experience a change in their levels of police petty corruption, and were eventually surpassed by Ghana’s level.
The study’s researchers suggest that the rise in bribery may be due to officers having a heightened sense of power and self-worth after the increased salaries. Another suggestion was that with an increased salary, family members may ask for more money as a result. This would still put a financial burden on officers and not eliminate the incentive to collect bribes as supplemental income.
The rampant corruption has greatly altered the public’s perception towards the police. A study conducted by Afrobarometer found approximately 90% of the populace view the police as corrupt and that 50% of respondents perceived an increase in the level of corruption.
This negative perception has been noted by President Akufo-Addo who stated earlier in the year that “Citizens can only have confidence in the Police Service when our men and women in uniform are seen to be honest and would enforce the law without fear or favour.”
The deeply engrained normality of bribes makes eliminating this practice extremely difficult. A corrupt police system is costly and its solution requires a comprehensive solution, as the mostly commonly used solution not only failed to work but led to an increase in petty corruption.
By: Andrew David (Intern, Wisconsin University, USA)
