‘Presidency Police Most Corrupt’

President John Mahama
The latest Afrobarometer survey results reveal that Ghanaians trust the military more than any other public institution, including the presidency, parliament and judiciary.

The respondents are also of the opinion that the police, followed by government officials, are notoriously known to be corrupt.

The survey result points out that 89% of the respondents said the Police Service is the most corrupt institution, while government officials came second with 86%.

Mahama Trust Declines
Many Ghanaians trust opposition political parties more than they trust President John Dramani Mahama.

Whereas 45 per cent of Ghanaians say they trust opposition political parties, only 40 per cent said they trust President Mahama.

In fact, the president's trust rating has dropped significantly since he was elected in 2012 by as much as 16 per cent.

The president's party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), is also one of the least trusted institutions in the country. Only 36% trust the governing NDC.

The trust in the military, which may be as a result of rising perceived corruption among the political class, is sending shivers down the spines of a section of the public, especially politicians.

The 6 th Round Afrobarometer Survey administered by public think-tank group, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and released yesterday said that 'The only public institution that enjoys substantial level of trust is the military. More than half of Ghanaians (56%) say they trust the military somewhat or a lot.'

Two Members of Parliament (MPs) who could not hide their fright about the fact that the public appeared to be reposing trust in the military, especially in the fight against corruption, called on the three arms of government which are the forefront of deepening the country's democracy, to take steps to restore public confidence in public institutions without delay.

The first lawmaker to express worry was Yaw Owusu Boateng, NPP MP for Asene/Akroso/Manso, who said 'it is a dangerous perception on the part of the public.'

According to him, 'Some of us have fought hard to bring the democracy that we are enjoying today. We have to work harder in order to erode public perception that public institutions cannot be trusted.'

When he took his turn, Alfred Agbesi, NDC MP for Ashiaman who said he was representing the Majority Leader, said: 'I am afraid and so much afraid! If we do not have confidence in the public institutions then where are we going?'

He continued, 'Today, I am seriously surprised because in 1972 when the military took over, they told us that the few amenities they were enjoying under the civilian administration were taken away from them so they came to save us. It was not long in 1977/78 and within the military itself, we realised that all were not well.'

He wondered, 'If in 1992, we managed to bring the civilian institutions back and today our own people are saying that public institutions are not good, are we hereby inviting the military to come back?'

This year's survey questions, designed jointly by    Afrobarometer and anti-corruption body, Transparency International, used a sample size of 2,400 respondents from 177 districts and 291 towns in Ghana.

Police
The survey dubbed, “Trust and Corruption in Public Institutions: Ghanaian Opinions”, specifically tackled public trust and corruption and respondents placed the military high on the perception of trust while public officials were rated low in corrupt perception.

The Ghana Police Service was once again tagged by respondents as the most corrupt but this time the rate of perception dropped marginally according to Daniel Armah Attoh, Coordinator of Afrobarometer Survey for Anglophone West Africa.

Apart from the police, the survey, which was conducted between May and June 2014, also rated public institutions, including the Ghana Revenue Authority, government officials, Electoral Commission, Members of Parliament among others, low in the perceptions of trust and corruption.

“Fifty-four per cent responded that they had little or no trust in information from government sources,” the report said, adding that “seven of 10 citizens (71%) of Ghanaians believe government has performed 'very badly' or 'fairly badly' in fighting corruption.

Seventy-five per cent of Ghanaians said corruption is on the ascendency while a lot of them (81%) also saw the Electoral Commission as corrupt and added that the government had been very weak in fighting the social canker.

The survey indicated that majority of Ghanaians said they trusted religious leaders (63%) and traditional leaders (50%) 'somewhat' or 'a lot.'

 By William Yaw Owusu