The Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, has discredited a recent survey by some institutions mentioning the Ghana Police Service as the most corrupt institution. He described the findings as heavily challenged and corrupted.
In a press release on Wednesday, he questioned the institutions: Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the Commission for Human Rights & Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for their selective approach in picking on the police and leaving out other essential service providers.
“It has been observed that the research did not cover some public institutions like the Ghana Ports and Habour Authority, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Audit Service, Parliamentary Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Gaming Commission, Public Media Houses, National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), the Attorney General’s (AG) Department, Registrar General’s Department.”
While admitting to some personnel who may be involved, Dr. Dampare stated that, overtime, the Service continues to put in place mechanisms to check corruption-related practices. He further argued that the research institutions should have sought their opinion on what the service was doing to check corruption and included the same in their findings.
He also pointed out that the research outfits were inconsistent with their choice of institutions, selecting a combined entity for some institutions and selecting a section for other institutions.
Dr. Dampare also observed a lack of adequate quality assurance in the report, adding that attempts should have been made by the research bodies to verify and authenticate the responses of the interviewees.
He noted that a “value-based” ranking, where corrupt activity is measured in terms of the size of the amount lost, would have seen the Police Service fare much better in the ranking than a “contact-based” ranking, which suggests a count of the number of corrupt activities taking place. He requested that research institutions furnish him with a regional, monthly, and departmental breakdown of the findings using the “value-based” approach to assist the Police Administration in dealing with the issues.
He finally alluded to the belief that the research may have been influenced by a past unfavourable perception of the police by the public.
“There is also a real risk that your research may have been affected by a historically pervasive stereotyping of the police service.” The Police Service has almost become the default institution of choice for such research and has therefore encouraged a deep-seated public stereotype over the years. “This stereotype may easily influence a respondent’s choices and it is therefore fair to expect that you factor it in when assessing the validity of your findings,” he asserted.
