Bureaucracy encouraging corruption in Ghana – Franklin Cudjoe

President of policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe says the alarming rate of corruption in the country is due to the organizational structure of our state institutions as many people are forced to cut corners because of the many processes they go through to get things done.

According to him, most people opt to offer bribes to get their works done easily and quickly than to go through hell before they finally get what they want.

Moreover, he believes state institutions are to blame for the increase in corruption as they have created too many barriers making it difficult for people to access services efficiently and effectively.

“The reason why we slip is also because institutions that are supposed to help us, for instance, start-up business or pay a tax have institutionalised barriers that make it very difficult for people to access these services efficiently and effectively”.

“So they have to find a way of paying bribes; if you want a construction permit you probably need to pay a bribe, if you want to set up a business the processes are laborious. It means you want to cut corners and pay a bribe. If you want to pay a tax itself there are challenges so for me it is true that the bureaucratic steps that we have or systems that we have by themselves also encourage a bit of the petty corruption,” he said.

Speaking to GhanaWeb at the launch of the 2017 Anti-corruption and Transparency Week and the National Anti-Corruption Conference at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra, Franklin Cudjoe said although government is trying to formalise the economy by rolling out digitised programmes in every state institution to curb corruption, it would be relevant to tackle the systemic problems first; that is by focusing on the people and the structures in the institutions.

This year’s celebration is under the theme ‘NACAP: Strengthening Public, Private and Civil Society Partnership in the fight against corruption’, and seeks to discuss the implementation of the 2016 NACAP report.

It also hopes to, among other things, raise awareness of the NACAP and mobilize resources and efforts for its implementation and to bring stakeholders and partners together to plan and fight corruption.

IMANI Ghana President, therefore, is charging government to enforce stringent measures to punish corrupt people in the country.