Fifi Kwetey: IEA's poor, lazy survey pure garbage

A recent survey finding by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) that said the Presidency is the second most corrupt public institution in Ghana is pure "garbage" and a "poor lazy job" done by the think tank, Minister of food and agriculture Fifi Kwetey has said.

The former Deputy Minister of finance described the report as “garbage in, garbage out,” when he appeared on Joy FM’s news analysis programme newsfile hosted by Samson Lardy Anyenini.

“It’s pretty obvious that IEA themselves did not even do a thorough job in terms of clearing defining by what it means by the Office of the President,” Mr Kwetey said, adding: “This is laziness of the highest order.”

IEA's survey revealed that 19.2 percent of respondents sampled said following the Police Service as the most corrupt state institution is the Flagstaff House.

According to the Socio-economic and Governance survey, 15.4 per cent view tax officials as the third most corrupt and Parliamentarians as the fourth most corrupt.

The public also seem to have little confidence in some state institutions, the report noted.

Out of 11 institutions studied, 37.8 percent of the people said they do not at all trust the tax department. It is closely followed by the Electoral Commission – 35.8 percent; the NDC party – 35.6 percent and the Police Service – 35.1 percent.

Majority of the respondent also concluded that bribery among the people is very high and the acquisition of basic services like: getting a document or a permit; getting water or sanitation services; electricity connection; getting treatment at a local health clinic or hospital; avoiding a problem with the police among other services, was very difficult.

This is the second time the seat of Ghana’s government has been rated as the second most corrupt state agency.

An Afrobarometer report released in December 2014 pointed out that 86 percent of Ghanaians also viewed the presidency as the second most corrupt public institution.