Senior lawyer and Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has argued that Ghana’s persistent bribery problem cannot simply be blamed on the salaries of public officials.

He described it instead as a culture that has become embedded in the delivery of government services.

Speaking on JoyNews' Newsfile on Saturday, August 8, Mr Bentil said reducing bribery will require more than increasing salaries. He said the country must combine strict enforcement with the depersonalisation of government services to reduce opportunities for officials and citizens to engage in corrupt transactions.

“It has always been there, but what have we done about it?” he asked.

“We have generated a culture of bribery and it's not about people's salary. It's a culture of bribery.”

Mr Bentil identified the depersonalisation of government services as one of the most practical ways to tackle bribery.

He explained that many bribery opportunities arise because citizens are required to interact directly with officials to access basic government services.

According to him, removing unnecessary face-to-face interactions through digital systems would make it more difficult for officials to demand or solicit unofficial payments.

“The thing that creates a bribery opportunity is when you are forced to go before the person, and more or less, they also behave as if they are doing you a favour,” he said.

His comments come amid growing concerns over bribery in Ghana’s public institutions, with the Ghana Police Service, particularly the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), identified as the institution most frequently associated with bribery.

Mr Bentil believes Ghana already has the technological foundation to significantly reduce such interactions through the Ghana Card system.

“It starts with Ghana Card. It starts with identifying who is a citizen or not, properly categorised,” he said.

Mr Bentil said government services such as driver's licence and passport applications should increasingly be accessible through digital platforms.

“If you need a driver's licence, it should be possible to go on the website, fill in the information, put whatever you need to put there, and for them to deal with it and mail it to you,” he said.

“I have seen that happen elsewhere. It wasn't rocket science.”

He argued that a similar system could be developed for passports and other essential government services.

“If you need a passport, if you have a Ghana Card, it should be possible to solve this,” he said.

For him, the technology already exists to verify the identity of citizens and process applications without requiring them to repeatedly visit government offices.

“If you have to give me a driver's licence, and I can go on a website and put my information there, give you my other bona fides, you can check and find out it's me — and everything — I don't have to come to you,” he said.

“And in many places, it happens. And I'm telling you, today, with Ghana Card, we have the opportunity to do that.”

For him, reducing bribery requires Ghana to change not only the behaviour of individuals but also the systems that create opportunities for corrupt transactions in the first place.