The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has called for state institutions to automate their systems to reduce the human element in the process of public service delivery.

They also want the institutions to decentralise their operations to make the services accessible to remove delays which often pushed people to offer bribes to officials.

Programmes Manager of the Initiative, Mary Awelana, also underlined the need for effective monitoring systems to detect wrongdoing.

Briefing the media on the findings of its latest “Knowledge, perceptions and experiences of corruption survey” conducted by in 49 selected districts, she asked that those who breached the rules in the performance of their duties should be sanctioned.

The survey was part of the Accountable Democratic Institutions and Systems Strengthening (ADISS) Project being implemented by GII and its consortium, made up of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and SEND-Ghana, in 50 districts across the nation.

The aim was to assess citizens’ understanding and knowledge of forms of corruption, to determine their assessment of the level of corruption in their districts and to gauge their experiences of corruption at the district level, using bribery as proxy indicator.

The survey identified the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Passport Office and the Ghana Police Service as the leading corrupt institutions, where bribes were paid before people could receive services.

Ms. Awelana said it was disheartening that such vital public institutions continued to top almost every corruption survey conducted in the country.

She added that it was time the government rolled out stringent measures to make corruption unattractive.

She called for strong support by development partners for the implementation of the national anti-corruption action plan by exerting reasonable pressure on policy makers and public institutions to remove barriers impeding the fight against corruption.