The Government Statistician says he was surprised about the Ghana Police Service’s response to their recent corruption perception survey. 

Professor Samuel Kobina Annim said the Police Administration was represented on the steering committee that conducted the survey. 

According to him, at no point did the Police raise any concerns about the methodology or mode of the research. 

Prof. Annim said the Police had the chance to address all allegations of stereotype against them. 

“If there was stereotype and we set up a steering committee and you have the Ghana Police Service represented on it, which is the highest decision making body for this survey. Isn’t that an opportunity to address any concerns that you have? So I really don’t see that argument.”

“The steering committee saw the final questionnaire and they had a sense of how the indicators were going to be computed and we discussed that at our steering committee meeting.”

“So indeed up until this letter, I had not heard anything. So I was surprised because of the mode because I thought once the Ghana Police Service was part of the steering committee, these concerns should have been raised and even if it’s an afterthought which one would agree with it, I thought we should have discussed it and see how we can improve on it and I got my letter around 3:00pm yesterday (Thursday, July 28) and this was in the news three days ago.”

He spoke on JoyNews’ AM Show on Friday, July 29, with Benjamin Akakpo.

The said report by the GSS together with CHRAJ and UNODC ranked the Ghana Police Service as the most corrupt institution in the country.

According to the survey, more than GHC17.4 million in bribes were paid in 2021 with Police officers topping the list of officials who take bribes with 53.2%.

But, the Inspector General of the Ghana Police Service, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare in a five-page letter to GSS and CHRAJ on Wednesday, July 27, questioned the methodology used to conduct the survey.

“Our discomfort, therefore, is the use of selective ranking methodology to project the outcomes in a manner that puts an unfair focus on the Police Service with all the others in your corruption index escaping public scrutiny,” the IGP said.

Dr. Akuffo Dampare explained that per the Police’s analysis of the report, the research could have been influenced by “a historically pervasive stereotyping of the Police Service.”

“The Service has almost now become the default institution of choice for such research and has therefore encouraged a deep-seated public stereotype over the years.”