The Ghana governance and corruption survey evidence from households, enterprises and public officials

49477 The Ghana Governance and Corruption Survey Evidence from Households, Enterprises and Public Officials Commissioned by the World Bank and conducted by the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD-Ghana) August 2000   TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................2 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................6 2. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................8 2.1 REVIEW AND ADAPTATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE.........................................................................8 2.1.1 Field Assistant Training......................................................................................................8 2.2 SAMPLE DESIGN ..........................................................................................................................8 2.2.1 Households..........................................................................................................................8 2.2.2 Public Officials....................................................................................................................8 2.2.3 Enterprises ..........................................................................................................................9 3. The Scope of Corruption................................................................................................................10 3.1 SERIOUSNESS OF CORRUPTION ..................................................................................................10 3.2 EXPERIENCES OF FIRMS AND HOUSEHOLDS WITH UNOFFICIAL PAYMENTS...............................13 3.2.1 Frequency of Unofficial Payment (Bribery) by Enterprises .............................................13 3.2.2 Frequency of Contact and Unofficial Payment: Households............................................14 3.2.3 Unofficial Payments as Percentage of Household Income...............................................15 3.2.4 Enterprises' bribe expenditure going to public organizations .........................................16 3.2.5 Firms' Experiences With Selected Public Services...........................................................19 3.2.6 Government Rules/Regulations and Legal System: Experiences of Business Enterprises19 3.2.7 Government Contracts......................................................................................................20 4. Causes of corruption.......................................................................................................................22 4.1 PERCEPTION OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS ...........................................................................................22 4.2 HONESTY RATINGS ...................................................................................................................23 4.3 QUALITY SERVICES OF PUBLIC AGENCIES.................................................................................25 4.3.1 Firms.................................................................................................................................25 4.3.2 Households........................................................................................................................25 4.3.3 Public Officials..................................................................................................................26 4.4 INTERNAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND CORRUPTION ..........................................................27 4.5 MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS: EXPLAINING DIFFERENCES IN HONESTY RATINGS AND CORRUPTION LEVELS ...............................................................................................29 4.6 OTHER CAUSES OF CORRUPTION ...............................................................................................32 5. Special Issues .................................................................................................................................33 5.1 THE JUDICIARY.........................................................................................................................33 5.2 THE POLICE: REGULAR AND MOTOR TRAFFIC POLICE..............................................................34 5.3 EDUCATIONAL SERVICES ..........................................................................................................35 5.4 HEALTH SERVICES ....................................................................................................................36 5.5 CUSTOMS, EXCISE AND PREVENTIVE SERVICE .........................................................................37 6. Fighting Corruption........................................................................................................................38 7. Summary of Survey Findings.........................................................................................................41 8. Conclusions And Recommendations .............................................................................................43 APPENDICES....................................................................................................................................44 1  Executive Summary This is a diagnostic study of the phenomenon of corruption in Ghana today. It forms part of a renewed national effort to confront the problem of corruption and to devise effective solutions for overcoming it. The report captures the views of 1500 households, 500 business enterprises and 1000 public officials in all the regions of the country who were interviewed between May and June 2000. The main findings are: Scope Of Corruption A high majority of Ghanaians (about 75% of households, with an urban-rural distribution of 76% and 70% respectively) see corruption as a serious problem in Ghana today. About eighty percent of households agree that corruption has become worse now than it was three years ago. An overwhelming percentage of public officials (82%) see corruption in government as more prevalent today than three years ago. Corruption is a major problem in both public and private sectors. 86% of households see corruption as a major problem in the public sector, whereas 59% of households see corruption as a major problem in the private sector. Experience Of Households And Firms With Corruption Majority of households (66%) (within the income bracket of