The report of the new survey that gauges the actual payment or actions that constitute bribes has revealed that nearly GH¢5 billion was paid in cash as bribes to public officials last year is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that nearly GH¢5 billion was paid in cash as bribes to public officials last year, a new survey that gauges the actual payment or actions that constitute bribes has revealed.
The 2021 maiden Ghana Integrity of Public Services Survey (GIPSS) report, which was launched in Accra yesterday, is the first survey on the actual payment of bribes, a departure from the perception that previous studies surveyed.
The report indicated that nine out of 10 bribes were paid in cash.
The cash bribes, it revealed, were equivalent to almost one-third of the 2021 budget of the Ministry of Education.
The GIPSS is a nationally representative population-based survey that provides internationally comparable measures of corruption.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) commissioned the survey, in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), with support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).
The fieldwork involved a survey of 15,000 respondents, one of the biggest sample sizes, in both urban and rural areas of all regions of the country.
The report covered the scope of bribery, who takes bribes, how bribery works, gender dimensions, nepotism and vote buying in Ghana.
The newspaper says that the banking sector in the country last year lost GH¢61 million through fraud and other banking malpractice. This represents a surge of 144 per cent losses due to fraud in the banking sector from GH¢25 million in 2020 to GHC61 million in 2021.
In all, 53.46 per cent of the incidents of fraud reported last year involved staff of the financial institutions.
The upsurge in losses recorded for the period was due to the increased use of online payment platforms for fraudulent transactions.
This was contained in the Banking and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) and Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) fraud report for 2021 issued by the Bank of Ghana.
Statistics indicate that staff involvement in fraud cases increased to 278, as compared to 253 in 2020, representing an increase of 9.88 per cent year-on-year.
Rural and Community Banks recorded the highest rate of staff involvement in fraud with a figure of 46.04 per cent, the Universal Banks accounted for 28.06 per cent, while the Savings and Loans companies accounted for 16.55 per cent.
The report, however, recorded 2,347 attempted fraud cases, which represents a minimal decline of 12.09 per cent or 2,670 in 2020.
Another significant fraud type was impersonation which recorded a loss of GH¢10 million. This loss was attributed to lack of due diligence on the part of bank staff and customers of financial institutions when carrying out transactions.
ATM card/POS related fraud also recorded the highest loss of GH¢22 million. This can be attributed to negligence of some customers and weak systems of some financial institutions.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Parliament has by consensus approved a US$750 million loan facility to finance capital and growth related expenditure in the 2022 budget.
The facility, which was approved yesterday to support the 2022 budget, is being sourced from the African Export-Import Bank.
A report of the Finance Committee of the House on the facility said “this arrangement has become necessary because of the decision by government not to use the capital market to raise financing until market conditions improve.”
To be released in three tranches of €200 million, US$101 million and US$350 million, the facility has a three-year grace period and a four-year repayment period for the first two tranches and seven years for the third tranche.
The first two tranches have seven years tenor and the third tranche, a 10-year tenor.
The facility also came with a 5.57 per cent interest per annum on the first trance and 8.81 per cent interest per annum on the second and third tranches.
It attracted a 5.75 per cent margin inclusive of insurance for the first tranche and 6.25 per cent each for the second and third tranches.
Upfront fee attracted 1.75 per cent flat for all three tranches, one per cent commitment fee for all tranches and a all-in-cost percentage of 6.49 per annum, 9.55 per annum and 9.33 per annum for the three tranches respectively.
Projects earmarked for the facility include the Nsawam-Ofankor road (US$200 million), Ejisu-Konongo road (US$75 million), completion of Nsawam-Apedwa road (US$10 million), Suame interchange and local road network (US$47 million) and completion of flower pot interchange (US$35 million).
The rest are completion of Sofoline interchange (US$35 million), construction of Kwabenya-Peduase road (US$10 million), completion of Eastern Corridor road lots five and six (US$70 million), completion of Enkyikrom-Adawso road project (US$98 million), purchase of rolling stock and spare part (US$30 million) and construction of stadia infrastructure for All African Games (US$140 million).
The newspaper says that Civil Engineer, Abdulai Mahama, has bemoaned the high cost of building materials on the market.
He said Ghanaians could no longer afford to construct or own houses which has resulted in the country’s housing deficit intensifying especially in urban areas.
“You take almost every commodity in the built environment and you can’t do affordable housing because these are the basic materials needed for affordable housing,” he said.
Contributing to discussions on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Monday, on the high cost of living, he lamented the hikes in the prices of iron rods, cement, tiles, and other building materials.
He stated that the prices of these materials have significantly shot up since November 2021 to date.
“Forty-Four Ghana cedis cement is now selling at 63 cedis, electrical wiring has also gone up by 60 per cent in three months,” he said.
He also recalled various instances where he had been to the market and witnessed a significant increase in the prices of construction materials within a short period.
“We signed a contract on Tuesday, a cheque was issued on Wednesday, the cheque was cleared on Friday afternoon, we went to the market to buy 44 tonnes of iron rods and we were awakened by the escalated price of iron rods. The cheque was signed on Tuesday with the price of iron rod shooting from 5,900 to 8,300 from Tuesday to Monday, and you can’t just fathom what is happening in the system,” he said.
He, thus, called on the government to as a matter of urgency address the current economic crisis.
“Something ought to be done otherwise a lot more of the up-and-coming businesses or middle-income earners can’t put up any structure,” he added.
GIK/APA