Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector General of the Ghana Police has refused to accept the corruption tag labelled against his team.
In a 5-page statement released by the IGP, Dampare questioned the studies by Ghana Statistical Service and the Afrobarometer one by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) among other things.
The IGP described the methodology used in conducting the research and findings as problematic.
“We want to place on record that we are concerned about this since the continuous empirically and scientifically unsubstantiated labelling of the police as the most corrupt institution in the country only goes to feed this perception and damage the reputation of the Police Service as well as weaken the morale of its personnel.”
“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,” portion of the police statement read.
Dampare suggested that the report could have been influenced by “a historically pervasive stereotyping of the Police Service”.
Separate survey reports released by the Ghana Statistical Service and its partners, as well as an Afrobarometer report, had officials of the police service topping the corruption list.
According to the Afrobarometer study undertaken by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), 65 per cent of Ghanaians believe most police are corrupt, while 31 per cent believe only some police are corrupt.
However, the IGP has reacted to the accusations and perceptions of corruption in the force, saying “the police continues to implement measures to discourage corruption among its men.
According to him, the Ghana Police Service has some bad nuts just like any other human institution.
“We want to place on record that we are concerned about this since the continuous empirically and scientifically unsubstantiated labelling of the police as the most corrupt institution in the country only goes to feed this perception and damage the reputation of the Police Service as well as weaken the morale of its personnel,” the IGP’s statement reiterated.
