Most Ghanaians have expressed concerns that people who give information of bad deeds to the appropriate institutions are often not protected well, a research conducted by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has revealed.
The 2020 Survey gathered information from 4,220 Ghanaians from 108 selected districts in the country. The data was collected in August 2020, and the report was made public in Accra yesterday by the NCCE.
Per the report, more than one-third of the respondents (38.3%) thought the identities of such persons are not well protected by the anti-corruption agencies.
“Unfortunately, however, more than one-third of the respondents (38.3%) think the identities of persons who report cases of corruption are not often well protected by anti-corruption agencies,” the report said.
It added that offering security protection to whistleblowers, as well as not exposing informants, are key determinants to addressing the graft phenomenon.
The Whistleblower Act, 2006 (Act 720) calls for protection for informants, including police protection and monetary rewards.
Section 12 (1) states: A whistleblower shall not be subjected to victimisation by the employer of the whistleblower or by a fellow employee, or by another person because a disclosure has been made.”
Section 17 (1) dictates: “A whistleblower who makes a disclosure, and who has reasonable cause to believe that (a) the whistleblower’s life or property, or (b) the life or property of a member of the whistleblower’s family is endangered or likely to be endangered as a result of the disclosure, may request police protection, and the police shall provide the protection considered adequate. (2) Despite subsection (1), the Commission or the Attorney-General, as appropriate, may in relation to a disclosure of impropriety made or about to be made direct that the person who has made or is about to make the disclosure, and the person’s family be given police protection. (3) “Family” for the purposes of this section means spouse, father, mother, child, grandchild, brother and sister.”
Meanwhile, the NCCE report found from the research that corruption erodes the development of the country, increases poverty levels, and leads to the lack of basic amenities, among others.
Further, majority of the respondents ranked the level of corruption in Ghana as high, and also held that corruption is inherent in nature, often manifested by greed and the selfness desire to get rich quickly.
The research piece also revealed that the Ghana Police Service is the most prone institution engaging in acts of corruption. However, with respect to places to report cases of corruption, 57.3% of the respondents mentioned the Ghana Police Service as the institution they would go to report any perceived act of corruption.
Reviewing the report, the Executive Director, Ghana Integrity Initiative, Linda Ofori-Kwafo, commended the NCCE for the work done, adding that the methodology used was very appropriate, owing from the fact that the research covered broad areas of the country, and the sample size was also representative enough of the Ghanaian population.
She was pleased to note that Ghanaians had knowledge about corruption, indicating that the fight against corruption was yielding results, though not too encouraging. She, therefore, called on the government to support the NCCE, but urged the latter to do more.
The Director-General, Internal Audit Agency, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, touching on the sample size, thought the NCCE could do better, but quickly congratulated it for achieving 99% response.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Ghana, Ambassador Diana Acconcia, launched the report.
The NCCE, as part of its civic education engagements, has, since 2017, been involved in numerous education programmes aimed at supporting Ghana’s anti-corruption and public accountability drive, under a programme dubbed ‘Accountability, Rule of law and Anti-Corruption Programme (ARAP).’
The ARAP is an initiative which begun in 2016, intending to promote good governance and support national reforms to enhance accountability and strengthen anti-corruption efforts across the country. The programme was instituted via an agreement between the European Union Delegation and the Government of Ghana.
In line with the programme design and implementation, the NCCE conducted a baseline study in 2017 on public perception of the state of corruption, public accountability and environmental governance in Ghana.
The report, launched yesterday, is an end-line report which presents an assessment of the outcomes of the public education and civic engagement activities carried out by the Commission under ARAP.
The post Identity of whistle-blowers not well protected -NCCE Survey appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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