The Upper West Regional Minister, Hon Alhaji Sulemana Alhassan, lauded the good research conducted by Community Development Alliance (CDA), NORSAC and RISE Ghana on petty corruption at the public health facilities in the three Northern Regions and called on all hands to be on deck in the fight against corruption in Ghana. He said Government could not fight it alone, but a change in our attitude could minimize corruption in our society.
Hon Sulemana Alhassan said this in his address at a round table discussion on petty corruption study conducted on public health facilities by CDA Ghana, NORSAC and RISE-Ghana. He commended the organizers of the programme for creating the platform for discussing pertinent issues bothering the region’s development especially on corruption.
He indicated that the year 2019 is a promising one for the good people of the region and that the good foundation laid by the government will begin to bear fruits for all to benefit.
He added that, corruption as we are all aware, was a very serious problem in our nation. He said, within the fourth republic, every Government had suffered all kinds of accusations and allegations of bribery and corruption.
“According to the Advance Oxford Dictionary, corruption means lack of integrity or honesty. It also means the use of a position of trust for dishonesty gain” he noted
He indicated that, with this explanation of corruption in mind, it means that, if we cast our net wide, we may be surprised the level of corruption we would find in the society. He said most of the time, we focus on the abuse of office by political appointees to the neglect of the everyday public servant who uses his or her position of trust for dishonest gains.
Hon Sulemana said the research work by CDA in collaboration with NORSAC and RISE Ghana on petty corruption at the public health facilities would inform managers of such facilities on what goes on at the health facilities at their blind side. He added that the research would also hopefully alert all institutional heads in the Region who provide essential public services to be more vigilant and put in place realistic measures to protect our disadvantaged citizens from dishonest officials.
According to him, at the national level, Government was doing a lot to fight corruption within and out of Government. He said Government has strengthened anti-corruption state institutions and resourced them adequately to carry out their mandate.
He explained that Government has also enacted the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, appointed a Special Prosecutor and a Deputy and as well established a secretariat for them to work.
“ In the 2019 budget, Government allocated 180 million Ghana cedis to the Special Prosecutor to do his work and plans are far advanced to complete the necessary legislative instruments needed to make the office fully functional” he noted
The Executive Director of Community Development Alliance, Mr Salifu Kanton speaking at the forum, indicated that the research work was centered on the three Northern Regions to know the level of petty corruption happening at the various health facilities. He said, petty corruption at the health facilities is a national problem but for the sake of their study, the three Northern Regions were selected for the research of which the final report would soon be launched either in Tamale or Wa.
The research indication of perception on corruption at the health facilities, revealed that 97% of patients and 96% of healthcare workers observed that bribery and corruption is widespread within the healthcare delivery system, whiles 67% of patients and 62% of healthcare workers agree that corruption is accepted as normal in the delivery of healthcare.
The research further reveals that, about 34% of health workers indicated that unofficial payments from patients happen very often, whiles 50% of health workers indicated that their co-health workers often engage in corrupt practices at the health facilities.
According to the lead researcher, when a direct question was thrown to the health workers as to whether they have ever involved themselves in any corrupt practice, 40% of health workers said they have ever been involved with corruption at the health facilities. About 51% of health workers however said they often give preferential services or better treatment to their friends and family members which they believe do not amount to corruption.