Livestock theft and burglary are high in Ghana - Survey

Accra, May 28, GNA - A Survey carried out by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in four Metropolitan Assemblies, has indicated that stealing of livestock and burglary are the most common crimes accounting for 65 per cent of recorded cases.

The survey, which was carried out in Accra, Sekondi-Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale Metropolis also identified car hijacking and kidnapping as the least crimes, which represented 27 per cent.

Mr Nkansah Yentumi Marfo, an official of the GSS who presented the report on the 2009 Crime Victimisation Survey at a seminar in Accra said property crimes were the most frequently experienced by respondents. He said in 2008, almost a quarter of car owners had something stolen from their vehicles whilst 18 per cent of livestock owners had some of their stock stolen.

He said rates of personal theft and burglary were also high ranging from six per cent to nine per cent while robbery accounted for three per cent of the proportion of the sample.

Four per cent of the respondents in the survey indicated that they were victims of assault and threats, one per cent were victims of sexual offences and less than one per cent, victims of kidnapping. He said approximately 47 per cent of the respondents in the study complained that they were cheated when buying something or requesting services and 13 per cent were asked to pay bribe to a public official thus becoming victims of corruption. Mr Johnson Owusu Kagya, another official from the GSS who made a presentation on "Attitudes, Perception and Crime Victimisation" said the survey revealed that 39 per cent of the respondents reported theft from cars to the Police with the intention to recover their property while 23 per cent reported basically for insurance. He said 15 per cent reported crime to the Police because they believed crime should be reported and another 15 per cent wanted the offenders to be caught.

On crime control and prevention, about 31 per cent of the respondents were of the opinion that the Police were doing a good job, while about a quarter of the respondents considered it fairly poor. He said more than 35 per cent of the respondents were not protected in any way and of those who had the facility, 37 per cent indicated that they made friendly arrangements with neighbours to watch each others house. Mr Kagya said about 19 per cent of the respondents indicated that they used special door locks, 15 per cent used special windows or door grilles, 14 per cent, high fence walls while 13 per cent used dogs to detect burglars.

Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician said crime statistics were very important in determining the burden of crime on the citizenry. She said the challenges of having good statistics had to do with whether people would report the crime to the Police or to the court. She said lack of interest by the citizenry to report crime, was making it difficult for the service to know the level of victimisation in the system.

"Whether people perceive crime as pervasive would depend on their level of contact with the crime," he added.

Mr Justice Benjamin Aryeetey, a Supreme Court Judge appealed to the government to resource the GSS to conduct a nationwide crime and victimisation survey to determine the level of crime and other offences in the country.

He said because some surveys did not reflect the opinions of the majority of the people they were sometimes skewed to portray the Judiciary, Police and Customs Exercise Preventive Service in a bad light. He expressed the hope that the GSS would conduct a future survey where all stakeholders would be invited to make inputs.