US laments US$7m loss in Tema Medical Stores fire

The United States Ambassador, Robert P. Jackson, has warned that attempts to cover up an alleged case of arson at the Tema Central Medical Stores fire, which occurred two years ago, could ruin American government’s support to the health sector.

“We are still waiting for justice in the 2015 Tema Central Medical Stores arson case. This fire, which appears to have been ignited to cover up corruption, has a dealt a blow to our ability to support public health in Ghana,” he said.

The Tema Central Medical Stores fire occurred in January 2015, destroying medical supplies valued at US$80 million, including US$7 million in donations from the United States.

The US Ambassador disclosed this in Accra at the launch of a survey on citizens’ knowledge, perception and experiences of corruption dubbed: “Corruption is eating us up: A call to action,” by the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition and SEND GHANA.

The fight against corruption, Mr. Jackson added, rests with the citizenry: “I have seen firsthand the power of committed citizens to hold those in power accountable.”

“I believe success begets success and as more citizens realise they can successfully prevent corruption, waste and fraud, more and more people will refuse to tolerate it,” he added.

He explained that corruption of any kind is negatively affecting the delivery of quality services, as struggling families have to pay bribes when accessing basic services like health and education. And that if left unchecked, the canker threatens to derail the progress the country has made over the years.

The Ambassador added that a typical agriculture exporter faces more than 40 checkpoints between Accra and the border with Burkina Faso – that add up to more than $100 in so-called “facilitation payments.”

“When a medical practitioner fails to appear at the government clinic to be at the private clinic, those dependent on the government clinic suffer. And when one has to wait weeks for a passport or driver’s license, one's income can be affected. These are all forms of corruption or mismanagement,” he bemoaned.

The Country Director for SEND Ghana, George Osei-Bimpeh, advocated the need to step up measures in the fight against corruption, especially measures to support the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan.

Survey findings

The survey sampled 17,996 persons from 49 districts from all the ten regions of Ghana. It established that majority of Ghanaians identify only bribery, embezzlement and fraud as forms of corruption. The respondents were, however, split on whether nepotism was an act of corruption. On the other hand, they did not consider conflict of interest, abuse of discretion and payment of facilitation fee as forms of corruption.

Also, nearly two-thirds of respondents believed that corruption was on the rise.

On institutional corruption, the Police Service, political parties, the judiciary and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) were seen as the most corrupt institutions in the country.

Additionally, the top two reasons citizens pay bribes were to speed up work and to avoid problems with authorities.

To curb corruption, the survey recommended that the central government should provide adequate financial resources to state institutions as such the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the National Commission on Civic Education to collaborate effectively with civil society organisations to scale up the level of public education/sensitisation on the various types of corruption.

Other recommendations are to systematically incorporate anti-corruption education as well as ethical norms and standards into educational curricula, whilst institutions like the Ghana Revenue Authority, DVLA, Passport Office and the Police Service should increase visibility of all measures instituted to address corruption.

It also called on development partners to support the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan and that civil society organisations including the media and religious bodies should also play a role in holding public officers to account as well as to inform and educate, expose corruption and showcase impactful ways of resisting it.