A lecturer and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College in the United Kingdom, Dr. Justice Tankebe finds it alarming that a substantial number of National Intelligence Bureau officials in Ghana take bribes.

The latest survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service with other stakeholders in the fight against corruption indicated that 21.2% of National Intelligence Bureau officials take bribes.

The survey further indicated that more than 17.4 million bribes were paid in 2021 with police officers topping the list of officials who take bribes at 53.2%.

Speaking on The Big Issue on Citi TV, the Fitzwilliam College lecturer said “I am not really surprised at some of the findings in the report. What is really surprising is that of the National Intelligence Bureau. When you look at it, they have 0.3% contact, which is even high for an agency like that. If the agency has 0.3% contact of a national population of about 31 million, that is too much contact.”

“Not only that, we are being told that 21% of the people who have contacts with the agency responsible for national security, monitoring drug trafficking and more importantly terrorism, take bribe. That is quite astonishing. It is really alarming,” he added.

Dr. Tenkebe fears the activities of these officials who occupy very critical positions put the nation at serious risk.

He called for the issue to be “urgently” addressed.

Dr. Tankebe, who is also a criminologist however said he is not amazed about the report that most people with the highest level of (tertiary) education were 1.6 times more likely to have paid a bribe than people with no formal education

“Corruption is a crime of the elite and therefore shouldn’t be surprising that people with more education are the ones who pay more bribes,” he said.