By Mabel Esimam Awagah
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International, has expressed deep concern over the widespread corruption plaguing the education and health sectors in Ghana.
Speaking at the launch of a corruption risk assessment in Accra, GII’s Executive Director, Mary Awelana Addah, highlighted fraudulent activities that have created significant inefficiencies in the delivery of public services.
In the health sector, the assessment revealed alarming trends, including fraudulent claims by pharmacists under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and unqualified individuals gaining access to the scheme through dishonest means. These practices have led to financial leakages and deficiencies in service delivery.
Mrs. Addah emphasized that evidence shows individuals with chronic illnesses are more likely to make informal payments or bribes to access healthcare, undermining the NHIS.
“The focus on health looked at critical issues within the NHIS, including claims management and accountability mechanisms. We identified vulnerabilities that compromise the system, such as double billing and other irregularities,” she noted.
Recommendations were made to strengthen the claims management system, eliminate manual processing, and increase processing centers to handle the growing volume of claims. It was also suggested that NHIS develop mechanisms to validate whether services claimed by providers were indeed rendered.
In the education sector, Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, highlighted risks within the Ghana Education Service (GES). The assessment identified a high likelihood of corruption at key points, such as verifying newly recruited teachers and validating teachers’ attendance.
“There’s a lack of checks and balances in verifying newly recruited teachers and validating teachers’ punctuality, creating opportunities for payroll fraud,” Mr. Asare explained. He recommended decentralizing the payroll management system to allow validation and enlistment processes to be handled at the district level.
The GII’s corruption risk assessment evaluated 12 institutions, focusing on payroll and store management in education, as well as claims and supervisory functions in health. The goal is to enhance transparency, strengthen accountability, and seal loopholes to mitigate the repercussions of corruption.
By implementing these recommendations, GII hopes to address vulnerabilities and build a more robust public service system.
