There is an unhealthy practice quietly undermining public administration in Ghana, and many citizens have come to accept it as normal. It should not be normal.

Across several public institutions, including the Office of the Registrar of Companies and the Lands Commission, applicants are routinely forced into dealing with individuals rather than the institution itself. Instead of submitting documents through an official, traceable system and receiving acknowledged copies, people are encouraged, sometimes indirectly, sometimes openly, to hand applications to someone “inside” and follow up through that person.

The result is a dangerous system where critical national services depend not on process, but on personal access.

Important documents, including land records and incorporation filings, end up in the custody of individuals rather than within accountable institutional systems. If that officer is transferred, unavailable, unresponsive, or simply unreachable, applicants are left stranded with no way to trace their documents or determine the status of their applications.

Even more troubling is the financial opacity surrounding these interactions. Payments are frequently made directly to individuals without official receipts. Applicants are left unsure whether fees have reached the institution at all, what the official charges are, or why costs vary so widely from one person to another.

This practice erodes trust, encourages unofficial payments, and places honest professionals and citizens in impossible situations. Lawyers and agents acting for clients are often unable to account properly for payments because there is no institutional receipt to present. A system meant to deliver public service instead creates suspicion and uncertainty.

Public institutions must function through systems, not personalities.

No citizen should need to “know someone” to access a government service. Applications should be submitted through official channels, acknowledged immediately with stamped or digital confirmation, and tracked through institutional reference numbers, not personal phone calls.

Transparency must also become non-negotiable. Official fees should be clearly displayed at offices and published online for all to see. Payment must be made only through approved institutional channels, with automatic issuance of receipts.

Equally important, institutions should introduce structured service timelines. If expedited processing is available, it should exist as an official premium service with clearly stated fees and delivery periods. Citizens deserve certainty, to know what they are paying for and when to expect results.

The current system is not merely inefficient; it creates fertile ground for abuse and undermines confidence in public administration.

This must stop.

Public institutions must issue clear directives prohibiting payments to individuals, enforce centralized submission systems, and ensure that accountability rests with the institution itself, not with whichever officer happens to be handling a file.

Efficiency should never depend on personal relationships. Public service must be predictable, transparent, and fair to all.

Ghana deserves systems that work whether or not you know someone inside.

Accountability begins where silence ends. When citizens speak, systems improve.

Accountability Ghana, giving voice to issues that matter!