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Politicians have been named as the most common perpetrators of corruption in Ghana, a new report released on Friday has said. The report sampled the views of 2,096 respondents from 20 selected districts throughout the country, under the Ghana Integrity Initiative�s national survey of corruption in Ghana dubbed �The Voice Of The People�. The survey was to find out the ordinary person�s perception of the extent of corruption in the country, their experience in dealing with bribery and their recommendation on how to curb the menace. When respondents were asked to indicate which individuals, from a list, they perceived to be the most corrupt, 72.7 percent picked politicians. Ghana Police Service came second, as 64.6 percent of the respondents named them as the most common perpetrators of corruption. Officials of the various revenue agencies were selected by 63.9 percent of the respondents, while public and civil servants came next, followed by the media, religious bodies, local businesses while civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations and foreign business followed in that order . The report, which also sought to find out the public�s perception on government�s commitments to the fight against corruption, was carried out in April this year. Vitus Azem, Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, the local chapter of Transparency International, before launching the report, said corruption was perceived to have increased over the last three years; that is from April 2008 to April 2011. In all, 1936 of the respondents, constituting 92.4 percent, thought that corruption was a serious problem whilst the survey revealed that government had not effectively addressed corruption. When the respondents were asked if they had had to pay bribe before being served by a service provider, Mr Azem said, �In all cases, the respondents had to pay a bribe� indicating that no institution in the country was free of bribery and corruption.� Seventy-eight percent of the respondents who had made contact with utility providers- electricity and water- had to pay bribe, followed by the education and health sectors and then the media, Ghana Revenue Authority, and the police. �Surprisingly, 37.9 percent of the respondents who had made contact with the private sector also had to pay bribe,� said Mr Azem. The respondents explained that they had to pay the bribe to avoid problems with the authorities or speed up processes, while others did it to obtain contract or some favour. �The findings of this study confirm previous findings that poor people are the more likely to pay bribes than the rich.� On how to win the fight against corruption, respondents recommended that there was the need for more effective measures to fight the canker in the form of enacting more laws and strengthening existing laws as well as institutions. To the respondents, an effective anti-corruption strategy should include the investigation, arrest and prosecution of persons found to be culpable of corruption acts. They also said that Ghana needed an effective political leadership that was committed to fighting corruption and promptly bringing to book persons found culpable, no matter their political affiliation. Recommendations were also made for the intensification of civic education, sensitization and awareness creation on the negative effects of corruption. Kwame Gyasi, Chairman of GII, said corruption covered a broad spectrum of issues and was found in every field of human endeavour, adding, �There is nobody who can claim not to be affected by corruption.� Stopping corruption, he said, would mean �upsetting long-standing power networks that control the rules of the game�, stressing, �In fighting against corruption, the challenge ahead are enormous and we must not kid ourselves.� This year, Ghana was ranked 69th among 183 countries, slipping to 3.9 from the previous 4.1 in the just released Global Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, drawing concerns that government�s efforts at solving corruption had been unsuccessful.