Abstract:
The study explored human rights abuses in the operations of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS). It identified specific human rights abuses on both internal and external stakeholders and the impact of such abuses on all stakeholders. It also identified the ways in which CEPS management is responding to the issues of rights abuses in the operations of the service. One hundred respondents, fifty from internal respondents and another fifty from external respondents were randomly selected and questioned. The respondents were selected from two collections, Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and Sunyani. The responses were analysed with SPSS and presented in the form of exploded pie-charts and simple frequency tables.
The results suggest that there are human rights abuses at all levels in the operations of CEPS. Sixty-four percent of internal and ninety-four percent stakeholders have been abused. The rights abuses for internal stakeholders include poor working conditions and poor relationships with superiors. The abuses of external stakeholders include discrimination and unofficial taxes. The effects of rights abuses on internal stakeholders include low morale and poor health, and for the external stakeholders, abuses lead to bad image for CEPS and an unwillingness for stakeholders to corporate with CEPS officials. Majority of stakeholders perceived CEPS management to be making some efforts to avoid human rights abuses. Respondents also suggested that all stakeholders should be educated on the implication of human rights abuses.
