Botswana (34), Seychelles (36), Cape Verde (48), Rwanda (48) and Namibia (53) scored better than some European countries like Spain (42), Italy (54), Greece (59) and Hungary (66) due to their political leadership that was committed to anti-corruption, says Transparency International.
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For three years from 1997 to 1999, during the tenure of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister, Pakistan witnessed improvement on the index with 2.5 and 2.7 score respectively except for 1999 (2.2 score) following a military coup in October that year.
The launching of the Transparency International 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index yesterday has revealed a four point increment in PNGs’ score since previous year. “In fact, what is at stake is the very essence of democracy and freedom”. “In the one-year-old government of President Nana Akufo-Addo, the corruption has been stinking to the high heavens”, he said. “These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and higher numbers of journalist deaths”, the report added.
The Varieties of Democracy Project gave Thailand a score of 23, also down one point from a year ago. The decreased score could reflect the ongoing undemocratic condition of the country, while the checks-and-balances system remained weak.
Jamaica’s Caricom neighbour Barbados, has been ranked the least corrupt country in the English-speaking Caribbean with a ranking of 25.
Worawit said ICRG focuses on political corruption, particularly bribes, as well as patronage and close political relationships. It seemed to be a positive thing, but the year before we got two. Austria, United States and Belgium have 75 points.
However, Mr Stephens said 69 per cent of all countries surveyed in the index scored less than 50 out of a hundred. The study, released on Wednesday, includes 180 countries.
Transparency International has found the world is making little to no progress in fighting corruption.
Unfortunately, according to CENTAL, compared to recent years, this poor performance is nothing new, as Corruption still remains a major challenge globally.
New Zealand, Denmark, and Finland topped the list of 180 countries, scoring 89, 88 and 85 respectively.
CPI measures the perceived level of corruption in the public sector, drawing on 13 data sources based on expert assessment and business views. China fared a bit better than India and was ranked 77th, with a score of 41.
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He said, however, it is not for the government to say whether it is pleased with the result, but to look into the factors that contribute to changes in the scores.
