Transparency International recently released its latest annual Corruption Perception Index report. A copy of the report, which was seen by Business Insider Africa, showed that 90% of the 180 countries surveyed scored below 50. Interestingly, 44 of these countries with very low corruption index scores are in Africa. We shall be focusing on them shortly.
Transparency International, which combats global corruption through concerted anti-corruption measures, defines the social vice as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Corruption erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development and further exacerbates inequality, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis.”
Across the African continent, corruption is being fueled by a number of factors such as authoritarianism, political/institutional instability and various forms of security challenges caused by violent conflicts and terrorism.
Transparency International uses the corruption perception index to rank countries around the world on a scale of zero to 100; with zero being the most corrupt and 100 being the least corrupt. The index has been tracking public sector corruption across the world since 1995.
It should be noted that the latest CPI report showed that the average index score in Africa is 33; the lowest in the world.