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| Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh is presiding over an increasingly corrupt country/here he speaks to journalists in Nov 2011/PHOTO/AFP |
In 2009, the country was ranked 106 of180 nations – bettering that position in 2010 when it moved six places up to
100. Last year, the country was ranked 77 – still very much a better position.
However, in the 2012 CPI released on
December 5, 2012, The Gambia is ranked at bottom 105 in a list that includes
174 countries – an indication that public corruption is “very high” in the
country.
The Corruption Perceptions Index scores
countries on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
In June this year, the National
Assembly of The Gambia passed into laws an Anti-Corruption Commission Bill and an
Anti-Money Laundering Bill but independent observers said the implementation
process of the two laws are yet to ensure a drastic reduction in official and
public corruption in the country.
The country is ranked at the same level
with highly-corrupt countries like Algeria, Armenia, Bolivia, Kosovo,
Islamists-troubled Mali, drug-infested Mexico and the Philippines.
The Gambia is way below ECOWAS neighbors
- 11 places below Senegal, 22 places behind Burkina Faso, 30 places behind
Liberia which emerged from a deadly-civil war just nine years ago, and a
massive 41 places below Ghana – a country regarded a “model” for democracy in
Africa.
The top five countries in Africa ranked as “least corrupt” by this year’s TI’s CPI are Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Rwanda and the Seychelles – while Cape Verde, Ghana and Liberia tops in the West African sub-regional economic bloc, ECOWAS.
Meanwhile countries like Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are on equal points ranked as the least corrupt countries in the World. Sweden and Singapore adds up to the world’s top five least corrupt countries in 4th and 5th positions.
On the contrary, conflict-ravaged Somalia, nuclear-state North Korea and terrorists-infested Afghanistan occupied bottom positions all at 174.
“Looking at the Corruption Perceptions
Index 2012, it's clear that corruption is a major threat facing humanity, warns
Transparency International, “Corruption destroys lives and communities, and
undermines countries and institutions. It generates popular anger that
threatens to further destabilise societies and exacerbate violent conflicts.”
“While no country has a perfect score,
two-thirds of countries score below 50, indicating a serious corruption
problem,” the agency lamented.
“Corruption translates into human
suffering, with poor families being extorted for bribes to see doctors or to
get access to clean drinking water. It leads to failure in the delivery of
basic services like education or healthcare. It derails the building of
essential infrastructure, as corrupt leaders skim funds,” it said.
“Corruption
amounts to a dirty tax, and the poor and most vulnerable are its primary
victims.”
TI urges Governments to integrate
anti-corruption actions into all aspects of decision-making to counter
public-sector corruption.
“They must prioritise better rules on
lobbying and political financing, make public spending and contracting more
transparent, and make public bodies more accountable,” TI said.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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