Kenya drops six places in TI global corruption ranking

Govt projects are a conduit for Jubilee's corruption - Prof. Herman Manyora

What you need to know:

  • The 2016 Corruption Perception Index released by the global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International shows that Kenya is ranked at position 145 out of 176 countries.

  • Also ranked at position 145 alongside Kenya are Bangladesh, Cameroon, The Gambia, Madagascar and Nicaragua.

  • It means Kenya has dropped six places from its previous ranking at position 139 in the 2015 index.

Kenya has dropped six places in the latest global corruption ranking.

The 2016 Corruption Perception Index released by the global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International shows that Kenya is ranked at position 145 out of 176 countries.

The watchdog uses data from institutions including the World Bank, the African Development Bank and business school IMD to compile the perceptions of the scale of public sector corruption.

The score runs from zero, which is highly corrupt, to 100, which is very clean.

Also ranked at position 145 alongside Kenya are Bangladesh, Cameroon, The Gambia, Madagascar and Nicaragua.

It means Kenya has dropped six places from its previous ranking at position 139 in the 2015 index.

Last year, TI had blamed Kenya’s continued dismal performance on the incompetence and ineffectiveness of anti-corruption agencies, saying that the failure to punish individuals implicated in graft had been a major stumbling block.

LONG WAY TO GO

“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Department of Public Prosecution and the Judiciary all bear collective responsibility for high corruption levels in the country," said TI Kenya Executive Director Samuel Kimeu said at the time.

"These three departments are responsible for investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating corruption cases and they have failed to deliver.”

In its analysis of the latest ranking, TI states that Kenya has a long way to go in so far as fighting corruption is concerned.

“Some other large African countries have failed to improve their scores on the index. These include South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania and Kenya. South African President Jacob Zuma was in court and in the media for corruption scandals,” it states.

“Kenya – despite the adoption of a few anti-corruption measures including passing a law on the right to information (Access to Information Act 2016) – has a long way to go. President Uhuru expressed frustration that all his anti-corruption efforts were not yielding much. He may need new strategies as Kenyan citizens go to the polls in 2017,” it adds.

TOP SCORERS

Denmark tops the list of the 10 least corrupt countries in the world followed by New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, Holland, Canada and Germany.

At the tail end of the 2016 list is Somalia, ranked the world’s most corrupt country.

It is followed by South Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Libya, suggesting a direct correlation between corruption and political instability.

TI notes that the elections held across the African continent last year clearly proved that voters are more likely to vote out leaders based on their poor corruption record.

“In countries like Ghana, which is the second worst decliner in the 2016 Corruption Perception Index in the region, the dissatisfaction of citizens with the government’s corruption record was reflected in their voting at the polls,” the report states.

MOST IMPROVED

Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe are the most improved African countries in the 2016 index.

"Both countries held democratic presidential elections in 2016. It is no surprise that the independent electoral observer teams labelled the Cape Verde elections for 2016 as “exemplary”.

This election that saw Jorge Carlos Fonseca re-elected was held in a framework of a continuously improving integrity system, as observed by various African governance reviews, the report notes.

“In São Tomé and Príncipe elections held in July 2016 led to a smooth change of government, which is increasingly a challenge in the African region,” it concludes.

THE LIST : HOW EAC MEMBER STATES FARED

Rank      country                      2016 score           2015 score

35                         Botswana            60                                                        63          

38                         Cape Verde        59                                                        55          

50                         Mauritius             54                                                                                 

50                         Rwanda                54                                                          54          

53                         Namibia               52                                                           53          

62                         Sao Tome            46                                                           42          

64                         Senegal                45                                                           44          

64                         South Africa       45                                                           44          

70                        Ghana                   43                                                           47          

72                        Burkina Faso      42                                                           38          

83                        Lesotho                39                                                           44                                                                          

87                        Zambia                 38                                                           38          

90                        Liberia                   37                                                           37          

95                        Benin                    36                                                           37          

101                      Gabon                  35                                                           34          

101                      Niger                     35                                                           34          

108                      Côte d´Ivoire      34                                                           32          

108                      Ethiopia                34                                                           33          

116                      Mali                       32                                                        35                                                                          

116                      Tanzania              32                                                           30          

116                      Togo                      32                                                           32          

120                       Malawi                 31                                                           31          

123                       Djibouti                30                                                           34          

123                       Sierra Leone       30                                                           29          

136                       Nigeria                  28                                                           26          

142                      Guinea                 27                                                           25          

142                      Mozambique     27                                                           31          

145                      Cameroon           26                                                           27          

145                      Gambia                26                                                           28          

145                      Kenya                   26                                                           25          

145                      Madagascar        26                                                           28          

151                      Uganda                25                                                           25          

153                      Comoros              24                                                           26          

154                      Zimbabwe           22                                                           21          

156                      DRC                        21                                                           22          

159                      Burundi                 20                                                           21          

159                      CAR                         20                                                           24          

159                      Chad                       20                                                           22          

159                      Congo Republic 20                                                           23          

164                      Angola                  18                                                           15          

164                      Eritrea                   18                                                           18          

168                     Guinea-Bissau   16                                                           17          

175                      South Sudan      11                                                           15          

176                     Somalia                10                                                           8