The 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index
COVID-19 is not just a health and economic crisis, but also a corruption crisis… Countries with high levels of corruption also relied less on democratic responses to the COVID-19 crisis, leading to democratic backsliding in many regions of the world. More than a year into the crisis, with vaccines already available in many parts of the world, there’s a looming question of whether corruption will continue to undermine vaccine distribute too.
Transparency International
Last Thursday, Transparency International (TI) issued its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2020. Based on surveys carried out of knowledgeable businesspersons and country experts on the perceived level of corruption in the public sector, the CPI was compiled using 13 different data sources from 12 different institutions. For a country to be included, there must be a minimum of three data sources that respond to specific questions relating to:
(a) Bribery;
(b) Diversion of public funds;
(c) Prevalence of officials using public office for private gain without facing consequences;
(d) Ability of governments to contain corruption and enforce effective integrity mechanisms in the public sector;
(e) Red tape and excessive bureaucratic burden which may increase opportunities for corruption;
(f) Meritocratic versus nepotistic appointments in the civil service;
(g) Effectiveness of criminal prosecution for corrupt officials;
(h) Adequacy of laws on financial disclosure and conflict of interest prevention for public officials;
(i) Legal protection for whistleblowers, journalists and investigators when they are reporting cases of bribery and corruption;
(j) State capture by narrow vested interests; and
(k) Access of civil society to information on public affairs.
The 2020 CPI results
Most of the 180 countries surveyed have shown little or no progress in almost a decade to bring about improvements in their CPI scores. Two-thirds have scored below 50, with an average score of just 43. TI’s analysis shows that corruption not only undermines the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic but also contributes to a continuing crisis of democracy:
The emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic revealed enormous cracks in health systems and democratic institutions, underscoring that those in power or who hold government purse strings often serve their own interests instead of those most vulnerable. As the global community transitions from crisis to recovery, anticorruption efforts must keep pace to ensure a fair and just revival.
The countries that continue to score well on a scale of 0 to 100 are: New Zealand (88), Denmark (88), Finland (85), Switzerland (85), Sweden (85), Norway (84), Netherlands (82), Luxembourg (80), Canada (77), United Kingdom (77) and Australia (77). On the other hand, countries that scored poorly are: Somalia (12), South Sudan (12), Syria (14), Yemen (15), Venezuela (15), Equatorial Guinea (16), Libya (17) and North Korea (18).
For the English-speaking Caribbean, Barbados and The Bahamas continue to top the list with scores of 64 and 63, respectively. Guyana received a score of 41 out of 100 and a ranking of 83, a one point percentage increase over its 2019 score. It has overtaken Trinidad and Tobago which is now at the bottom of the table, as shown at Table I:
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Image: leo2014 (Pixabay)