Guyana still perceived as highly corrupt – Transparency International
Out of some 168 countries, Guyana has once again made a deep plunge into the waters of corruption with its number 119 ranking on the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) with a score of 29.
Guyana has maintained that score since the TI’s 2014 report. It is tied with Russia, Azerbaijan, and Sierra Leone.
The Corruption Perception Index is based on expert opinions on Public Sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption, and public institutions that do not respond to citizens’ needs.
According to TI, corruption is still a major problem around the world, but more countries are improving than worsening and the United States and United Kingdom have reached their best rankings ever.
“The 2015 Corruption Perception Index clearly shows that corruption remains blight around the world,” said Transparency head Jose Ugaz. “But 2015 was also a year when people again took to the streets to protest corruption – people across the globe sent a strong signal to those in power: it is time to tackle grand corruption.”
Brazil, in the midst of a massive corruption scandal at the State-owned oil company Petrobras, posted the biggest decline, falling five points to a score of 38 and dropping seven positions to 76th place.
Transparency noted that in places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana, citizen activists have “worked hard to drive out the corrupt”.
Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries studied scored below 50 and the global average was 43.
Denmark remained at the top of the Index, a closely watched global barometer, for the second consecutive year as the country perceived as least corrupt. It scored 91 points out of a possible 100, while North Korea and Somalia remained at the bottom with unchanged scores of eight.
The US moved up one spot this year to 16th place with a score of 76, tying with Austria. The UK moved up three spots to place 10th, with a score of 81 that tied it with Germany and Luxembourg. The other top spots, from second to ninth, were occupied by Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada.
Despite so many countries in the top 10, Transparency said there was still a lot of room for improvement in Europe and Central Asia, which it grouped as one region, saying “in low-scorers Hungary, Poland and Turkey, politicians and their cronies are increasingly hijacking State institutions to shore up power”.
“It’s even grimmer further down the Index,” the organisation continued. “In Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and others, Governments are restricting, if not totally stifling, civil society and free media.”
Still, Transparency said, it was a good sign that 64 countries improved their score, while only 53 declined. The others were unchanged.
