Namibia drops on corruption index
The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.
ELLANIE SMIT
WINDHOEK
Transparency International, the leading civil society organisation fighting corruption worldwide, has ranked Namibia 57th out of 180 countries on its latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Namibia scored 51 points on the index, dropping one point and one ranking since the previous year.
The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. It uses a scale of 0 to 100, where a score of zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Of the sub-Saharan African countries, Namibia is ranked sixth, dropping one place from last year, when it was ranked fifth.
Seychelles (global score of 66), Botswana (60), Cabo Verde (58), Rwanda (54) and Mauritius (53) are among the Sub-Saharan African countries ranked above Namibia.
“With an average score of 32, sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest performing region on the index, showing little improvement from previous years and underscoring a need for urgent action.”
Bribery impedes access
It added that, generally, bribery continues to impede access to basic services.
The index said to reverse the region’s position as the worst performing, governments in sub-Saharan Africa must take decisive action, particularly in those economies already weakened by the ongoing economic recession stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
The top performing countries globally are Denmark and New Zealand, with scores of 88, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland, with scores of 85 each.
The lowest ranked countries are South Sudan and Somalia, with scores of 12 each, followed by Syria (14), Yemen (15) and Venezuela (15).
The index is the leading global indicator of perceived public-sector corruption, offering a yearly snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries from all over the globe.
It highlighted the impact of corruption on government responses to Covid-19, comparing countries’ performance in the index to their investment in healthcare and the extent to which democratic norms and institutions have been weakened during the pandemic.
No country free of corruption
Transparency International said although no country is free of corruption, the countries at the top share characteristics of high standards in open government, press freedom, civil liberties and independent judicial systems.
It was, however, pointed out that some of the 25 top performing countries in the index, such as Norway (84), are facing major corruption challenges.
It specifically pointed to the international Fishrot scandal and how prominent state-owned Norwegian bank, DBN, was a gatekeeper for laundered money that flowed through shell companies from lucrative proceeds of illegal offshore fishing.
It also highlighted Iceland (75), saying the country’s reputation as a corruption-free country took a nose dive when the Fishrot Files exposed how far its biggest fishery player would go to extend its business and launder suspicious proceeds.
WINDHOEK
Transparency International, the leading civil society organisation fighting corruption worldwide, has ranked Namibia 57th out of 180 countries on its latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Namibia scored 51 points on the index, dropping one point and one ranking since the previous year.
The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. It uses a scale of 0 to 100, where a score of zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Of the sub-Saharan African countries, Namibia is ranked sixth, dropping one place from last year, when it was ranked fifth.
Seychelles (global score of 66), Botswana (60), Cabo Verde (58), Rwanda (54) and Mauritius (53) are among the Sub-Saharan African countries ranked above Namibia.
“With an average score of 32, sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest performing region on the index, showing little improvement from previous years and underscoring a need for urgent action.”
Bribery impedes access
It added that, generally, bribery continues to impede access to basic services.
The index said to reverse the region’s position as the worst performing, governments in sub-Saharan Africa must take decisive action, particularly in those economies already weakened by the ongoing economic recession stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
The top performing countries globally are Denmark and New Zealand, with scores of 88, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland, with scores of 85 each.
The lowest ranked countries are South Sudan and Somalia, with scores of 12 each, followed by Syria (14), Yemen (15) and Venezuela (15).
The index is the leading global indicator of perceived public-sector corruption, offering a yearly snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries from all over the globe.
It highlighted the impact of corruption on government responses to Covid-19, comparing countries’ performance in the index to their investment in healthcare and the extent to which democratic norms and institutions have been weakened during the pandemic.
No country free of corruption
Transparency International said although no country is free of corruption, the countries at the top share characteristics of high standards in open government, press freedom, civil liberties and independent judicial systems.
It was, however, pointed out that some of the 25 top performing countries in the index, such as Norway (84), are facing major corruption challenges.
It specifically pointed to the international Fishrot scandal and how prominent state-owned Norwegian bank, DBN, was a gatekeeper for laundered money that flowed through shell companies from lucrative proceeds of illegal offshore fishing.
It also highlighted Iceland (75), saying the country’s reputation as a corruption-free country took a nose dive when the Fishrot Files exposed how far its biggest fishery player would go to extend its business and launder suspicious proceeds.
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