Arusha — TANZANIA is the second least corrupt country in the East African Community (EAC) region after Rwanda, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI) recently.
The 2023 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) puts Somalia and South Sudan at the bottom of in the region.
The report ranks 180 countries and territories based on their perceived levels of public sector corruption, on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt) using data from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, World Economic Forum, think tanks and others.
According to the report, Tanzania is the second least corrupt country in the region with a score of 40 behind Rwanda, which scored 53.
Kenya occupies the third position in the region with a score of 31, followed by Uganda with a score of 26, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) both scored 20, while South Sudan scored 13 and Somalia is the last with a score of 11.
In Africa, Seychelles tops the list as the least corrupt country with a commanding score of 71, followed by Capo Verde (64).
The others are Botswana, Rwanda, Mauritius, Namibia, Benin, Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania, and Tunisia in that order.
The most corrupt countries as noted by Transparency International are Syria with a score of 13 followed by Yemen (16), Equatorial Guinea (17), and Libya with a score of 18.
Denmark continues to lead the ranking as cleanest for the sixth consecutive year, with a CPI score of 90. Finland and New Zealand closely follow with CPI scores of 87 and 85, respectively.
On the other end of the spectrum, Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, and South Sudan rank at the bottom of the CPI.
Notable democracies such as Sweden (CPI 82), the Netherlands (CPI 79), and the UK (CPI score of 71) recorded their lowest-ever scores in the CPI. The UK dropped two places to 20th in the ranking, its lowest position since 2012. The United States maintained its rank of 24th with a CPI score of 69.
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The report highlights that over two-thirds of countries scored below 50 out of 100, indicating serious corruption issues. The global average remains stagnant at 43 and many countries have not shown improvement or have even declined in the past decade. Additionally, 23 countries reached their lowest scores to date in this year's CPI.
In terms of the biggest movers and shakers since 2022, Egypt experienced the greatest increase in CPI score, rising by five points to reach a CPI of 35. Cabo Verde, Kuwait, and Zambia also saw notable increases of four points each.
On the other hand, Afghanistan and Tajikistan experienced the greatest decrease in CPI scores, both dropping by four points to a CPI of 20. Several other countries, including Georgia, Greece, China, Cuba, Peru, Laos, and Myanmar, experienced decreases of three points.
