Botswana least corrupt country

Botswana has for the 21st year in a row, been cited as the least corrupt country in Africa by the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released on Wednesday.

Botswana is ranked 28th out of 168 countries worldwide with a score of 68/100. The CPI is compiled from a composite of surveys conducted during the year by organisations such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In response, Umbrella for Democratic Change spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa said the report does not portray Botswana as it is. “We shouldn’t celebrate it because we see corruption here every day,” he said, adding that the level of corruption in Botswana has risen high. He questions the criteria used. “Are structures independent? Does the country prosecute corrupt ministers? How independent is the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime?”

In defense, government spokesperson Jeff Ramsay says the report shows that the world can trust Botswana. “It tells the world that they can do business with us or come here for tourism purposes. They can have greater confidence in us,” he says, further stating that Batswana should be vigilant and maintain the systems that they have to fight corruption.

He advises critics to familiarise themselves with the report on the internet and check out their transparent methodology. The individuals surveyed for the report are largely public and private sector leaders and academics. Based on expert opinion from around the world, the Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide.

Not one of the 168 countries assessed in the 2015 index gets a perfect score and two-thirds score below 50, on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Second is Cape Verde with 55 points followed closely by Seychelles with the same points. Rwanda, a country among fastest growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa comes in fourth place with 54 points.

African powerhouses Nigeria and South Africa performed dismally in the latest index. South Africa comes in position 10 in Africa with 44 points and ranks 61 worldwide. Meanwhile, Africa’s biggest economy Nigeria received 26 points and is in position 136 worldwide.

According to the anti-corruption body, Sub-Saharan Africa faced a myriad of challenges in 2015 from terrorism and Ebola further underpinning corruption in several states.
‘‘Prosecuting corruption will restore faith among people who no longer believe in the institutions that are supposed to protect them. Transparency and accountability must go hand in hand when tackling corruption – as these results show, this is still far from the norm in Africa,’’ the report says.
Sub Saharan Africa scored an average of 33 while the global average score is 43.