Low corruption index could spoil much-needed donor confidence
Transparency International on Tuesday ranked South Sudan as the world’s most corrupt country, bypassing Somalia, with a ranking of 11 out of 100 scores.
Meanwhile, Finland, Denmark, and New Zealand, which ranked 88 each on a scale of zero to 100, have been declared the world’s least corrupt countries. Every year, the index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and businesspeople.
According to the Transparency International report, corruption levels tend to increase in countries that are faced with armed conflict or authoritarian governments, including Venezuela (with a score of 14), Afghanistan (16), North Korea (16), Yemen (16), Equatorial Guinea (17), and Libya (17).
Transparency International said South Sudan (11), Syria (13) and Somalia (13) remain at the bottom of the index.
This is so serious because, since independence, the country has not scored above 15 which means South Sudan still has a lot of work to do rather than just political statements to fight corruption. The leaders have on several occasions promised to fight corruption in the country, which is always contrary to the Transparency International report.
Last year’s corruption perception index ranked South Sudan and Somalia 12 out of 100 scores. Syria, which was ranked 13 last year, trailed behind the two countries, scoring only 11 out of 100 this year.
There is a great need for the country and its leaders to work hard to remove the country from the bottom of the corruption perception index.
Otherwise, this also sends a bad signal to the donors, as they may become reluctant to provide any financial support to the country.
No doubt, there is no way you can lend money to someone if you know the person will not utilise it appropriately. So, this report may make some donors start pulling back their financial support from the country, as no country would wish to waste its taxpayers’ money.
It is a bad signal that demands the leaders’ commitment to put into practice what they normally say about corruption. All the public financial sector and institutions need to work hard to fight the corruption syndrome in the country.
However, it is a big task ahead for the country and what the leaders should do to pull the country out of the red zone of corruption. The ranking will have negative implications on the country’s needs for financial support as some donors may have already lost confidence in the country and they will be reluctant to give any financial support to the country.
