The index ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector and government corruption, according to expert assessments and opinion survey of businesspersons, amongst others. This year’s index, launched on Tuesday, grades and ranks 180 countries and territories across the world.
Transparency International, a non-profit and nongovernmental organisation, is one of the world’s top think tanks founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank and based in Berlin, German. It aims at combating global corruption with anti-corruption measures and to prevent criminal activities emerging from corruption.
Among its most notable publications are the Global Corruption Barometer and the Corruption Perceptions Index.
The Gambia marks a slight drop, though it has always been at the red zone of the index (most corrupt countries). It scored 37 out of 100 and ranked 102 in 2020 and maintained the same figure in both score and rank in 2021, sharing the position with Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.
“The National Assembly recently passed the Access to Information Bill, which is an important step towards more transparency in government. However, the National Assembly has not passed many other institutional and legal reforms required for political transformation, leaving the Gambia with a weak anti-corruption framework,” the organisation stated in 2021 in an article published on its website.
Four years ago, an Anti-Corruption Bill was tabled by former justice minister, Abubacarr Tambadou, before the country’s legislative body, National Assembly, alongside other bills, such as the National Human Rights Commission Bill and the Sexual Offences Bill.
However, almost all other bills have been passed but the Anti-Corruption Bill has since not been given due priority, despite remaining one of the people’s’ greatest hope and expectation.
The bill also suffered a major setback later after parliament set aside all the bills due to Justice Minister Dawda Jallow’s absence from parliament without any prior notice.
Over the years, several people, such as Marr Nyang, Gambia Participates’ executive director, have urged the Barrow administration and lawmakers to demonstrate maximum political will on the pending Anti-Corruption Bill to ensure it is passed without delay. However, the bill’s passage is yet to be materialised.
The Gambia ranks behind neighbouring Senegal, who scored 43 out of 100 and ranked the 72nd country. Over 25 countries improved, 31 declined and 124 occupied the same position as they did in the previous index, marking stagnation in the level of corruption across the globe.
Countries outperformed by The Gambia, according to the index, include Ukraine, Kenya, Algeria, Angola, Niger, Togo, Egypt, Mali Russia, Nigeria, North Korea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Corruption has made our world a more dangerous place. As governments have collectively failed to make progress against it; they fueled the current rise in violence and conflict – and endanger people everywhere,” Transparency International’s chairperson, Delia Ferreira Rubio, is quoted as saying on the body’s website.
“The only way out is for states to do the hard work, rooting out corruption at all levels to ensure governments work for all people, not just an elite few,” he added.
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