Times Of Swaziland: ESWATINI RATED 14TH MOST CORRUPT COUNTRY

ESWATINI RATED 14TH MOST CORRUPT COUNTRY
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 BY SIBONGILE SUKATI on 31/01/2019 01:34:00


MBABANE - Having made the fight against corruption his priority, it seems like
Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini and his government will have to work
even harder.
This is because the year 2018 has seen less improvement in terms of fighting
corruption.
According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Report 2018, the Kingdom of
Eswatini is still listed as among the countries where corruption was at the
highest rate.
The index compared the year 2018 with that of 2017, and the country showed a
slight decline as it scored 38 out of 100 per cent compared to 37.
Out of the 49 countries which were assessed in Africa, Eswatini came out as
position 14.
Index
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels
of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a
scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Worldwide, Eswatini was rated as position 89.
More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an
average score of just 43.
The analysis revealed that the continued failure of most countries to
significantly control corruption was contributing to a crisis in democracy
around the world.
“While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most
countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption,” reads part
of the report.
The case of Eswatini is not unique to just itself but the rest of the
sub-Saharan countries as the report stated that there was a continuous struggle
to fight corruption.
“This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) presents a largely gloomy
picture for Africa – only eight of 49 countries score more than 43 out of 100
on the index. Despite commitments from African leaders in declaring 2018 as the
African Year of Anti-Corruption, this has yet to translate into concrete
progress,” the report stated.
With an average score of just 32, Sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest scoring
region on the index, followed closely by Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with
an average score of 35.
According to the analysis, Seychelles scored 66 out of 100, to put it at the top
of the region and was followed by Botswana and Cabo Verde, with scores of 61 and
57 respectively.
At the very bottom of the index for the seventh year in a row, Somalia scored 10
points, followed by South Sudan (13) to round out the lowest scores in the
region.
With an average score of just 32, sub-Saharan Africa was rated the lowest
scoring region on the index, followed closely by Eastern Europe and Central
Asia, with an average score of 35.
Challenges
Sub-Saharan Africa remains a region of stark political and socio-economic
contrasts and many longstanding challenges.
While a large number of countries have adopted democratic principles of
governance, several are still governed by authoritarian and semi-authoritarian
leaders. Autocratic regimes, civil strife, weak institutions and unresponsive
political systems continue to undermine anti-corruption efforts.
Countries like Seychelles and Botswana, which score higher on the CPI than other
countries in the region, have a few attributes in common.
Both have relatively well-functioning democratic and governance systems, which
help contribute to their scores. However, these countries are the exception
rather than the norm in a region where most democratic principles are at risk
and corruption is high.
The Kingdom of Eswatini is not alone in the countries that have been described
as decliners, as Mozambique was also put in the list.
The report said in the last seven years, Mozambique dropped eight points, moving
from 31 in 2012 to 23 in 2018.
It was highlighted that an increase in abductions and attacks on political
analysts and investigative journalists creates a culture of fear, which is
detrimental to fighting corruption.
Furthermore, the report listed Angola, Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa and Kenya
as all important countries to watch, given some promising political developments
but that the real test would be whether these new administrations would follow
through on their anti-corruption commitments moving forward.
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