Sierra Leone Makes Remarkable Progress In Global Corruption Ranking

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Tansparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI) reveals

By Sylvester Samba

The country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has assured Sierra Leoneans of its relentless determination to ensure the country continues to perform favorably in national, sub-regional, regional, and global anti-corruption governance indices. The recent assurance made after Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI) reveals for the first time, in more than five years, Sierra Leone ranked under 120.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released on Thursday 23rd January 2020, is a clear indication that the thirty-three (33) points scored is the highest the country ever achieved since its inclusion in the TI index. Sierra Leone now leads sixty-one (61) countries in the global campaign against corruption. More than 28 African countries; Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, Kenya, among others.

Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala Esq, and His Excellency, Brig. (Rtd.) Julius Maada Bio

Diaspora National Development Award 2019

The country Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) disclosed that Sierra Leone moved ten (10) places upwards in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Ranking...129 in the year 2018 to 119 out of 180 countries surveyed in the 2019 TI-CPI. The country also increased its score from a stagnant thirty (30) points in 2016, 2017, and 2018, to thirty-three (33) in 2019, mark a three (3) points gain scoring above the sub-Saharan average of 32, the Commission noted.

This year’s report reveals that “Sub-Saharan Africa’s performance paints a bleak picture of inaction against corruption.

A staggering number of countries are showing little or no improvement in tackling corruption. The report also suggests that more than two-thirds of countries – along with many of the world’s most advanced economies – are stagnating or showing signs of backsliding in their anti-corruption efforts. Nonetheless, Sierra Leone performed better than the average score in Sub-Saharan Africa, said the ACC.

The CPI is an annual survey indicator used by TI, the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption, to assess perceived levels of public sector corruption across the world.

Within the past two years, Sierra Leone has increased its score in the ‘Control of Corruption’ Indicator in the Millennium Challenge Corporation Scorecard, from forty-nine percent (49%) in 2017, to seventy-nine (79%) percent in 2019, making thirty percent (30%) upwards. By that report, Sierra Leone is among the top ten performers in our income category.

Similarly, Sierra Leone has also scored high in other global and regional anti-corruption rankings. In the Global Corruption Barometer of 2018, the country is ranked 3rd out of thirty-five (35) African Countries surveyed on “Government’s Effectiveness in the Fight against Corruption.” In the Afro-Barometer 2018, fifty-four (54%) of Sierra Leoneans agreed that the government is performing “very well” in the fight against corruption.

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Theo Edwards

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