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Thursday, November 09, 2006

SL is the 7th most corrupt countryin Africa

Haiti has been ranked as the most corrupt country in the World by Transparency International (TI), followed by Burma and Iraq.The Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog said that for the first time,Haiti topped the table.Sierra Leone's next door neighbour Guinea ranked as the most corrupt country in Africa followed by Sudan,Democratic Republic of Congo,Chad,Equatorial Guinea,Côte d´Ivoire and then Sierra Leone in seventh place.Nigeria is eight followed by Kenya and Congo Republic in tenth position.
The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), launched Monday 6th November by Transparency International (TI), points to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty, with a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.“Corruption traps millions in poverty,” said Transparency International Chair Huguette Labelle. “Despite a decade of progress in establishing anti-corruption laws and regulations, the results indicate that much remains to be done before we see meaningful improvements in the lives of the world’s poorest citizens.”
The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index is a composite index that draws on multiple expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption in 163 countries around the world, the greatest scope of any CPI to date. It scores countries on a scale from zero to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption.
A strong correlation between corruption and poverty is evident in the results of the CPI 2006. Almost three-quarters of the countries in the CPI score below five (including all low-income countries and all but two African states) indicating that most countries in the world face serious perceived levels of domestic corruption. Seventy-one countries - nearly half - score below three, indicating that corruption is perceived as rampant.Haiti has the lowest score at 1.8; Guinea, Iraq and Myanmar share the penultimate slot, each with a score of 1.9. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand share the top score of 9.6.
On 7 December, TI will launch its 2006 Global Corruption Barometer which looks at public perceptions of the level of corruption in major institutions such as the courts, parliament and the police. The Barometer is published in anticipation of International Anti-Corruption Day, 9 December 2006.