A recent survey report by Afrobarometer has placed Sierra Leone with 63% on the top of countries with the highest rate of bribery while Batswana was rated the lowest with just 4%.
This latest slam came just four months after the global corruption watchdog, Transparency International, reported that some 84% of respondents in Sierra Leone, the highest in the world, admitted to either paying or taking bribe to access public services.
A majority of people in 34 African countries condemn their governments' anti-corruption efforts, according to Afrobarometer surveys of more than 51,000 people between October 2011 and June 2013.
The report, "Governments Falter in Fight to Curb Corruption: The people give most a failing grade", and published in November 2013, saidone in three respondents (30%) said they paid a bribe at least once in the past year either to obtain a service or avoid a problem, ranging from a low of just 4% among Batswana to 63% of Sierra Leoneans.
The Africa report said “Police attract the highest ratings of corruption across the 34 countries, with 43% of people saying that ‘most’ or ‘all’ of them are involved in corruption. Negative perceptions are highest in Nigeria (78%), Kenya (69%) and Sierra Leone (69%).
Meanwhile, fifty-six percent of people agreed that their governments had done a "fairly" or "very bad" job of fighting corruption; while just 35% say their governments have done this "fairly" or "very well".
Across the 34 countries, perceptions of corruption were highest for the police, followed by government officials and tax officials.
The Afrobarometer surveys also found out that almost 1 in 5 people (16%) have paid a bribe one or more times to a government official in the past year in order to get an official document or permit.
Paying a bribe to get medical treatment as well as avoid a problem with the police were the other two most cited reasons. Nearly one in three Africans (30%) has paid a bribe at least once in the past year.
Sierra Leone, Morocco, Guinea, Kenya and Egypt have the most people paying a bribe for a service or to avoid a problem. Fewer people in Namibia, Mauritius, Cape Verde and Botswana say they engage in this form of corruption.
In a press release reacting to the TI report in July, the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission said, “This report on bribery affords the opportunity to restate the country’s resolve to achieving zero tolerance for corruption which can never be realized without full participation of its citizens.”
The statement concluded that: “While we continue to muster the necessary efforts to deal with bribery in all facets of public life, we would like to call the attention of the general public to the negative and indelible effect of bribery and indeed any other form of corruption, if it is not dealt with aggressively by all and sundry.”
© Politico 14/11/13
