Uganda ranks 130th most corrupt worldwide

By Sarah Namulondo

Uganda has regained its 2009 position of the 130th most corrupt country in the world. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2012, Uganda scored the same as Ivory Coast and Nicaragua in the corruption perceptions index.

This is a great leap by 13 from last year’s 143 position and comes at a time when Uganda is going through a revelation of different graft investigations.

In East Africa, Uganda came in third place after Rwanda whose rank changed from 49 last year to 50 this year followed by Tanzania in second position at 102 compared to 100th..

Kenya came in fourth position in the region at 139 an improvement from last year while Burundi is at 165 an improvement from 172.

Mauritius (43) and Rwanda (50) were the only African countries ranked amongst the worlds 50 least corrupt countries in the world with the likes of Denmark, Finland and Newzealand which tied at number one.

The report said that there is a growing outcry over corrupt governments which forced several leaders from office last year, but as the dust has cleared it has become apparent that the levels of bribery, abuse of power and secret dealings are still very high in many countries.

Two thirds of the 176 countries ranked in the 2012 index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean), showing that public institutions need to be more transparent, and powerful officials more accountable.

“Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making by lobbying better rule, political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people,” Huguette Labelle, the Chair of Transparency International said.

Labelle said they expect governments to take a tougher stance against the abuse of power.

Some Euro zone countries most affected by the financial and economic crisis were also ranked among the underperformers in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012.

“Corruption is the world’s most talked about problem,” stated Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International.

“The world’s leading economies should lead by example, making sure that their institutions are fully transparent and their leaders are held accountable because their institutions play a significant role in preventing corruption from flourishing globally,”.