KAMPALA – Uganda has dropped from 149th to 137th position among the most corrupt countries in the world, the latest report from global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International shows.
The 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index report, which was released on Thursday, January 23, 2020, shows that Uganda has improved in the fight in against graft.
The board chairman of Transparency International Uganda, Mr John Mary Odoy, said despite the improvement, Uganda still has a lot to do in the fight against corruption.
“We need political will to fight it. Institutions established to fight Corruption should be well resourced and their work should not be interrupted. We must take action against Corruption now,” Mr Odoi said.
The most corrupt countries, according to the report, are Somalia, South Sudan and Syria with scores of 9, 12 and 13, respectively. These are closely followed by Yemen (15), Venezuela (16), Sudan (16), Equatorial Guinea (16) and Afghanistan (16).
The report ranks Denmark and New Zealand as the least corrupt nations in the world, scoring 87% and 86% respectively, while Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland followed with 85% each.
Western Europe and the EU is the highest-scoring region with an average of 66/100, while Sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest scoring region with 32 points. Both regions have kept an unchanged average since last year.
The report says keeping big money out of politics is essential to ensuring political decision-making serves the public interest and curbing opportunities for corrupt deals.
“Countries that perform well on the CPI have strong enforcement of campaign finance regulations,” the report states.
