By Dorcas Sarkozy
TI (Transparency International) released its 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Corruption under the “good guy surrounded by bad people” has gotten worse since he took office in 2013.
Of the 180 countries surveyed for the 2018 CPI ranking, more than two-thirds scored below 50, where 100 reflects a “very clean” government/society and zero is a “very corrupt” government/society.
The Top Ten, in order included Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Canada, Luxembourg and Germany (tied). All save Singapore and Canada are west European countries.
The Bottom Ten include Libya, Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sudan, North Korea, Yemen, S. Sudan, Syria and Somalia. Six of the ten are in Africa, two are in Asia and two are in the Middle East.
Specific to East Africa and more so Kenya, for all its chest-thumping and hubris, the country is just above Sudan, S. Sudan, Eritrea and Burundi – the latter three being effective failed states and Sudan being a country headed by a crimes-against-humanity fugitive Omar Bashir!
Rwanda sits atop the region – more than doubling Kenya’s CPI score: 56 vs. 27 (out of 100). The small country is just 1 point behind South Korea, Kenya’s peer of the late 60s/early 70s.
Tanzania, Ethiopia and Djibouti round out the top positions in the region.
Side Note: Is Seychelles considered a part of East Africa – asking for posterity’s sake? Make that asking for a friend because Kenya’s future (her youth) has embraced the ethos of their current cellar-dwelling and irredeemably corrupt parents – this according to polls (Aga Khan University) and anecdotes on the country’s youth and their perception on corruption/good governance and amassing ill-wealth/gains.
The small island nation sits atop the continent with a rating almost three times that of Kenya (66 vs. 27). It is followed by the perennially well-governed land-locked nation of Botswana.
Rounding out the Top Ten African nations are Cape Verde, Rwanda, Namibia, Mauritius, Sao Tome/Principe, Senegal, South and the late Thomas Sankara’s “Land of Outstanding Men” Burkina Faso.
The Bottom Ten include Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Chad, Congo, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia. Six of the continent’s worst-governed countries are in East/Central Africa – just an observation.
Let me repeat a truism that rub kumiraites and Jubilants the wrong way but is undeniable now more so than ever:
For all their chest-thump self-importance and sense of entitlement, their “god-chosen” kleptocrats continue to be bested by countries that (1) are less than one-quarter-century removed from genocide i.e. Rwanda, (2) experienced military coups, socio-political and economic upheavals and the resultant brain-drain i.e. Ethiopia, (3) declared their independence two years BEFORE Daniel Moi became president i.e. Djibouti (1977), and (4), Kenyans derided as “socialists” and “underdeveloped” i.e. Tanzania.
Kenya is ranked 30th out of the continent’s 49 states.
It is tied, notably with Guatemala and Lebanon at 143rd out of the 180 countries polled/measured.
Its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) slipped from 28 out of 100 to 27/100.
Importantly, the summary below – of the country’s CPI since 2013 when the digital duo took office with all the flourish Jubilee’s marketing team and stable of bloggers could muster – reflects zero progress in the party’s fight against corruption.
Year / Rank / CPI Score
2013 / 136 / 27
2014 / 145 / 25
2015 / 139 / 25
2016 / 145 / 26
2017 / 144 / 28
2018 / 143 / 27
Put another way, Kenyans have either treaded water i.e. bora uhai’d their anti-corruption efforts or basically followed Uhuru’s “jameni, ni fanye nini” cave-in and allowed incompetence-induced corruption and countenance to deteriorate – since he took office in 2013.
Conversely, their two demonstrably better-governed/less-corrupt neighbors Ethiopia and Tanzania now have economies that have either equaled or surpassed that of the erstwhile “oasis of peace and tranquility in a neighbor of civil strife and instability”. Tanzania’s GDP is neck-and-neck with Kenya’s after trailing it since independence and Ethiopia’s now tops the region’s.
One can castigate/lambaste my characterization/editorializing of the 2018 Corruption Perception Index results, which reflect my disgust at the ineptness of the country’s leadership but also increasingly, at persons who support that very ineptness. However, one cannot question the data that underpins the disgust reflected in my characterization.
The photos of the conditions at Homa Bay’s Referral Hospital is a direct reflection of the data as is the sale/transfer of, for private gain, donated items including medical supplies/equipment intended for public institutions ergo public use.
There is also a direct relationship between Kenya’s poor ranking and the partisan, corruptibility and malleability of the various institutions of its government.
TI makes the unequivocal statement – that its “…..analysis of the 2018 CPI demonstrates, strong, democratic institutions are key to curbing corruption.”
https://www.transparency.org/…/cpi2018-subsaharan-africa-re…
Put another way, Uhuru, DPP Haji and toadies can bray all they want – that “this time, they are ‘serious’ about fighting corruption” – but until the man respects AND stops intimidating and harassing the country’s supposedly co-equal and independent democratic institutions i.e. its legislature and its judiciary, then his proclamations will remain just that – hollow and meaningless proclamations.
Until the man stops using the country’s law enforcement apparatus like a personal militia tasked with keeping him in power, then the resultant quality of life will continue to reflect the low CPI score Kenya has registered over the 5+ years he has been in office.
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