Corruption worsens in Malawi
Malawi stood at 110th place among 175 countries in terms of the Corruption Perceptions in 2014, Transparency International said in its annual report released today December 3 2014.
The Corruption Perceptions index ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.
The index assigns scores of between one and 10—one being highly corrupt and 100 clean.
Malawi has fallen down on the ladder by 5 places on the index to record a score of 33 in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions index, from a score of 37 in 2013.
The Corruption Perceptions Index serves as a reminder that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world.
This year, two-thirds of countries have scored below 50 in 2014 index, indicating a serious, worldwide corruption problem.
Malawi is currently rocked with the biggest corruption scandal in the country’s history.
Over K13 billion (about $150m) was looted from public coffers by top government officials in a period of 6 months in 2013.
The scandal dubbed Cashgate led to the suspension of budgetary support from donors. The IMF programme with Malawi is also off track.
Out of 60 Cashgate cases currently in Malawian courts only three convictions have been concluded.
In 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, Denmark (with 92 score) and New Zealand (with 91 score) stood at first and second places, followed by Finland, Sweden and Norway .
Somalia (with a score of 8 score), North Korea (with a score of 8 ) and Sudan (with 11) are the most corrupt countries according to the Transparency International’s 2014 index.
