Kenya Ranked 139 out of 168 in global Corruption Perception Index (CPI)

Kenya ranks at position 139 out of 168 countries and territories included in the latest edition of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

In a report released by the Transparency International (TI) on Wednesday, Kenya registered a score of 25%, with 0% perceived to be highly corrupt and 100% very clean. The country scored 27% in the 2012 and 2013 editions of the same while in 2014 the score was 25, same as the recently released score.

This sequence of results demonstrates that efforts to tackle corruption have borne little results and reflects the need to go beyond anti-corruption rhetoric.

Kenya’s score, tied with that of neighboring country Uganda, falls below the global average of 43% and Sub Saharan Africa’s mean of 33%.

Although corruption is still rifle globally, more countries improved their scores in the CPI 2015 and in overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries in the 2015 index scored below 50%. Denmark is ranked first for the 2^nd year running with a score of 91%, while North Korea and Somalia are placed at the bottom of the pile scoring a paltry 8% each.

‘Kenya can learn key lessons from the top performing countries in the 2015 CPI. Generally, they have high levels of press freedom, stronger access to information systems, and budget transparency thus the public is aware of how revenue is gained and how the money is spent,’ said Samuel Kimeu, the Executive Director Transparency International Kenya.

Among the East African Community (EAC) countries, Rwanda was once again the top performer with a score of 54%, recording an improvement from its 2014 score of 49%. Burundi is at the bottom of the pack, recording a 21% scored and placed at number 150.

The CPI measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in countries and territories worldwide and is based on expert opinion.