Source: CaribWorldNews.com
Several Caribbean nations, including Haiti and Guyana, have again made this year`s Transparency International`s 2008 Corruption Perceptions list.
Haiti registered a low 1.4 out of 10, with ten representing least corrupt. The storm-ravaged nation was ranked at 177 out of a list of 180 nations surveyed globally.
Guyana was listed as 2.6 and ranked at 126 overall on the Corruption Perceptions Index.
Caribbean nations, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago also scored low on the corruption scale. Jamaica came in at 96 with a 3.1 score while the DR was 102 with a 3.0 score. Both T&T and Suriname were ranked at 72 overall with a score of 3.6 while Cuba came in at 65 with a 4.3 score.
Five Caribbean nations managed to score above five. They included Puerto Rico, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and St. Lucia.
Puerto Rico was ranked 36 globally with a 5.8 score while Dominica came in at 33 with a 6.0 score. St. Vincent and the Grenadines scored 6.5 to place 28th overall while Barbados was ranked at 22 with a high score of 7.0.
The least corrupt nation in the Caribbean, according to the report, was St. Lucia, which managed a 7.1 score to rank 21, behind Canada at 18.
Among the 32 countries from the Americas included in Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index, 22 scored less than 5 points out of 10, indicating a serious corruption problem, and eleven failed to exceed the three-point mark, indicating rampant corruption.
`The results reflect an unfortunate on-going trend for the region in the past few years. Anti-corruption efforts appear largely to have stalled, which is particularly troubling in light of the
reform programs of many governments, as well as the central role of corruption on the public
agenda and in election campaigns in the region,` officials said.
Grenada, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles and St. Kitts & Nevis were not included this year since only two sources were available. Analysts require three.
The CPI is touted as a solid measurement tool of perceptions of corruption. The surveys used in compiling the CPI ask questions relating to the misuse of public power for private benefit. These include for example: bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds or questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts, thereby encompassing both the administrative and political aspects of corruption. The CPI 2008 draws on 13 different polls and surveys from 11 independent institutions.
