Transparency International reveals Cameroon’s worsening corruption situation in latest report

Cameroon remains one of the most corrupt nations in sub Saharan Africa and beyond.

According to latest ranking from the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, the central African nation is occupies 153rd position of 180 nations ranked in 2019, as compared to 136th out of 175 countries in 2018.

Despite this change however, Cameroon maintained a score of 25 on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (least corrupt), to Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

“A strong executive branch, lack of judicial capacity, and widespread poverty in the country are some of the factors that have made corruption, in the form of bribery, extortion, tax evasion and electoral manipulation, so rampant,” Transparency International says in its report.

In terms of public financial management it adds, “Cameroon shows little progress in modernising its fiscal and tributary system or making it transparent”.

While internationally financed efforts to combat corruption in the country have been launched with mixed results and extensive critiques from national and international actors Transparency International notes, “the participation of civil society and media actors in policy formulation are still weak”.

This comes within a fragile security context that appears to be getting worse over the years. From the fight against Boko Haram in the Northern regions to Ambazonian fighters clamouring for a separate state in the Anglophone regions, the economic situation in the nation has also witnessed a downward spiral.

Prior to these upheavals however, the country has been placed several times as one of the most corrupt in sub Saharan Africa and beyond.

While Denmark and New Zealand top the chart as the world’s least corrupt nations, while Somalia, South Sudan and Syria sit at the bottom of the table.