En omfattende undersøgelse fra Afrobarometer viser stor utilfredshed blandt mere end halvdelen af indbyggerne i 34 afrikanske lande med deres regeringers indsats mod korruption. Særligt indenfor politiets rækker er korruptionen slem.
13. November, 2013 (AFROBAROMETER): A majority of people in 34 African countries condemn their governments’ anti-corruption efforts, according to Afrobarometer surveys of more than 51,000 people between October 2011 and June 2013.
The finding is just one conclusion of the Afrobarometer report, “Governments Falter in Fight to Curb Corruption: The people give most a failing grade”, released Wednesday, Nov. 13 in Dakar.
Fifty-six percent of survey participants said their governments have done a “fairly” or “very bad” job of fighting corruption, while just 35% say their governments have done this “fairly” or “very well”.
For the 16 countries surveyed since 2002, negative ratings have increased from 46% to 54% with only five countries showing a decline in these negative ratings over the last decade.
The negative ratings surface despite the fact that eradicating corruption and improving governance in Africa have been priorities for most major international organizations and many political leaders since the mid-1990s.
KEY FINDINGS
* More than 5 in every 10 people (56%) say their governments are doing a poor job of fighting corruption. In the 16 countries surveyed over the past decade, negative ratings have increased by 8 points since 2002.
* Police attract the highest ratings of corruption across the 34 countries, with 43% of people saying that “most” or “all” of them are involved in corruption. Negative perceptions are highest in Nigeria (78%), Kenya (69%) and Sierra Leone (69%).
* One in three respondents (30%) report paying a bribe (bestikkelse) at least once in the past year either to obtain a service or avoid a problem, ranging from a low of just 4% among Batswana to 63% of Sierra Leoneans.
* The poor pay bribes more often than do better off citizens. Almost one in five people (18%) who had gone without enough food to eat one or more times in the past year had paid a bribe to a government official in the past year to obtain medical treatment, compared with just 12% among those who never went without food.
* Experience of poverty is also linked to higher perceived levels of corruption, especially in the justice sector. Almost half the people (46%) who go without enough food to eat one or more times a year rate “most” or “all” of the police to be corrupt, compared to 39% among those who never go without food. And 31% of the poorest perceive judges and magistrates to be corrupt, compared to 24% among better off citizens.
