By: Alhaji A.K. Bangura, Senior Communications Officer, ACC

Corruption in African countries is hindering economic, political and social development. It is a major barrier to economic growth, good governance and basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech or citizen’s right to hold Governments to account. More than this, corruption affects the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. 

Most people in Africa feel corruption increased in their country, whilst majority also feel optimistic that they, as citizens can make a difference in the fight against corruption-(Global Corruption Barometer-2021).  A country’s score is a combination of at least 3 data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments.  These data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. 

On Tuesday 31st January, 2023, Transparency International published its Corruption Perception Index for 2022. Majority of Sierra Leoneans saw the significant progress in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI) coming, although it was a mystery to some, because they cannot understand the plethora of accomplishments, positive ratings and rankings Sierra Leone and ACC continue to record. 

Like any other country among the 180 countries, Sierra Leone has made for the fourth time in four years, progress upwards in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Country Rankings, moving from 115 in 2021 to 110 out of 180 countries surveyed in _*the 2022 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI).

A country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of _0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean. 

In this year’s (2022) Transparency International’s Global Corruption Country Rankings, Sierra Leone continues to maintain it score of thirty- four (34), which is above the Sub-Saharan average and the highest the country has recorded since the CPI ranking began. This is a clear manifestation that, the January 2023 TI-CPI Release reveals that Sierra Leone continues to make numerical increment in the world’s most prestigious corruption watchdog’s assessment and ranking and now leads seventy (70) countries in the global campaign against corruption, including thirty-three (33) African countries among which are: Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Mali, Guinea, Egypt, etc. 

It is an undisputable fact that, in four consecutive years, Sierra Leone has moved twenty (20) places upwards in the TI-CPI, from 129 in 2018 to 110 in 2022, under the astute leadership of Francis Ben Kaifala Esq. since he took over the mantle of leadership at the ACC.

©️ Public Relations Unit, ACC