Botswana sinks to worst-ever corruption rating
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday January 31, 2022 06:00
The latest Index for 2021, released this week, places Botswana 45 out of 180 countries worldwide with a score of 55 across the various indicators researchers use in their study. By comparison, Botswana was ranked 35 out of 180 countries in 2020 with a score of 60.
Botswana has generally topped the rankings in Africa, being lauded as the continent’s least corrupt, but the latest Transparency International report notes that perceptions have been deteriorating. In the 2021 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Botswana ranked third in sub-Saharan Africa after Seychelles and Cabo Verde and far ahead of its regional neighbours.
However, the latest scores and ranking are a far cry from previous years when the country generally scored above 60 and was ranked in the top 40 least corrupt countries. In its best year, 2015, Botswana scored 63 and was ranked the 29th least corrupt country in the world, followed in Africa by Cape Verde and Seychelles both ranked 40th.
While the CPI does not provide specific reasons for countries’ performances, researchers noted that the continent as a whole was the world’s worst-performing region.
“This reinforces the urgent need for African governments to implement existing anti-corruption commitments if they are to alleviate the devastating effect of corruption on millions of citizens living in extreme poverty,” the CPI researchers said.
Recently, government was swindled money through cases such as National Petroleum Fund (NPF), which involved P250 million, COVID-19 tenders which involved millions which audit reports also attest to it and also failure to gather enough evidence by the State that resulted in poor prosecution.
“Currently there are 22 cases that are still under investigation, one sent to DPP (Directorate of Public Prosecutions) for consideration of evidence and possible prosecution and investigations were concluded in eight cases but did not disclose any criminal conduct,” Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) public relations officer, Tshepie Otladisa said recently.
When he took over the presidency, President Mokgweetsi Masisi stated that, “virtues such as transparency and accountability were amongst key catalysts at any given democratic setting required to hold to account those who hold public office”.
One of Masisi’s main pride is for his country to have “passed a law which requires all political leaders, all public servants and those in the judiciary to declare their assets and liabilities and many such important pieces of legislation to tighten the loose ends”.
The report states that corruption undermines the ability of governments to guarantee the human rights of their citizens and this affects the delivery of public services, the dispensation of justice and the provision of safety for all.
“This is no coincidence. Corruption enables human rights abuses, setting off a vicious and escalating spiral. As rights and freedoms are eroded, democracy declines and authoritarianism takes its place, which in turn enables higher levels of corruption. The past year has brought disturbing examples of this, from the killing of human rights defenders and the closing of media outlets to government spying scandals like the Pegasus Project,” it reads.
It says checks and balances are being undermined not only in countries with systemic corruption and weak institutions but also amongst established democracies.
In addition, CPI says respecting human rights is essential for controlling corruption because empowered citizens have the space to challenge injustice.
It also found out that the global COVID-19 pandemic has also been used in many countries as an excuse to curtail basic freedoms and sidestep important checks and balances.
And despite the increasing international momentum to end the abuse of anonymous shell companies, many high-scoring countries with relatively “clean” public sectors continue to enable transnational corruption.
It says there is an urgent need to accelerate the fight against corruption if we are to halt human rights abuses and democratic decline across the globe.
“Corruption committed by high-level officials usually combines the large-scale, transnational theft of public funds with gross human rights violations. Our analysis shows that such corruption schemes – often facilitated by advanced economies who score well on the CPI – exacerbate repression by allowing autocrats to: enjoy looted funds by employing complicit bankers, lawyers and real-estate brokers in major financial centres, the corrupt can store their illicit gains, reward cronies and further concentrate their power,” it reveals.