Kenya Jumps One Place in Corruption Ranking Worldwide

Kenya has been ranked position 121 globally by its perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to the 2024 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International.

The East African country scored 32 points out of 100 in the 2024 CPI. 

CPI is the most widely used global corruption ranking in the world which ranks 180 countries and territories worldwide by measuring how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be, according to experts and businesspeople.

The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The score of 32 for Kenya this year means that it is a change of +1 since last year.

“The 2024 CPI shows that corruption is a dangerous problem in every part of the world but change for the better is happening in many countries. Research also reveals that corruption is a major threat to climate action. It hinders progress in reducing emissions and adapting to the unavoidable effects of global heating,” said Transparency International.

In the East African region, the report by Transparency International placed Rwanda on top with 57 points followed by Tanzania (41), Uganda (26), the Democratic Republic of Congo (20), Burundi (17), Somalia (9) and South Sudan (8).

Also Read: Why Corruption in Kenya is Rooted and What Needs to be Done

2024’s CPI ranks most corrupt countries

According to Transparency International, almost 6.8 billion people live in countries with CPI scores under 50.

This is equivalent to 85 per cent of the world population of 8 billion.

For the seventh year in a row, Denmark obtained the highest score on the index (90) closely followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84).

The report further revealed that countries with the lowest scores are mostly in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

They include South Sudan (8), Somalia (9), Venezuela (10), Syria (12), Libya, Yemen, Equatoria Guinea and Eritrea (all 13).

On the other hand, over a quarter of the countries in the sample (47) got their lowest score yet on the index.

They include Austria (67), Bangladesh (23), Brazil (34), Cuba (41), France (67), Germany (75). Haiti (16), Hungary (41), Iran (23), Mexico (26), Russia (22), Switzerland (81), USA (65), and Venezuela (10).

Also Read: IMF Bosses Ask Kenya to Request a Corruption & Governance Review

Over the past 5 years, 7 countries significantly improved their scores in the index including Côte d’Ivoire (45), the Dominican Republic (36), Kosovo (44), Kuwait (46), the Maldives (38), Moldova (43) and Zambia (39).

13 countries at the same time saw their scores significantly decline including Austria (67), Belarus (33), Belgium (69), El Salvador (30), France (67), Kyrgyzstan (25), Lebanon (22), Myanmar (16), Nicaragua (14), Russia (22), Sri Lanka (32), the United Kingdom (71), and Venezuela (10).

OCCRP ranking

Kenya’s corruption ranking comes after President William Ruto received record-breaking nominations for 2024’s Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) ‘Corrupt Person of the Year’ title.

OCCRP is a global network of investigative journalists founded in 2006, specializing in organized crime and corruption.

Since 2012, OCCRP has dedicated the ‘Person of the Year’ Award to recognize “an individual or institution that has done the most to advance organized criminal activity and corruption in the world.”

The organization invited public nominations for the title in November 2024.

Per the results released in December 2024, deposed Syrian ex-President Bashar Al-Assad was ranked the world’s ‘Most Corrupt Person’ with Kenya’s Head of State closely following as the first runners-up.

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