For decades, a decaying and weak justice system has been the leeway for corruption that has denied the weak and improperly represented people justice. Corruption in Africa is therefore thriving due to weak judicial systems, influenced by political and economic oligarchs to achieve their dubious goals.
It is of no doubt that Africa has been down-trenched to the core by their own leaders, weak institutions, and judicial systems, sabotaging the moral responsibilities mandated on them. While it is evident that corruption has been clamping down and impoverishing more people across the continent, governments have done less to mitigate it due to a lack of transparency, accountability, and independent justice systems.
Closely dissecting African society clearly shows that the masses are underrepresented and divided on the basis of ethnic identity and economic classism. Given that a number of African countries gained independence in the early 60s, a handful of them are still striving to end the mundane task of discarding inequality–the hottest subject ever faced.
The corrupt are absolutely wielding more power, stretching the gap between the poor and the rich and decelerating the fight against corruption by capturing the justice systems through the solicitation of bribes and other sorts of duress insertions.
A study by the International Transparency Organization reveals that most of the corrupt countries are under totalitarian or authoritarian regimes, where the head of state wields more power or has subjugated the independence of justice systems to grip more power.
Top 10 Least Corrupt African Countries
The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2023 report shows that Somalia, Venezuela, and Syria are among the most corrupt countries in the world, with Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand among the best-performing countries.
Somalia, South Sudan, Libya, and Sudan are the worst-performing countries in Africa, respectively. Somalia ranks at position 180 with a score of 11 on a scale of 0 to 100. In the Corruption Perception Index by the International Transparency Organization, a score of 0 is highly corrupt, and 100 is considered to be very clean.
South Sudan, Libya, and Sudan scored 13, 18, and 20, respectively. The CPI also indicates that corruption is gradually increasing globally, with a redundant average score of only 43, with over two-thirds of the countries scoring below 50 out of 100. It also shows that 23 countries fell below the average line compared to the previous year.
What is so overwhelming is that African countries are the most indebted to both multilateral and bilateral systems in the world. But when loans are given, they end up not doing the intended purposes—only to be siphoned by senior state officials, oscillating the already adverse poverty conditions.
A handful of citizens on the continent still live below the poverty line, with dozens of families surviving on only one meal per day. Less funds are channeled toward agricultural production, with education, research, and technology remaining the most underfunded countries on the continent.
The continuous loaning and grants tied to strings continue to dilapidate many developing economies, making them more dependent on foreign financing to stay afloat and run various government corporations and projects.
The study also reveals that some of these countries are experiencing cross-border corruption linked to foreign entities from top-scoring countries that solicit state officials to run their businesses in third-world countries.
Some of these countries have also acted as hideouts for corrupt officials from foreign countries who happen to be the orchestrators of cross-border corruption through foreign companies.
As clearly seen in many African countries, heads of state have normalized political patronage by collectively recycling ministers with questionable characters and enablers of corruption. Most of them go through the justice system and come out unpunished because the justice system is politically interfered with.
