Germany’s Transparency International (TI) released its
newest corruption
index for 2015, and as usual Iraq was at the bottom of the list. TI scores
countries from 0 to 100 with 100 being at the top. The ten worst countries in
its new study were Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan,
Angola, Libya, Iraq, Venezuela, and Guinea-Bissau. Seven of those nations had
the worst ranks last
year. Iraq received the same score that it had for the last two years at
16. In 2012 it did slightly better at 18.
Most Corrupt
Countries On Transparency International Corruption Index 2015
1. Somalia
1. North Korea
3. Afghanistan
4. Sudan
5. South Sudan
6. Angola
7. Libya
7. Iraq
9. Venezuela
10. Guinea-Bissau
Iraq always ranks towards the bottom of these surveys
because corruption is so rampant throughout the state. The ruling elite use
graft and bribes to maintain their patronage systems and enrich themselves.
That’s also the reason why there is no real push to end it either because if one
top officials were to be taken down it would threaten all the rest. That’s
despite repeated promises by the prime ministers, the complaints of Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani and protests that occur almost every year demanding action on
the issue. Premier Haidar Abadi for example announced a reform program in August
2015 that was supposed to address corruption, but he was focused more on
building up his own base and going after his rivals than actually addressing
the problem, and nothing substantive was done. Abadi passed up a perfect
opportunity as the street was with him and so was Najaf, but he was unwilling
to seriously touch the golden goose that keeps the Iraqi parties going.
SOURCES
Salim, Mustafa and Cunningham, Erin, “Iraqi prime minister
announces sweeping reform measures aimed at fighting corruption,” Washington
Post, 8/9/15
Transparency International, “Corruption Perceptions Index
2015,” 1/27/16
No comments:
Post a Comment