Kenya has been ranked one of the most corrupt countries in Africa and on the globe.
Transparency International's corruption index placed the country
145th out of 176 countries with a score of 26.
Kenya attained a below average score
in the Index in 2016, showing no improvement from 2014 rankings.
"Kenya, despite the adoption of a few anti-corruption
measures
including passing a law on the right to information, has a long way to go," read the report.
It noted that President Uhuru Kenyatta
may need "new strategies as Kenyan citizens go to the polls in 2017".
Uhuru once
officials over rampant corruption saying the situation was frustrating.
"Corruption is frustrating me. The pressure is on me to do something about corruption but my hands are tied," he said.
He noted he had played his part and engaged in blame game with the Judiciary and senior government officers
over the failing war on graft.
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South Sudan was ranked 175th after scoring 11 points,
Burundi was ranked 159th with 20 points and
Uganda 151st with 25 points.
Tanzania came 116th with 32 points and Rwanda 54th with 50 points.
Ethiopia scored 34 points (108) and Sudan 14 (170), while the
last was Somalia at position 176 with 10 points.
Globally, Denmark and New Zealand were found to be the least corrupt countries with scores of 90
while Somalia and South Sudan were the most corrupt.
The graph below shows countries scores and rankings.
The report noted that
countries
that were found most corrupt are
plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions like the police and the Judiciary.
"Even where anti-corruption laws are in the books, in practice they're often skirted or ignored," it stated.
The report added that in these countries, people are often in situations that include bribery
and
extortion.
TI recommended that
African leaders who come to office on an “anti-corruption ticket” will need to live up to their pledges.
The report said they must implement their commitments to the principles of governance, democracy and human rights.
These include strengthening the institutions that hold their governments accountable and electoral systems that allow citizens to either re-elect them or freely choose an alternative.
The report noted that countries ranked least corrupt
tend to have higher degrees of press freedom,
access to information
about public expenditure, stronger standards of
integrity
for public officials, and independent judicial systems.
But TI said these nations can afford to be
complacent.
"While the most obvious forms of corruption may not scar citizens' daily lives in all these places, the higher-ranked countries are not immune to closed-door deals," the report stated.