By Tabora Bojang
The National Assembly Member for Upper Saloum, Alhagie Mbowe has disagreed with Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index which ranked The Gambia as 102nd least corrupt nation in the world.
According to the 2020 CPI report released in January 2021, Gambia continues to be ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world, occupying spot 102 out of the 180 countries surveyed.
The report was greeted with wide condemnations among Gambians with activists and opposition leaders accusing the Barrow government of failing to take the fight against graft in the public service seriously.
But talking on this matter during the Assembly adjournment debate, the NRP NAM called the report a joke. ”The report was based on perceptions propagated by external bodies, which further lacked substantiated proofs of corrupt practices. This is not actual corruption. It is the perception that somebody out there perceived us as a country in terms of corruption and that’s all. They just perceived us in the way we behave, do things and give a percentage. So, I don’t understand when people go out there writing things to indict their own country just for some flimsy reports”, NAM Mbowe added.
He went on: “Can you imagine there is no country in the entire continent that was given even 70 percent in the index? This is why when I look at it, I said it is a joke”.
The banker-turned politician further argued that his doubt over the report is further informed by the fact that “corruption is very complex to be given a percentage” and the way people perceived issues may differ.
“The reports only indicated corruption in the public sector and left out the private sector and if there is corruption in the public sector, I bet the counterpart is the private sector but this report does not state anything about the private sector. So let us be very careful if we are to deliberate on these issues before we indict our own people,” the NRP lawmaker advised fellow NAM
