The Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Index which is based on the perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, was published on Thursday January 23rd 2020, and saw Grenada receiving a score of 53 out of 100 and ranked at 51 out of 180 countries – moving 2 places up from 53 in 2018.
Grenada is among four Caribbean countries, which saw an improvement in their ranking in the Transparency International 2019 (CPI) and ranks in the top 1/3 of the least corrupt countries in the region and in the world after its re-entry to CPI evaluation in 2016 after a lapse of eight years. The CPI uses a scale of 0 to 100 to score countries, with 0 being highly corrupt and 100, very clean.
The Grenadian anti-corruption stakeholders include local members of the Commonwealth Caribbean Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies (CCAICAB) the Integrity Commission and the Financial Intelligence Unit, along with national anti-corruption Round Table Partners, have reviewed the CPI report, which analyzes data from international data gathering entities and organizations such as the World Bank, Global Insight and the World Justice Project. The CPI 2019 report “reveals a staggering number of countries are showing little to no improvement in tackling corruption”.
Chairperson of the Integrity Commission A. Anande Trotman Lady Joseph said “We are positive that Grenada will continue to improve in the CPI rankings once national best practices and data sets evidencing the efforts of national stakeholders in addressing corruption management, and fiscal and procurement systems are mainstreamed and integrated into global data bases”.
Lady Trotman-Joseph asserted that the consistency and improvement in Grenada’s performance is a testament too to the continuous and focused work of the Commission in the areas of receipt of asset declarations, capacity building for public officers and statutory bodies, public education of the public sector and wider society about integrity and corruption management, and implementation of compliance and investigations systems. The Commission’s work is encouraged by the growing collective national will”.
The FIU, the agency responsible for the investigation of financial crimes in Grenada believes that corruption perception indices are measuring sticks which encourage states to strive for all round improvements, and are encouraged that Grenada is holding steady in terms of the CPI evaluation and ranking.
Head of the Unit Superintendent Tafawa Pierre said, “Noting that the impact of corruption on small developing countries is greater than their larger and more developed counterparts, national stakeholders must do more to engage the nation about the prevention of crimes of corruption and implement a comprehensive national risk management system to address Grenada’s vulnerabilities to corrupt activities through perceived weak national systems”
Grenada has been receiving positive recognition and commendation for the implementation of anti-corruption best practice efforts, nationally, by regional bodies, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
