West African states have gotten mixed results in the latest corruption report card from Transparency International:
Cape Verde, Ghana, Mali, Benin, Niger, Mauritania, Nigeria, Togo, and Liberia, improved their ranks, with Benin, Nigeria and Togo making significant gains.
Falling this year were Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Guinea, with Senegal registering the steepest drop.
Gambia's rank of 158 [of 180 countries surveyed] did not change.
It is difficult to discern what to make of all of this. About half of the countries improved, half got worse. Those countries making progress should continue to be aware of progress on this front, while those lagging behind need to work from within (and be encouraged from without) to become more transparent and to fight corruption.
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