Martin K. N. Kollie, a strong supporter of the Unity Party, on November 28, claimed in a Facebook post that Seychelles is the most transparent country in Sub-Saharan Africa with a CPI Score of 70% while Liberia has 26%.
Martin referenced the 2022 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index report as source of his information.
Martin made the claim in an attempt to make a case about corruption in Liberia and the need to audit the George Weah administration.
Claim
His exact words are: “Seychelles is the most transparent country in Sub-Saharan Africa with a CPI Score of 70% while Liberia has 26% (TI, 2022)”
Rating Justification
To verify his claim, we reviewed the 2022 Transparency International’s CPI report for sub-Saharan Africa title Corruption Compounding Multiple Crisis.
Transparency International is a global movement working in over 100 countries to end the injustice of corruption. It focuses on issues with the greatest impact on people’s lives and hold the powerful to account for the common good.
The 2022 CPI report ranks countries across the world according to their perceived levels of corruption.
In the CPI report for Sub-Saharan Africa, Seychelles sits at the top of the region with a CPI score of 70% follow by Botswana and Carbo Verde, each with 60.
With the 70% score, the East African Country is ranked as the 23rd transparent country amongst the 180 countries captured by the 2022 CPI.
Liberia also has a CPI score of 26% and ranked 142 amongst 180 countries in the world.
The CPI uses a scale from zero to hundred, 100 means the country is very clean from corruption and 0 means the country is highly corrupt.
Meanwhile, another report by Open Law Africa in February 2023 notes that, “for the fifth year in a row, the top slot in Sub-Saharan Africa has gone to Seychelles, giving it boasting rights as the least corrupt country in the continent.”
Open Law Africa is a collection of academics, lawyers, judicial officers, government printers, NGOs, international funders and human rights activists working independently and collaboratively on projects seeking to achieve open access to law for everyone in Africa.
Conclusion
Based on our research, we conclude that the claim made by Martin Kollie that Seychelles is the most transparent country in Sub-Saharan Africa with a CPI Score of 70 while Liberia has a score of 26 is mostly correct.
According to the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, Seychelles has a CPI score of 70 topping Sub-Saharan Africa and ranked 23 in the world while Liberia has a score of 26 and ranked 142 in the world.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content