11 December 2012
The 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index doesn’t throw much light on what is happening in the South Pacific. Over recent years the CPI has included an increasing number of the island states. But this was reversed this year. There were only two.
The seven Pacific Forum countries included last year were –
Samoa (69th ) equal with Italy, Ghana and Macedonia
Kiribati and Tonga (95th) equal with India, Swaziland,and Albania
Vanuatu (77th) equal with Lesotho and Gambia
Solomon Islands (120th) equal with Bangladesh, Equador, Iran, Mongolia,Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan
Timor-Leste (143rd) equal with Russia, Nigeria, Uganda, Azerbeijan,Belarus, Comoros, Togo
Papua New Guinea (154th) equal with Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nepal, Laos, Congo,Cote d’Ivoire,Central African Republic
Only Timor-Leste (113th) and Papua-New Guinea (150th) were included this year, both showing improvement. No reason has been given for not including Samoa, Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. It is probably a reflection of the absence of suitably comparable survey statistics . Fiji has never been part of the CPI.
In Samoa, the national paper published a letter to the editor about transparency and good government on the day the CPI was published internationally- but probably was more aligned to the International Anti Corruption Day on 9 December than as a promotion of the CPI.
Integrity Talking Points 