CPI ranks Barbados at 24, marks ‘least corrupt country’ in CARICOM

Barbados is counted as the ‘Least corrupt country’ in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The nation is considered the highest among countries of the 15-member regional grouping, retaining the position of 24 out of 180 countries across the world. 

The information has been shared by the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by the Global Transparency Watchdog. They have released the report on Tuesday. 

Moreover, Transparency International has given a score of 69/100 to Barbados, followed by the Bahamas at 30 with a score of 64. 

The CPI analyses how injustice and corruption interact around the world. According to experts and business people, countries and regions are ranked on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) based on their level of public sector corruption.

According to Transparency International, Latin America and the Caribbean lack independence and transparency of the judiciary. The shortcoming of such things is that they encourage corruption and empower the influence of political and economic elites. 

“This renders many injustice systems across the region incapable of applying the law effectively in an impartial manner or exercising their functions as a check on other branches of government, which is fundamental for all well-functioning democracies”, added the CPI.

Moreover, it has also been said that only Dominica and Guyana have improved their CPI scores in the past decade, while the others have significantly declined. 

Luciana Torchiaro, the Americas Regional Advisor of Transparency International, urged the countries to maintain ‘Rule of Law’, and it is high time to respect the judiciary. He also advised that countries should have supremacy of the Judicial system. 

“Countries across the region should work towards having strong independent judiciaries to bring about accountability and justice”, added Torchiaro, warning that not doing so “erodes the very foundation of democracy and the rule of law.”

As two-thirds of the countries scored below 50 out of 100, it strongly indicates that they have a serious corruption problem.

Additionally, St Vincent and the Grenadines is ranked 36 with a score of 60, followed by Dominica with a ranking of 42 and a score of 56, Saint Lucia at 45th with a score of 55 and Grenada 49th with a score of 5