Jamaica still has a 'serious corruption problem'

The latest Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) revealed that Jamaica has fallen by four places in the Country Rankings.

Based on the 2024 report, released on Tuesday, Jamaica is now ranked number 73 out of 180 countries, compared to number 69 out of 180 countries in 2023.

However, Jamaica's CPI score of 44 out of 100, where 0 means 'highly corrupt', and 100 means 'very clean', has remained unchanged from 2023.

Jamaica's CPI score of 44 continues to stand as its best score ever and was previously attained in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

In a summary of the findings, the Integrity Commission of Jamaica noted that "a CPI score of below 50 means that a country has a serious corruption problem".

"Jamaica has been firmly planted in this category for 23 years. A poor CPI signals prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that do not respond to citizens' needs," the Integrity Commission said.

It also noted that Transparency International (TI) has outlined that its CPI highlights the stark contrast between nations with strong, independent institutions and free, fair elections, and those with repressive authoritarian regimes.

It further highlighted that "full democracies have a CPI average of 73, while flawed democracies average 47, and non-democratic regimes just 33." According to TI, this therefore puts Jamaica in the category of a "flawed democracy".

Nine English-speaking Caribbean countries were ranked by TI in 2024. Barbados, Bahamas and St Vincent came out on top, with Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana at the bottom.

Topping TI's 2024 CPI Country Rankings are Denmark, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, Iceland and Ireland.

At the other end of the scale are South Sudan, Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Nicaragua, Sudan, North Korea, Myanmar and Haiti.

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