One in four people in Africa, or approximately 130 million people, pay bribes to access services, such as health care and education, according to the tenth edition of Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) – Africa. Additionally, more than half of all citizens surveyed in 35 African countries believe that corruption is getting worse in their countries, and their governments are doing little or nothing to address the problem. The report also highlighted that corruption disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, with the poorest paying bribes twice as often as the richest. Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of Transparency International (TI), sums it up:
Corruption is hindering Africa’s economic, political and social development. It is a major barrier to economic growth, good governance and basic freedoms, like freedom of speech or citizens’ right to hold governments to account. While governments have a long way to go in regaining citizens’ trust and reducing corruption, these things don’t exist in a vacuum. Foreign bribery and money laundering divert critical resources away from public services, and ordinary citizens suffer most.
