A growing number of Gambians say corruption is on the rise and the government is not doing enough to combat it, the latest Afrobarometer survey shows.
Over the past three years, citizens’ perceptions of widespread corruption among public officials have increased significantly.
A substantial number of Gambians also report having to pay bribes to obtain public services, and only half believe they can report corruption to the authorities without fear of retaliation.
An anti-corruption bill introduced in the National Assembly in December 2019 is yet to be passed, and the Gambia has no anti-corruption commission despite being a signatory to numerous conventions, including the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. The 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked the Gambia 102nd, or more corrupt than 101 out of 179 countries.
In the survey’s findings, six in 10 Gambians (61%) say the overall level of corruption in the country increased ‘somewhat’ or ‘a lot’ during the past year, almost double the proportion recorded in 2018 (32%).
Three-fourths (76%) of citizens say the government is not doing a good job of fighting corruption, a 39-percentage-point increase compared to 2018 (37%), the survey said.
More than four in 10 Gambians say “most” or “all” officials in the police (48%) and the president’s office (42%) are corrupt, the survey revealed.
Public perceptions of corruption among key public officials increased sharply except with regard to religious leaders, the survery said.
