Bhutan doing well on the corruption index
Bhutan consecutively ranked 6th for the last five years in the Asia Pacific region
A strong political will, relentless efforts towards preventing and combating corruption and introduction of preventative measures is attributed to Bhutan’s rank not sliding down the global corruption index.
Bhutan’s position has not changed for two consecutive years. Bhutan is the 27th cleanest country in the world and the sixth cleanest in the region, according to a report released by the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016, the Transparency International (TI), the anticorruption watchdog.
Bhutan scored 65 points out of 100 (from a scale of 0-100 where 0 equals the highest level of perceived corruption and 100 equals the lowest level of perceived corruption).
“Bhutan’s standing in CPI shows that developing countries can also be equally efficient in controlling corruption if given the necessary political will and cooperation of stakeholders,” a press release from the Anti Corruption Commission.
“Over the years, drawing inspirations from Their Majesties’ constant reminder to build clean and safe societies, the ACC has relentlessly worked towards preventing and combating corruption. Introduction of preventive tools such as declaration & management of Assets, gifts and conflict of interest, which is also being recognized in the region and abroad gives an edge over the sustained CPI ranking as it is towards mainstreaming of anti-corruption initiatives for long term sustenance,” stated ACC.
Besides, 90 percent conviction rate by persons charge sheeted and 95 percent prosecution rate by cases registered with the court further adds to the perception on the effectiveness in control of corruption in Bhutan.
The Constitution clearly sets out separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary endorsing independent functioning of the democratic institutions in upholding rule of law in the country.
The report also attributes the favourbale ranking to the Judiciary’s openness to external assessment to strengthen the services and invest in advancing the skills and knowledge of judicial personnel towards enhancing access to justice. The initiatives are being spearheaded by the Supreme Court and Bhutan National Legal Institute with technical support from the ACC.
The commitment and perseverance of the Constitutional bodies like the Royal Audit Authority (RAA), Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC), Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in promoting systems of integrity with greater professionalism can also be a contributing factor, its stated. “Annual audit recoveries made by the RAA, mainstreaming of ethics and integrity management in the civil service system by the RCSC and the ACC, as well as the strong efforts of ACC to deter corrupt acts has immense impact on enhancing transparency, accountability, integrity and professionalism.”
It also attribute the country’s smooth transition into democratic constitutional monarchy with successful second (2013) Parliamentary elections, which “further reinforced the policy of greater decentralization and sustainable development with empowered citizenry,” to the ranking.
Since the inception of the Anti Corruption Commission in 2006, Bhutan featured in the TI CPI for 11 successive years. Over the years, Bhutan saw remarkable improvement in the rank and score.
In the report, the global average score is 43 and Bhutan is the 27th cleanest country among 176 other countries. Countries securing a score of less than 50 points are considered clean.
According to the report, in 2012, some important changes were made to the methodology in terms of simplifying data standardization. Now the methodology includes just one year’s data from each data source. The current method allows comparing scores over time, which was not methodologically possible prior to 2012.
The CPI 2016, released on January 25, covers perceptions of public sector corruption in 176 countries/territories. Over two-third of the 176 countries/territories in this year’s index fall below the score of 50 with 43 as a global average score. Hence, indicating corruption being endemic in a country’s public sector.
Countries such as Denmark and New Zealand with scores of 90 followed by Finland (89) and Sweden (88) have been consistently ranked the top 10 least corrupt countries over the years.
While it is generally accepted that any country cannot be immune to corruption, the top ranking countries characterize open government, freedom of press, active citizen engagement and independent democratic institutions. The majority of countries/territories in the Asia Pacific region falls in the bottom half of the CPI 2016.
19 out of 30 countries/territories in the region scored 40 or less out of 100. These poor performances, according to the press release, can be attributed to unaccountable governments, lack of oversight, insecurity and shrinking space for civil society and pushing anticorruption action to the margins, among others.
High profile corruption scandals coupled with everyday corruption issues continue to undermine public trust in government and benefits of democracy and the rule of law. Countries in troubled regions, particularly in the Middle East, have seen the most substantial drops this year. Qatar is the biggest decliner compared to the 2015 index with a drop of 10 scores. The report reveals that corruption scandals in areas such as FIFA, hosting of World Cup in 2022 in Qatar and human rights issues related to migrant workers are some of the factors affecting the perception of the country, among others. To this effect, the survey urges countries and governments for urgent action against corruption with majority of the countries/territories declining in the index.
Besides perceptions of business people and country experts, 2016 survey used five data sources to come up with an aggregated data for the CPI 2016, namely, World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey (EOS), Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index, and Democracy Projects.
In Asia and the Pacific region, Bhutan has been consecutively ranked 6th position for the last five years. The region has countries that are in the top twenties of CPI like New Zealand, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. These countries/territories are far advanced with robust governance systems that ensure socio-economic and political stability through enhanced press freedom, access to information, integrity standards and legal framework on the independence of democratic institutions.
Bhutan consecutively ranked 6th for the last five years in the Asia Pacific region
A strong political will, relentless efforts towards preventing and combating corruption and introduction of preventative measures is attributed to Bhutan’s rank not sliding down the global corruption index.
Bhutan’s position has not changed for two consecutive years. Bhutan is the 27th cleanest country in the world and the sixth cleanest in the region, according to a report released by the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016, the Transparency International (TI), the anticorruption watchdog.
Bhutan scored 65 points out of 100 (from a scale of 0-100 where 0 equals the highest level of perceived corruption and 100 equals the lowest level of perceived corruption).
“Bhutan’s standing in CPI shows that developing countries can also be equally efficient in controlling corruption if given the necessary political will and cooperation of stakeholders,” a press release from the Anti Corruption Commission.
“Over the years, drawing inspirations from Their Majesties’ constant reminder to build clean and safe societies, the ACC has relentlessly worked towards preventing and combating corruption. Introduction of preventive tools such as declaration & management of Assets, gifts and conflict of interest, which is also being recognized in the region and abroad gives an edge over the sustained CPI ranking as it is towards mainstreaming of anti-corruption initiatives for long term sustenance,” stated ACC.
Besides, 90 percent conviction rate by persons charge sheeted and 95 percent prosecution rate by cases registered with the court further adds to the perception on the effectiveness in control of corruption in Bhutan.
The Constitution clearly sets out separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary endorsing independent functioning of the democratic institutions in upholding rule of law in the country.
The report also attributes the favourbale ranking to the Judiciary’s openness to external assessment to strengthen the services and invest in advancing the skills and knowledge of judicial personnel towards enhancing access to justice. The initiatives are being spearheaded by the Supreme Court and Bhutan National Legal Institute with technical support from the ACC.
The commitment and perseverance of the Constitutional bodies like the Royal Audit Authority (RAA), Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC), Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in promoting systems of integrity with greater professionalism can also be a contributing factor, its stated. “Annual audit recoveries made by the RAA, mainstreaming of ethics and integrity management in the civil service system by the RCSC and the ACC, as well as the strong efforts of ACC to deter corrupt acts has immense impact on enhancing transparency, accountability, integrity and professionalism.”
It also attribute the country’s smooth transition into democratic constitutional monarchy with successful second (2013) Parliamentary elections, which “further reinforced the policy of greater decentralization and sustainable development with empowered citizenry,” to the ranking.
Since the inception of the Anti Corruption Commission in 2006, Bhutan featured in the TI CPI for 11 successive years. Over the years, Bhutan saw remarkable improvement in the rank and score.
In the report, the global average score is 43 and Bhutan is the 27th cleanest country among 176 other countries. Countries securing a score of less than 50 points are considered clean.
According to the report, in 2012, some important changes were made to the methodology in terms of simplifying data standardization. Now the methodology includes just one year’s data from each data source. The current method allows comparing scores over time, which was not methodologically possible prior to 2012.
The CPI 2016, released on January 25, covers perceptions of public sector corruption in 176 countries/territories. Over two-third of the 176 countries/territories in this year’s index fall below the score of 50 with 43 as a global average score. Hence, indicating corruption being endemic in a country’s public sector.
Countries such as Denmark and New Zealand with scores of 90 followed by Finland (89) and Sweden (88) have been consistently ranked the top 10 least corrupt countries over the years.
While it is generally accepted that any country cannot be immune to corruption, the top ranking countries characterize open government, freedom of press, active citizen engagement and independent democratic institutions. The majority of countries/territories in the Asia Pacific region falls in the bottom half of the CPI 2016.
19 out of 30 countries/territories in the region scored 40 or less out of 100. These poor performances, according to the press release, can be attributed to unaccountable governments, lack of oversight, insecurity and shrinking space for civil society and pushing anticorruption action to the margins, among others.
High profile corruption scandals coupled with everyday corruption issues continue to undermine public trust in government and benefits of democracy and the rule of law. Countries in troubled regions, particularly in the Middle East, have seen the most substantial drops this year. Qatar is the biggest decliner compared to the 2015 index with a drop of 10 scores. The report reveals that corruption scandals in areas such as FIFA, hosting of World Cup in 2022 in Qatar and human rights issues related to migrant workers are some of the factors affecting the perception of the country, among others. To this effect, the survey urges countries and governments for urgent action against corruption with majority of the countries/territories declining in the index.
Besides perceptions of business people and country experts, 2016 survey used five data sources to come up with an aggregated data for the CPI 2016, namely, World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey (EOS), Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index, and Democracy Projects.
In Asia and the Pacific region, Bhutan has been consecutively ranked 6th position for the last five years. The region has countries that are in the top twenties of CPI like New Zealand, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. These countries/territories are far advanced with robust governance systems that ensure socio-economic and political stability through enhanced press freedom, access to information, integrity standards and legal framework on the independence of democratic institutions.
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