Transparency International ranks Kenya among most corrupt countries globally
Transparency International ranks Kenya among most corrupt countries globally
Corruption is a serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released on February 10, 2026 by the global Transparency International movement.
Kenya, with an average score of 30 out of 100, is among 45 countries in the region that have scored below 50, indicative of a concerning decline in bold and committed leadership to tackle corruption.
According to Transparency International, weakened standards and a lack of enforcement of existing anti-corruption legislation, as well as gaps in the implementation of the leadership and integrity provisions in the Constitution of Kenya, are lowering the bar and undermining anti-corruption efforts.
“In the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Kenya scored 32 points, representing a marginal change from 31 points in 2023. This year, the score dropped by 2 points,” read part of the report.
The report shows that Kenya’s score has largely oscillated between 25 and 33 over the last 13 years, indicating high levels of corruption and stagnation in the fight against corruption despite several legislative and institutional reforms.
This was after CPI ranked 182 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
At 68, the Seychelles remains the region’s highest scorer, followed by Cabo Verde (62), Botswana (58) and Rwanda (58).
The lowest scorers include Sudan (14), Eritrea (13), Somalia (9) and South Sudan (9).
In East Africa, Rwanda has a score of 58, Tanzania (40), Uganda (25), and Burundi (17).
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With an average score of 32 out of 100, and only four out of the 49 countries scoring above 50, Sub Saharan Africa is the lowest-performing region on the global index of 182 countries.
Ten of the 49 countries scored in the region have significantly worsened since 2012, and only seven have improved in the same period.
She advised that for Kenya to turn the tide against corruption, all criminal justice and oversight institutions mandated to deal with corruption must fully execute their mandates.
However, to decisively deal with corruption, anti-corruption laws particularly the leadership and integrity provisions must be fully enforced, to ensure that only individuals that meet the constitutional bar for leadership occupy public office.
The CPI data shows that democracies, typically stronger on anti-corruption than autocracies or flawed democracies, are experiencing a worrying decline in performance.
This trend spans countries such as the United States (64), Canada (75) and New Zealand (81), to various parts of Europe, like the United Kingdom (70), France (66) and Sweden (80).
The global average score stands at 42 out of 100, its lowest level in more than a decade, pointing to a concerning downward trend that will need to be monitored over time. The vast majority of countries are failing to keep corruption under control: more than two-thirds – 122 out of 180 – score under 50.
For the eighth year in a row, Denmark obtains the highest score on the index (89) and is closely followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84).
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