Reputation for corruption worsens

Guinea fell five spots in the 2008 ranking of perceptions of corruption released by the watchdog non-profit Transparency International (TI). Officials say Guinea’s deteriorating reputation for corruption can threaten city services, choke economic growth and increase drug trafficking. Guinea’s TI representative, Mamadou Taran Diallo, told IRIN Guinea is paralysed in its efforts to wipe out corruption. “Guinea’s rank at 173, tied with Chad and Sudan, out of 180 countries is a clear and persistent sign our country is stuck at the bottom.” Guinea ranked last year 168 out of 179 countries, which was a slight improvement over 2006 when Guinea was perceived to be the fourth most corrupt country in the world. “We need to move past talking about fighting to corruption to actually doing something.” said Diallo.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80575