2011 is considered the year of fall of the corrupt as regimes fell to the might of the common man throughout the Middle East when protesters took to the streets and demanded better rights. TIME magazine’s person of the year was the protester, a nameless, faceless representation of the might of the people. But even so, as corrupt regimes faltered and withered in most parts of the Middle East, the world is yet to be rid of the menace of corrupt governments and regimes that oppress the people they dictate over.
The Corruption Perception Index ranks corruption in the countries of the world on a scale of 1 to 10 – 1 being the most corrupt. According to these ratings, here we have compile d a list of the ten most corrupt countries of the world in 2012.
10. Venezuela
Venezuela has earned a CPI score of 1.9 and are ranked 172nd out of 182 countries of the world. The event that kicked off the country’s slide in to corruption was the discovery of vast amounts of oil and by the time the ’70s decade arrived, the Venezuelans had started calling the petroleum being mined as “the Devil’s excrement”. Hugo Chavez came by in 1999 promising to remove corruption but did nothing to even slow it down as his movement was accused of the same ills as the movement before him; ills such as political patronage, cronyism, and of course, corruption. In Venezuela, even the police, the department appointed to protect the law, are notorious for their corruption and bribery.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOpdSDF-YrA[/youtube]
9. Haiti
Haiti was struck by a massive earthquake in 2010, but the 2 billion dollars that came into Haiti as funds for the people inflicted by the earthquake did little for those it was intended to as most of the aid was consumed by the rampant corruption practiced by the bureaucracy. The legal system and its flaws enables politicians and bureaucrats to gain influence and direct public outcomes for financial gains. Haiti’s CPI score is 1.8 (ranked 175th), and they are plagued by the rampant corruption of the impenetrable bureaucracy.
8. Iraq
In September 2011, a renowned Iraqi journalist was murdered in his home because he was accused of leading anti government protests.
During the Saddam regime, the corruption was so rampant that anyone that so much as lifted a finger against the government was immediately captured and brutally murdered. Saddam and his son were quite infamous for their brutality and corruption. But even after the fall of Saddam, the Iraqi government is still so used to the old pattern of corruption that they still remove, intimidate and/or murder officials, politicians and journalists who are suspected to blow the whistle on the corrupt government or even support the whistle blowers. The death of the journalist in 2011 is proof of the old patterns of corruptions existing in the Iraqi government. Their CPI score is 1.8 and are ranked 175th.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LSEsv6c5LY[/youtube]
