Transparency International notes a deficit of 13 points for Mauritius
Mauritius is in fifth place in Africa on the Transparency International perception index. But the government's stated objective of an index of 66 has not yet been achieved. This leaves a gap of 13 points to be filled at the next edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index. Mauritius is in fifth place in Africa on the Transparency International perception index behind the Seychelles, Botswana, Cape Verde and Rwanda. The 2020 edition gives Mauritius a score of 53 points, while the government's objective was to reach an index of 66. So there is still work to be done.
“The events of the last two quarters of 2020 are not taken into account in formulating the index. The cases that are in the local news right now should have an impact next year,” the Transparency International statement said. Transparency International drew on six independent sources, including the 2019 Global Insight Economic and Risk Indicators, the 2020 Transformation Index from the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2020 Risk Department, the World Justice Project's 2020 Rule of Law Index, the 2020 Varieties of Democracies Project, and the 2019 opinion survey of the Economic Forum's top executives global.
Transparency International maintains that the country is currently at a crossroads when it comes to institutional governance. “We think that a country with the influence of Mauritius, with its high level of literacy and academic and technical knowledge, should not have been on this list. Successive governments should have addressed these shortcomings a long time ago instead of simply ticking boxes blissfully. And speaking of one of the weaknesses highlighted by the FATF with regard to Due Diligence in relation to the financing of civil society, it is hopeless to see that Mauritius did not believe it necessary to legislate in relation to the financing of political parties and politicians as well as socio-cultural associations,” the official statement said.
For Transparency International experts, the Republic is facing an institutional deficit due to hopeless but perfectly legal nepotism if we stop at the procedural aspect. In conclusion, Transparency International adds that for Mauritius to make real progress, the recipe would be to take a series of courageous measures in the direction of good governance and let the institutions operate independently with competent people and pass laws