How did Fiji Perform in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2022?

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2022 results released at Tanoa Plaza Hotel on Jan 31, 2023 by CLCT Integrity Fiji showed that Fiji’s score has fallen. Fiji’s score has gone down from last year’s figure of 55 to 53 out of 100 this year. Fiji’s ranking has also fallen from 45 out of 180 nations last year to 49.This 2 points drop is not currently statistically significant or indicative of larger trends. Fiji first appeared in the CPI in 2004 and there was a lapse of 17 years before the next CPI for Fiji came out last year. We would need to see a few more years of CPI scores for Fiji before we can observe the larger trends.

While a fall of 2 points (implying an increase in corruption) is not statistically significant, it highlights the urgent need for civil society, the business sector, the media and all stakeholders to work together with Fiji’s anti-corruption agency FICAC to curb corruption.

Transparency International notes that “A country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean. A country's rank is its position relative to the other countries in the index. Ranks can change merely if the number of countries included in the index changes. The rank is therefore not as important as the score in terms of indicating the level of corruption in that country.”

For a period of 17 years from 2004 to 2021, Fiji was not included in the CPI because it was not featured in at least 3 of the CPI’s 13 data sources.

Grace Konrote noted that, “Fiji’s absence from the CPI list for 17 years did not mean that Fiji was corruption-free. It meant that there was not enough data available to accurately measure levels of corruption.”

Ms Konrote added that it is reassuring that the new Coalition Government has taken over after 16 repressive years and that many repressive laws are planned for removal. For anti-corruption strategies to be effective, integrity institutions need to be strengthened and democracy processes need to be bolstered.

Social Media

Integrity Fiji’s Elsie Pickering said that on their Facebook post of the CPI some people were commenting that there was a lot of corrupt activity reported, but these was not accurately reported in the CPI score. How could this have happened?

Pickering noted that there are a number of possible reasons for this. Corrupt activity not within the timeframe of this year’s CPI could take a year or more to reflect in the data sources. Some positive developments in controlling public sector corruption might have been captured, balancing out these negative cases. Ms Pickering noted that Fiji’s anti-corruption agency was dynamic and proactive and this has been a very positive factor when compared with Pacific nations that do not have anti-corruption agencies. “We may gripe about FICAC but the reality is that they have worked hard through the years to develop strong anti corruption strategies.”

Executive Director Joseph Veramu said that one positive aspect of this year’s CPI score and ranking for Fiji is that a new Government has come into power that is not authoritarian. ”Government will repeal the draconian Media Act and allow for free speech and assembly amongst other democratic rights.”

Veramu said that the CPI was not just about corruption issues. It also covers a free media, freedom of speech and assembly, human rights, gender rights and a country run on dynamic democratic principles.” All these democratic ideals combine to affirm our integrity institutions and help to curb corruption in Fiji.