Colombia was positioned as the eighth country in Latin America with the best performance to combat corruption this year, according to a report presented this Wednesday by the consulting firm Control Risks and Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
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Specifically, according to the fourth version of this Index of Capacity to Combat Corruption (CCC), The country obtained the rating of 4.87 points, only 0.06 percentage points of improvement compared to the 2021 record (4.81 points).
This represents a considerable reduction compared to the results of the 2020 and 2019 measurements, when the country obtained scores of 5.18 and 5.39, respectively.
With this result, the country is located in the middle of the regional list, ahead of Ecuador (4.82 points) and Brazil (4.76 points) and behind Argentina (5.04 points) and Panama (4.96 points).
The CCC ‘ranking’ measures the categories of ‘legal capacity’, ‘democracy and public institutions’ and ‘civil society and the media’. In them, Colombia registered a rating of 4.69 points, 4.41 points and 6.42 points, respectively, which may explain its fall.
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“Although Colombia improved slightly despite some efforts, it continues to report low results and continues to face challenges that affect its ability to combat corruption. The country improved especially in the category of civil society and the media, where there is substantial progress in the mobilization of civil society against corruption and improvements in education whose rating exceeds the regional average”, Silvana Amaya, senior analyst at Control Risks, explained to Portfolio.
In addition, Amaya highlighted that within the variable of ‘legal capacity’, Colombia had a decline of 20%, where mainly in the declining categories are ‘judicial independence and efficiency’, ‘the level of international cooperation in matters of public order’ and ‘the level of knowledge and resources available to combat neck crimes white’.
“And this year during the election period we saw a reduction in the quality and enforceability of campaign finance legislation. One of the reasons that explains this behavior is the closeness that President Duque has had with the control organismsAmaya said.
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In addition to the aspects mentioned above, the country also improved in access to public information and general government transparency. “The role played by Juan Daniel Oviedo, director of Dane, and his rigidity with the handling of public data, make Colombia rank above the regional average”, pointed out the analyst.
What needs to be improved?
Colombia is below its best records, which were obtained in the 2019 and 2020 measurements. To recover positions, the country has to make an effort in the judicial branches and separation of powers.
“Colombia must make great efforts in its commitments to judicial independence and efficiency. The new government will test the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances. If this shows that Colombia is institutionally stable and that the executive power is not above others, it will be a good indicator for the democracy and institutions category.”, remarked Silvana Amaya.
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ROBERTO CASAS LUGO
Journalist Portfolio
