You editorial headlined Trusting a corruption index the challenge posed very pertinent questions about the proposal of the Integrity Commission to partner with UWI to produce a T&T Corruption Index.I go further to suggest that, if implemented, the idea would be another example of our repeated practice of throwing good money after bad.The proposal aims to "specifically measure the occurrence of actual corruption in T&T" instead of relying on the annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) published by Transparency International (TI).
It raises hopes that cannot be realised and the idea should be abandoned before any additional resources are spent on its pursuit.TI has been publishing the CPI since 1995 to rank countries by their perceived levels of corruption in the public sector (public officials, civil servants and politicians), as determined by independent expert assessments and opinion surveys.
Over the years, TI has updated its methodology to improve the accuracy and usefulness of the index but has maintained its basic premise that the "perception of corruption" is measurable but "actual corruption" is not. TI's premise is based on the fact that corruption generally comprises illegal activities conducted behind closed doors, which mainly come to light through scandals, investigations or prosecutions. Therefore, it will be difficult to assess levels of actual corruption in T&T on the basis of hard empirical data.
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