Transparency International published a study on the state of corruption in Africa

In preparing the report, 45,823 people from 35 countries across the African continent were surveyed between 2016 and 2018, and were asked a series of questions regarding their views on the prevalence of corruption in their country and their personal experiences of encountering corruption, including:

which categories of officials (e.g., government members, judges, religious leaders, police officers, and others) and to what extent are involved in corrupt interactions?
How has the level of corruption in their country changed over the past year?
To what extent do they agree with the statement that ordinary citizens can help fight corruption?
Can people in their country report corruption without fear of negative consequences?
How likely is it in their country for ordinary citizens or wealthy residents to pay bribes or use connections in tax, land management, litigation matters?
how often over the past year have respondents had to give bribes/gifts/services to various categories of persons with publicly important functions (such as teachers, doctors, government officials, police officers)?

According to the survey results, more than half of the respondents (55%) believe that the corruption situation in their country is worsening, with more than 80% of respondents in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Gabon reporting an increase in corruption over the past 12 months. In contrast, in some other countries, such as Burkina Faso and the Gambia, a significant number of respondents reported a decrease in corruption (54% and 46%, respectively).

In contrast, 59% of respondents rated the quality of government efforts to fight corruption as "poor," including 79% of respondents in Gabon, 81% in Sudan, and 83% in Madagascar (despite the fact that Madagascar's anti-corruption agency recently initiated bribery prosecutions against half of the country's parliamentarians). In Sierra Leone and Lesotho, by contrast, people consider the government's anti-corruption efforts to be successful (66% and 61%, respectively).

Police officers (47%) were cited as the most corrupt category of officials; they are also the category of officials who, according to respondents, "earn" the most money from bribes (i.e., the amount of bribes paid to this category exceeds the amount paid to other officials).

In addition, one in four respondents (nearly 130 million people in terms of the total population of the countries surveyed) reported having had to pay a bribe in the past year. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest countries in the world, but one with significant mineral resources, as many as 80% of respondents said they had paid a bribe in the past year to access government services, while the poorest people were more likely to have to pay a bribe to access such services than the poorest people.

More than half of respondents (53%) said they believe ordinary citizens can contribute to the fight against corruption, but two-thirds of respondents (67%) believe they could face negative consequences for exposing wrongdoing. This is largely because citizens do not consider the country's mechanisms for reporting corruption and protecting whistleblowers to be safe and effective. The report also found that 62% of respondents would like to see more transparency in government, even if this is not the case.

TI concludes its report with a number of recommendations to African authorities and international organizations that would strengthen the fight against corruption, including:

Provide for the development of public procurement policies and guidelines, to ensure that they are transparent and open to public scrutiny;
Establish mechanisms for reporting corruption and put in place measures to protect whistleblowers;
Establish registers of the ultimate beneficiaries of organizations involved in the public procurement process;
ratify and implement the recommendations of various international anti-corruption agreements;
take measures to recover assets withdrawn as a result of illegal activities.

The relevance of the fight against corruption on the African continent today seems to have increased significantly. Thus, in mid-June, Egypt hosted the first AfricanAnti-Corruption Forum (AACF), which brought together representatives of 51 African and four Arab (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Jordan) countries, as well as various international organizations (e.g., the UN, the African Development Bank, the International Anti-Corruption Academy). It is planned that such an event will be held annually and will bring together representatives from 51 African and four Arab (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Jordan) countries, as well as various international organizations (e.g., the UN, the African Development Bank, the International Anti-Corruption Academy). It is planned that such an event will be held annually and will make it possible to unite the efforts of the international community in the fight against corruption.