- A majority of Mauritians trust most of their public institutions, but trust levels for many institutions have declined since 2012. Seven of 10 respondents (70%) believe that at least some police officers are corrupt, yet nearly six of 10 (59%) say they trust the police “somewhat” or “a lot.”
- Almost seven of 10 Mauritians (69%) say that the level of corruption has increased in Mauritius over the past year, and majorities perceive some level of corruption in all institutions.
- No respondents admit to paying a bribe to get services from key public institutions, but at the same time, almost half (45%) of respondents say that many people would not report cases of corruption for fear of retaliation.
Mauritians trust their political institutions but are increasingly concerned about corruption, the latest Afrobarometer survey shows.
More than two-thirds (69%) of Mauritians say corruption increased “somewhat” or “a lot” over the year preceding the survey. This finding corroborates results of a survey commissioned in 2014 by the country’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), in which 60% of
Mauritians said that high-level and small-scale corruption had increased over the past three years and that they expected it to worsen.
None of the respondents in the Afrobarometer survey admit to having had to pay a bribe to get access to public services. But most of them also say that victims of corruption would not report such cases for fear of the consequences.
In its 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International ranked Mauritius among the least-corrupt countries in Africa (No. 47 out of 175 countries worldwide), a slight improvement from the previous survey. The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance ranked Mauritius as the best-governed country in Africa in its 2014 report.
But the 2014 Afrobarometer survey suggests that ordinary Mauritian citizens perceive corruption as a growing problem.
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