JUBA – South Sudan government on Friday admitted, through its information minister and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth, the country’s latest corruption ranking, but then defended the status claiming every country in the world including the United States of America and Germany are also corrupt.
This came following an annual corruption index report released on Thursday by the German-based non-profit organization, Transparency International, which ranked South Sudan, as the most corrupt country in the world by passing Somalia, Syria, and Yemen which were the most corrupt countries in 2019.
“Yes. I don’t deny that there is corruption in South Sudan like other countries, but it is not the most corrupt,” Makuei said in an exclusive interview with Sudans Post this morning.
The government spokesperson said corruption is everywhere even in the United States and Germany.
“Yes, South Sudan as I said early like other countries, even America is corrupt. There is corruption even in America, even in Germany. So we can’t deny that there is corruption in South Sudan but to rank it as the most corrupt country is unacceptable,” he said.
He accused the Germany searchers of benefiting from the blood of South Sudanese.
“Well of course, these are people who write like that so that they earn their living on our blood,” he said.
“These NGOs and UN Agencies are the most corrupt and their reports are based on what. So I don’t really believe these are genuine reports. After all, it is after studying the corrupt countries all over the world and then you begin to rank them. Do they make that or they reach their conclusion,” he added.
He said the reports are individuals opinions, being expressed by individuals who have their own vested interest to write that against South Sudan.
