The index which has expanded to Rwanda and Burundi this year ranks the latter at the top position with a corruption prevalence of 36.7% while Rwanda is the least corrupt country in the region with a prevalence of 6.6 %.

Kenya, at third position, has registered a slight improvement in the prevalence of corruption, from a corruption prevalence rate of 45% in 2009, to 31.9% this year.

Uganda comes second at 33% while Tanzania is fourth with a corruption prevalence of 28.6%.

The East African Bribery Index is a governance tool developed to measure bribery levels in the private and public sectors in the region.

The survey released in Nairobi was conducted among 10,505 respondents selected through random household sampling across all the administrative provinces in the five countries between January and March 2010.

The survey clearly shows that apart from Rwanda where incidents of bribery were found to be negligible, corruption is still an impediment to responsive public service delivery in the region.

Key governance and enforcement institutions such as the police, judiciary, and defense featured prominently in the index, as did institutions offering key services like health, education, housing and finance.

The Revenue Authority in Burundi is the most corrupt institution in the region, dislodging The Kenya Police which topped the ranks in 2009.

The police force in Burundi comes second, followed by the Kenya Police, Uganda Revenue Authority and Tanzania Police in that order.

Joseph Kimani