Burkina Faso: Overview of corruption and anti-corruption

U4 Helpdesk Answer

Burkina Faso: Overview of corruption and anti-corruption

Burkina Faso is trying to overcome a legacy of bad governance and corruption. Bribery and bureaucratic corruption are widespread, permeating all sectors of society and affecting the daily lives of Burkinabés. The extractive industries sector, the judicial system and the public health sector are particularly vulnerable to corruption risks. Nevertheless, following popular protests which ousted a long-serving president in 2014, Burkina Faso has initiated a wave of institutional and legislative reforms supported by citizen pressure to curb corruption and ensure a sustainable democratic regime.

3 November 2019

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Main points

Bribery is present at all levels of the Burkinabé state and business sector, but perceptions of corruption are below the average in Africa.
Various sectors suffer from corruption in Burkina Faso, but the available literature focuses on corruption in the extractive industries, public service provision in health and education, and the judiciary.
Popular protests in 2014 led to the resignation of the president and subsequent anti-corruption reforms.
More than half of Burkinabé respondents to the 2019 GCB believe that corruption has decreased in the past year and that the current government is doing a good job countering corruption.

By

Iñaki Albisu Ardigó

Reviewed by

Matthew JenkinsResearch and Knowledge Manager

Guillaume NicaiseSenior Adviser

In collaboration with

Transparency International

Topics

Anti-corruption basics

Cite this publication

Ardigó, I.; (2019) Burkina Faso: Overview of corruption and anti-corruption. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Helpdesk Answer 2019:14)

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Iñaki Albisu Ardigó

Disclaimer

All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Keywords

Burkina Faso, extractive industries, health sector, Western Africa

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