(Ecofin Agency) - The Ivorian government announced yesterday it has launched an anti-graft operation to clean up and make all public services transparent.

In an official statement, the Minister for the Promotion of Good Governance, Zoro Epiphane Ballo, said the "coup de poing" operation mainly targets the police and gendarmerie. These two sectors are the most corrupt according to 58% of the population, a 2019 study by Pan-African research network Afrobarometer found.

According to the minister, there is evidence that some public agents have received bribes for various services and the government is taking the appropriate measures to deal with such individuals. He also mentioned that his department has received reports of bribes being paid to some agents to speed up the processing of cases when issuing legal documents and to acquire a building permit or change the ownership of a final concession order (CDA). In the health sector, health workers sometimes charge patients for care that is supposed to be free.

Although the country's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has improved by nine points from 2013 to 2020, according to data from Transparency International, “Ivorians' perception of corruption has not improved," the minister deplored.

The African Development Bank estimates that Africa loses over $100 billion to corruption every year. This is about 25% of the continent’s GDP.

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