Most Tanzanians Say Level of Corruption Has Decreased – Afrobarometer Survey

Tanzania’s Research on Poverty Alleviation Programme (REPOA) has recently shared the findings from the Afrobarometer Round 8 Survey “Citizens’ perceptions on the state of corruption in Tanzania” which indicate that 77% of the Tanzanians consulted say the level of corruption in the country has decreased over the last 12 months.

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research project that measures citizen attitudes on democracy and governance, the economy, civil society, and other topics.

The goal is to give the public a voice in policymaking by providing high-quality public opinion data to policymakers, policy advocates, civil society organizations, academics, news media, donors and investors, and ordinary Africans.

Afrobarometer has a national partner in each country where it conducts the survey. In Tanzania, Afrobarometer surveys were conducted by REPOA.

Key Findings

Among the key findings, 65% of Tanzanians believe the Presidency is free of corruption and 51% believe the same about Parliament.

Concerning government officials, 23% of citizens say that “most” or “all” are involved in corruption, down from 36% in the 2017 survey.

About one in 10 respondents say that “most” or “all” judges and magistrates, civil servants, and tax (TRA) officials are corrupt.

Simultaneously, 84% of Tanzanians commend the government’s efforts in fighting corruption, up from 71% in 2017.

However, the majority (62%) say citizens risk retaliation or negative consequences if they report incidents of corruption. This is an improvement from 71% in 2017.