CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE _____________________________________________________________________ of the personalities referred to were corrupt. In this regard, the percentages of those surveyed ranged from 8.1% who said that municipal councillors were not corrupt, to 30.6% who said that teachers and school administrators were not corrupt. If we consider the modality, ‘all’, the percentages are as follows: tax and customs agents (32.3%), the police and gendarmerie (17.7%), members of government (16.9%), elected municipal councillors (15.8%), local representatives of the state, that is, governors, high commissioners and prefects (15.3%), the president of Burkina Faso and officials of the presidency (14%), members of the National Assembly (13.8%), judges and magistrates (12.7%), health workers (8.7%), and teachers and school administrators (6.6%). 294. If we combine all three modalities, namely ‘some of them are corrupt, most of them are corrupt, and all are corrupt’, this results in the following ranking of personalities: tax and customs agents (80.4%), the police and gendarmerie (77.2%), members of the government (71.9%), local representatives of the state, that is, governors, high commissioners and prefects (71.4%), judges and magistrates (70%), members of the National Assembly (68.6%), elected municipal councillors (67%), health workers (64%), the president of Burkina Faso and officials of the presidency (63.5%), and teachers and school administrators (59.7%). 295. In total, and as suggested by the opinion survey, for the majority of the Burkina Faso population, corruption is an evil that is rampant at all levels of political and social life. Thus tax and customs officers, the police and gendarmes, and members of the government occupy the first three ranks. According to the criterion used, municipal councillors could occupy the fourth place. In addition, the survey indicated that, for 44.5% of those surveyed, ‘people engage in politics for money’. 296. According to reports by Transparency International (2005, 2006, 2007), the index of perception of corruption in Burkina Faso declined from 3.4 in 2005 to 3.2 in 2006. In the world ranking, the country moved from 70th place out of 158 in 2005 to 79th out of 163 in 2006. The decline in the index reflects a continuing increase in corruption in the country. Indeed, from 2006 to 2007, the country became a state with endemic corruption, with a corruption index of 2.9/10 and occupying the 105th place out of 189 5. Transparency International thus ranks Burkina Faso among those countries with systemic corruption. 6 297. The 2006 RENLAC report on the perception of the incidence of corruption in Burkina Faso states that 95% of polled persons believed that corruption was widespread or pervasive in the country. 7 The manifestations of corruption in Burkina Faso are of several kinds. For example, the survey conducted by the CGD notes that 15.8% of interviewed people said that they had resorted to corrupt practices in order to obtain medication during the preceding year. This 5 See RENLAC Report, page 13. See Transparency International Report 2007. 7 See RENLAC Report 2007, page 25. 6 136