The Gambia's ranking in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) produced by a Berlin-based non-governmental organisation, Transparency International, has highlighted the high level of graft in the country. The CPI for 2010 measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in 178 countries on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). The Gambia was ranked 91st out of 178 countries in 2010, with a score of 3.2. Although this score is an improvement on 2009 (when The Gambia was ranked 106th out of 180 countries), this improvement is a reflection of a change in methodology of the index rather than an improvement in perceptions of graft in the country.

In the past the organisation has referred to corruption as "rampant" in the country. This is a damning indictment of Mr Jammeh's "Operation No Compromise", a campaign against corruption that he launched in October 2003. Instead of fighting graft, the crackdown seemed designed to achieve three aims: to find scapegoats for the country's economic woes; to restore the government's credibility in the eyes of donors; and to cement Mr Jammeh's personal authority in the build-up to the presidential election in the first quarter of 2011. Unfortunately, the campaign seemed to have been successful on all three counts. The Economist Intelligence Unit's quality of life index also includes a corruption score, and our latest index ranked The Gambia 12th from bottom for Sub-Saharan African countries, ahead only of some of the worst performers, such as Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo (Brazzaville). No improvement in the country's corruption score has occurred in the ten years covered by the quality of life index.