Kosovo with high corruption in defence sector, hopes for a professional army are jeopardised

Transparency International Defence & Security Index has published the Defence Sector Integrity Index (GDI), under which Kosovo has scored 42 points out of 100, which led it to rank among the high-risk corruption countries in the sector.

This data has made Kosovo's Democratic Institute (KDI) public.

However, Diana Metushi Krasniqi from KDI indicated that according to this index, Kosovo stands a little better than Montenegro, which stands at the highest risk in the defence sector, with 32 points. While showing that the assessment was made in five areas of danger.

Metushi '% Krasniqi: With 42 points, Kosovo ranks high risk range for corruption in defence sector

“Based on 75 indicators, which have been taken to the basis for measuring this index, Kosovo has scored 42 points to total from 100, which led Kosovo to rank high in corruption or the risk for corruption in the region. As far as political influences go, Kosovo has received 49 out of 100 total scores, with 56 points out of 100 points in terms of defence personnel management, Kosovo has scored slightly better, 56 points out of 100 total points.

“But we stay low enough in terms of preventiv or anti-corruption measures in military operations in the absence of policies in addressing danger, though Kosovo still does not participate in international operation. And, ultimately, in public procurement, it received 37 points out of 100 total points”, she said.

Failure to correct these issues, according to her, could make Kosovars' hopes for a national professional army disappear.

Metushi-Krasniqi said that through poor financial management and corruption, Kosovo's growing regional and international ambitions could be irreparably damaged.

Metushi '% Krasniqi: Failure to correct these issues could cloud Kosovars' hopes for an army

“According to this index, failure to correct these issues could cause Kosovars' hopes for a professional national army to disappear through poor financial management and corruption, which could irreparably damage Kosovo's regional and international growth ambitions”, she added.

It recommended the Government of Kosovo to take to the basis recommendations coming out of this index, and to be committed to improving practices that would prevent the loss of public money, military integrity and NATO membership.

According to GDI, Kosovo, being a new security player in the region, is still developing its defence capabilities and the dangers of corruption in this sector are high. While Kosovo has a strong legislative framework for defence, an apparent vacuum remains in place, which has resulted in weak parliamentary supervision, poor transparency, secret procurement procedures and an uncertain environment for the beacons.

According to the Integrity Index in the defence sector (GDI), carried out by Transparency International Defence and Security, North Macedonia has fared best from countries in the region, while New Zealand is leading at a global level.

Top global points:

-62% of countries have achieved a total score of 49/100 or lower, showing a high to critical corruption risk in the defence sector in all regions of the world.

-New Zelanda leads the Index by 85/100.

-Sudan, who only last month saw the military take power with a violent coup, has the worst performance, with a total score of only 5/100.

- The average grade for G20 is 49/100.

- Almost every country has poor results in anti-corruption protection measures in military operations. The average score in this area is only 16/100 because most countries lack anti-corruption as an essential pillar of planning their mission.

- Among the ones that especially poor marked in this area are key countries that contribute or lead major international interventions like the United States (the result of operations 18/100), France (10/100) and Bangladesh (0/100). -49% of global arms imports are sold to circles facing a high risk of protection corruption critical