Ghana is a shining example in West Africa, says governance expert

From: Lydia Asamoah, GNA Special Correspondent, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Oct 21, GNA - Ghana is a good example of good governance in West Africa, Professor Said Adejumobi, Coordinator of the African Governance Report (AGR) and Chief Public Administrator, Economic Commission of Africa (ECA), has said.

"And it is very strategic that President Barack Obama visited that country recently," Prof. Adejumobi told the Ghana News Agency in interview in Addis Ababa after presenting a 274-page African Governance Report II (AGR II) on Wednesday.

The report was based on a study carried out in 2007 in 35 selected countries across Africa by the ECA and published by the Oxford Press. Prof. Adejumobi said Ghana performed creditably in most of the aspects of the research findings and it is a good case for Africa, coupled with the fact that she had conducted three successive elections which were credible. The AGR II in general indicated that African countries had made marginal progress of an average of two per cent in the core areas of governance over the last four years.

The report, however, highlighted with concern its slide on the corruption control index, with national anti-corruption agencies which have grown in numbers but were still weak.

"The legal provisions supporting them are inadequate; they lack autonomy and are subject to undue political interference." The Report said: "Corruption remains the single most important challenge to the eradication of poverty, the creation of predictable and favourable investment environment and general socioeconomic development in Africa".

The report, however, indicated that despite the negative performance concerning corruption, the overall governess picture for Africa reflected in the report was rather one of progress, although modest.

The study showed that countries had achieved progress, even though marginal, in the core indicators of human rights and the rule of law; the effectiveness of the legislature; the executive and the judiciary as well as independence of civil society organizations and the media.

Key findings of the report were that political representation index was stagnating at 65 per cent of good perception by the experts surveyed. Elections were more regular, but still quite flawed and in many countries the quality of their elections remained suspicious.

The report said multiparty democracy remained strong in Africa but the overall performance in that area was mixed.

Countries were making progress on the political inclusion front but the vestiges of authoritarianism were still a threat in party affairs and for the selection of candidates while incumbent parties were still hostile to opposition parties and the latter do not form competitive blocs. The assessment also showed positive trends on the economy with pro-investment policies drawing a very positive evaluation with an improvement of six percentage points as compared to the 2005 performance in the same area.

In the same vein, economic management and tax systems proved more efficient as related indexes improved by up to three per cent. The AGR II further underlined the remarkable progress made in place of women in public life, stating that globally, more women were represented in national parliaments in African countries than anywhere else in the world. Rwanda tops the list with Mozambique making it in the top ten. The report recommended that to combat corruption, governments must give greater attention to anti-corruption agencies by improving the laws establishing them so they could conform to minimum standards set by the UN and the African Union.

In addition, funds should be increased to these institutions and they must also be given both administrative and institutional autonomy. To combat election imbalances, electoral authorities needed more autonomy, funding and institutional capacity to conduct free, fair and transparent elections, the report said.