South Africa has the most open government in Africa according to the World Justice Project (WJP) in its 2020 report on open governments globally.
The WJP Open Government Index, which ranks 128 countries based on how open their governments are, ranked South Africa ahead of other African countries as the most open government in Africa.
According to WJP, the openness of government is the extent to which a government shares information, empowers people with tools to hold the government accountable, and fosters citizen participation in public policy deliberations.
The Open Government factor measures whether basic laws and information on legal rights are publicized and evaluates the quality of information published by the government.
The table below shows the ten African countries with the most open governments.
| Country | Score | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 0.62 | 30 |
| Rwanda | 0.58 | 32 |
| Namibia | 0.58 | 40 |
| Mauritius | 0.54 | 50 |
| Ghana | 0.50 | 64 |
| Botswana | 0.50 | 66 |
| Tunisia | 0.48 | 68 |
| Kenya | 0.48 | 72 |
| Burkina Faso | 0.47 | 74 |
| Liberia | 0.47 | 75 |
How does the Nigerian Government rank?
In the full report, Nigeria performed abysmally in all Eight factors considered by the WJP index. The country’s worst score was in Order and Security while her best score was in Constraints on Government Powers.
| Factor | Regional Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Constraints on Government Powers | 7/30 | 68/128 |
| Absence of Corruption | 20/30 | 109/128 |
| Open Government | 18/30 | 94/128 |
| Fundamental Rights | 13/30 | 99/128 |
| Order and Security | 30/30 | 127/128 |
| Regulatory Enforcement | 16/30 | 99/128 |
| Civil Justice | 10/30 | 75/128 |
| Criminal Justice | 8/30 | 76/128 |
In the report, the authors noted that More countries declined than improved in overall rule of law performance for a third year in a row, continuing a negative slide toward weakening and stagnating rule of law around the world
The declines were widespread and seen in all corners of the world. In every region, a majority of countries slipped backward or remained unchanged in their overall rule of law performance since the 2019 WJP Rule of Law Index.
The countries were assessed on Eight factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.
The scores and rankings in the WJP Rule of Law Index 2020 are derived from more than 130,000 household surveys and 4,000 legal practitioner and expert surveys worldwide. The authors covered 128 countries.
