Global and local studies in recent years that have indicated significant developments should not be enough for the country to sit back and relax, says the Rwanda Governance Board (RGD), an autonomous agency that monitors the country’s progress.
Officials from the agency said Tuesday (December 04) that ordinary Rwandans and officials should not be complacent amid the positive numbers. RGD’s CEO, Prof Shyaka Anastase, told a press conference at its headquarters that more policy reforms were needed.
The RGB CEO was reacting to the recently commissioned Gallup World Poll of 2012 findings, in which Rwanda emerged the top nation globally in two of the seven categories reviewed.
Rwanda was ranked as the world’s safest country – where some 92% Rwandans sampled said they felt very safe at all times of the day anywhere in the country. This was in the Law and Order category by Gallup. Countries that faired like Rwanda included Singapore, which came up at a distant 89%.
Gallup’s 2012 index dubbed “Global States of Mind”, measured countries basing on the following parameters: law and order (safety and security); food and shelter; institutions and infrastructure (control of corruption in government); good jobs; wellbeing; brain gain and beyond the path.
“We in Rwanda do not have the luxury of being complacent,” said Prof Shyaka. “There are still challenges especially in terms of social welfare.”
He added: “We would like all the crucial indicators of social wellbeing to be included in imihigo (performance contracts) at all levels of governance.”
In the Gallup index, Rwanda also ranked very low in the “widespread of corruption in government indicator with only 12% of Rwandans sampled admitting to noticing graft. That mark places it second best worldwide, closely next Singapore’s mark of 5%.
In the same corruption indicator, Sweden comes third with 13%, followed by Hong Kong at 15% and Denmark in 5th position with 17%.
Prof. Shyaka was said the accuracy of the findings by Gallup coincidentally look similar to research findings obtained before by the Rwanda Governance Board.
In a report to be made public later this month by the RGB dubbed the ‘Rwanda Governance Scorecard 2012’, the incidence of corruption in public sector stands at 11.37%.
The country score in the Rwanda Governance Scorecard 2012 for safety and security is 91.63%.
This represents mere percentage-points difference in the findings of the two separate surveys, serving to validate both, as per Prof. Shyaka.
“It is impressive that some findings of the worldwide research initiative, particularly in the areas of safety and security, and widespread of corruption (corruption incidence) indicators matched the accuracy of RGB’s own Rwanda Governance Scorecard 2012”, says RGB’s CEO.
“This is confirmation of what any researcher knows that when different assessments are conducted using reliable data, gaps in findings tend to be at a bare minimum. It is the intention of RGB to continue excelling in evidence based research to promote good governance for national progress”.
The Rwanda Governance Scorecard (RGS), an annual publication of RGB, is a comprehensive governance assessment tool constructed and structured around a set of 8 indicators and seeks to accurately gauge the state of Governance in Rwanda.
These eight indicators are: Safety and security in Rwanda; rule of law; political rights and civil liberties; participation and inclusiveness; investing in people; control of corruption, transparency and accountability; quality of service delivery; and economic & corporate governance.
