Ghana leads Africa in rule of law ranking

‘World may be becoming less democratic and more conflict-prone’

From Joseph Ojumu, Accra

The West African nation of Ghana, has scored another first in Africa, emerging as the continental leader in the latest ranking of states in the critical arena of rule of law performance.

The outcome which is part of the 2017 World Justice Project (WJP) Global Rule of Law Ranking also pitched the country at number 43 worldwide even as it confirmed that the nation has improved its governance track record over the past year.

The areas covered in the survey included open government, fundamental human rights, order and security and regulatory enforcement.

To emerge as continental leader, the West African nation surged past continental giants like last year’s leader, South Africa which now occupies the second position and Nigeria, which is ranked 13th.

The Ghana outcome also confirms that the nation has also progressed on the global scene, moving from the 44th position for overall rule of law performance it had recorded in the 2016 WJP Rule of Law Index to its new ranking of 43 out of 113 countries surveyed.

Critically, the WJP outlines that poor rule of law observance in any country goes a long way to affect the business environment, public works, public participation and conflict resolution.

Leading the global chart are the Scandinavian trio of Denmark, Norway and Finland, even as Afghanistan, Cambodia and Venezuela emerged as the three worst performers globally.

Worryingly, the report also showed an overall decline in the scores of a majority of the 113 countries surveyed across the world in the areas of human rights, checks on government powers and civil and criminal justice; re-affirming growing fears that the world in general may presently be becoming less democratic and more conflict-prone.

It will be recalled that the Ghanaian economy, estimated to grow at 8.3 per cent in 2018, had only recently also emerged as the global leader in World Bank projections for 2018.