Tanzania ranks first in EA democracy

Tanzania has been ranked first among the 44 ‘hybrid regime’ countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Democracy index 2014 scoring 5.7 on a scale from zero to ten, followed by Uganda 5.2 and Kenya at 5.1.

Rwanda and Burundi have scored 3.2 and 3.3 respectively as authoritarian regime countries.

The hybrid regime is a governing system in which, although elections take place, it is not an ‘open society’ as it cuts citizens off from knowledge about the activities of the ruling class due to lack of civil liberties.

The report is based on 60 indicators grouping countries in five different categories measuring pluralism, civil liberties, and political culture while measuring the state of democracy in 167 countries, of which 166 are sovereign states and 165 are United Nations member states. 
In addition to a numeric score and  ranking, it categorises countries as one of four regime types’ full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.

Norway scored 9.9 keeping the first position in fully democratic countries, the position it has held since 2010, when it replaced Sweden with 9.7score at the time.

Coast Rica scored the lowest with 3.03, remaining at the bottom in 24th place in fully democratic countries.

“There are many countries that are categorised as neither "free" nor "not free," but as "probably free," falling somewhere between democratic and nondemocratic regimes”, the report said.

This may be because a constitution limiting government powers exist, but its liberties are ignored, or because an adequate legal constitutional framework of liberties does not exist,” reads part of the report released last year.

As described in the report, the index is a weighted average based on the answers of 60 questions, each one with either two or three permitted alternative answers.

Most answers are experts’ assessments, however the report does not indicate what kind of experts, numbers nor does it say their employment affiliates and nationalities.

USAID report on, ‘Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance’ states that although Tanzania is one of the most politically stable and peaceful countries in Africa, institutionalised democracy and good governance in the country are challenged by corruption and poor delivery of government services.

Meanwhile, the annual Press Freedom Index released, compiled and published by Reporters without Borders ranked Tanzania among the countries with ‘noticeable problems rating it 27.30 in press freedom ratings.

The report reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news organisations, and natives enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect press freedom.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY