Botswana scores high on rule of law

…but scores low on independence of the judiciary

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) has rated Botswana as the fourth country in the continent regarding the respect of the rule of law.

In a report published this week for the survey which was carried out in 2017, Botswana scored 89.9 regarding respect for the rule of law, coming fourth behind countries such as Mauritius, which is the highest scoring country at 93.3.

Mauritius is followed by Ghana which scored 90.6 percent while South Africa came third at 90.2.
Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea are among the lowest scoring nations when it comes to the respect for the rule of, completing the list of the five lowest scoring countries.

The Ibrahim report further suggests that independence of the judiciary as a component of the rule of law has improved in the continent.

About 30 countries are reported to have improved their independence of the judiciary score since 2014, while 22 have seen a decline.

Botswana is among those that have seen their score on the independence of the judiciary take a nose dive.

It is in the middle of the nations that the IIAG observed have seen a major decline in the independence of the judiciary.

Between 2014 and 2017, Botswana’s score on the independence of the judiciary, along countries like Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Djibouti which deteriorated by 11.4 and 12.2 respectively.

At a score of 65.9, Botswana is reported to have performed well in relation to transparency and accountability, beaten only by Rwanda which scored 66.9 under this category.

On the contrary Botswana scored 99.9 percent when it comes to national security.

National security has emerged as a concern in the continent, with only 13 countries scoring above 90.0 with the decline of security on a continental level said to be driven by a higher number of conflicts, both domestic and external.

The other contributing factor is reported to be increased levels of violence by non-state actors, highlighting the modern transversal security challenges the continent is facing.