UN report finds African governance improving but weaknesses need to be addressed

Although constitutional government is taking root in Africa and the environment for private enterprise is improving, political parties are often weak and ineffective and there still is too much red tape involved in doing business on the continent, according to a new United Nations report released today.

The findings are contained in Striving for Good Governance in Africa, which was compiled by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and assesses shortcomings in institutions and human capacity in 28 countries covering 72 per cent of the continent's population. It proposes a 10-point plan to address them. It also gauges public opinion on governance in their countries.

While African political governance is improving in some areas such as tax evasion and corruption, it says, there is still a long way to go.

The report evokes the "capable state" as critical to good governance, defining it as one that can ensure peace and security, achieves efficient and effective delivery of services, provides space for all sectors of society to contribute to policy, guarantees the legal and political environment for the economy to thrive and deals head on with corruption.

The study finds that electoral processes in Africa are said to be more transparent, voter participation is high and political parties are getting stronger. But results also show that police and the military often violate the rights of citizens, that electoral commissions need more independence, and that opposition parties often lack access to resources and security.

On the economic front, the survey finds that public financial management and the environment for the private sector are improving, but poor infrastructure and service delivery limit growth and lack of transparency and corruption continue to be major challenges.

In other areas, the survey shows that the African legislatures and judiciaries are becoming more independent despite capacity constraints and that private media are expanding, but civil services are said to be weak and to perform poorly.