Zimbabwe worse than Sudan on rule of law –World Bank
July 13, 2007 (HARARE) — Zimbabwe’s rule of law record is worse than that of war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan, according to a new World Bank report on governance released this week.
The report titled, Governance Matters 2007: Worldwide Governance Indicators 1996-2006, also showed that Zimbabwe – currently still to come to terms with the effects of a government swoop on prices – fares badly in terms of the regulatory environment where it is again ranked lower than DRC, Sudan as well as even Iraq.
The World Bank researchers tracked movements in six key governance indicators in 212 countries during the past 10 years.
Countries were ranked according to their performance in the areas of accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption.
The rule of law in Zimbabwe was found to be better than only 1.4 per cent of the 212 countries surveyed, slightly lower than the DRC, which was ranked higher than 1.9 per cent of the countries.
The report ranked Sudan higher than 6.7 per cent of the countries. Both DRC and Sudan have had or are in the middle of armed conflicts.
Zimbabwe’s regulatory environment was marginally better than that of Somalia, a country synonymous with war and anarchy.
Harare’s quality of regulation was better than 1.5 per cent of the other countries surveyed while Somalia’s environment was placed higher than just 0.5 per cent of the countries.
Even then, Zimbabwe and Somalia only scored higher than the other countries by virtue of the fact that no data was available for countries such as Kosovo, Monaco, Nauru, Niue, Palau and San Marino.
The World Bank report coincides with an ill-conceived Zimbabwe government onslaught on prices, which is threatening to decimate the country’s remaining industrial base.
Grappling with record inflation of more than 4 500 per cent, President Robert Mugabe has during the past two weeks ordered manufacturers and service providers to slash prices and charges by half.
The move has worsened Zimbabwe’s already tainted economic environment, triggering panic buying and forcing factories to operate at a loss. Fuel queues have resurfaced since last Friday’s order to reduce prices.
More than 1,000 businesspersons have been arrested in the swoop, with Mugabe threatening to seize and nationalize businesses that do not comply with the order to lower prices and charges.
Economists and government opponents have described the decision as a desperate gimmick to curry favour with the electorate ahead of elections next year but which could bring Zimbabwe’s weakened economy to its knees in a couple of weeks as companies close amid shortages of basic commodities.
The World Bank reported an overall improvement in governance and fighting corruption throughout the world over the past decade.
Significant improvements in governance over the past decade occurred in countries such as Angola, Indonesia, Liberia, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Tajikistan.
“Over the same period there were significant declines in governance in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe and Venezuela,” the report said.
The Zimbabwe government was found by the World Bank researchers to have a casual approach in terms of controlling corrupt activities.
The country was ranked the seventh country with the worst corruption control environment in the world after North Korea, Equatorial Guinea, Afghanistan, Haiti, DRC and Iraq.
Several corruption cases have gone unpunished during the past seven years, particularly those involving top Zimbabwean ruling party and government officials.
The more recent cases involved senior officials accused of smuggling precious minerals out of the country and others found to have violated government rules on farm ownership.
Mugabe has not acted on the findings of an audit on his controversial land reform programme, which reported that some of his lieutenants had acquired up to six farms each in open violation of the government’s one-man-one-farm policy.
(Zim Online)
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The WB report “Worldwide Governance Indicators“