Reading the Daily Graphic in Accra last week, my attention was drawn to an article about the Ibrahim Index and whether its results genuinely reflected ground reality in Ghana. This encouraged me to interrogate the Index and how it is compiled.

My personal and professional interests are in accountability, so I decided to dive into this sub-section of the Index.

I note first the results for East Africa, defined here as the five current members of the EAC. Specifically on the accountability measure, the strongest performing country is… Rwanda.

With a ranking of 59 out of 100, Rwanda also takes the 9th position in Africa. The region’s second best performer is Uganda, at position 48. Third place goes to Tanzania (47), and scrappy Burundi (35) ekes out a victory over last-place Kenya (34).

Although I have respect for many of the Kagame regime’s accomplishments, as a committed democrat, I had some trouble wrapping my mind around the notion of Rwanda as the most accountable government in East Africa, so I decided to delve further into the data.

What does the Ibrahim Index mean by accountability and how is this reflected in the way it is measured

The Index could be referring to political accountability, meaning that voters can hold politicians accountable for their performance, usually through elections.

Alternatively, the focus might be on legal accountability: Whether politicians are held accountable for breaking the law.
Since accountability appears under the broader category “Safety and Rule of Law,” it is reasonable to assume that it is legal accountability that is being measured.

Political accountability

The fact that the top scorer in East Africa is not a democracy also suggests that the focus here is on legal, not political accountability, since political accountability tends to be higher in democracies.