THE GOOD


Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe
are the most improved African countries
in the 2016 index. Both countries held
democratic presidential elections in 2016.
It is no surprise that the independent
electoral observer teams labelled the
Cape Verde elections for 2016 as
“exemplary”. This election that saw Jorge
Carlos Fonseca re-elected, was held in a
framework of a continuously improving
integrity system, as observed by various
African governance reviews.
In São Tomé and Príncipe elections held
in July 2016 led to a smooth change of
government, which is increasingly a
challenge in the African region.

THE BAD

Despite being a model for stability in the region Ghana, together with another six African countries, has significantly
declined. The rampant corruption in
Ghana led citizens to voice their
frustrations through the election, resulting
in an incumbent president losing for the
first time in Ghana’s history.
Some other large African countries have
failed to improve their scores on the
index. These include South Africa,
Nigeria, Tanzania and Kenya . South
African President Jacob Zuma was in
court and in the media for corruption
scandals. This included his own appeal
against findings in a report by the Public
Prosecutor Thuli Madonsela , regarding
undue public spending in his private
homestead in Nkandla.
Kenya – despite the adoption of a few
anti-corruption measures including
passing a law on the right to information
– has a long way to go. President Uhuru
expressed frustration that all his anti-
corruption efforts were not yielding much.
He may need new strategies as Kenyan
citizens go to the polls in 2017.
Right at the bottom of the list is Somalia ,
whose parliamentary elections were
marred by malpractice and corruption,
and whose presidential elections were
postponed three times last year and are
yet to be held.