Rwanda: Governance Scorecard Confirms Consistent Improvement in Development in 2016

Posted on : Wednesday, 1st February 2017

Kigali, 31 January 2016- Rwanda has registered consistent improvement in different governance and development sectors, according to the Rwanda Governance Scorecard (RGS) 2016. The RGS fourth edition launched today at the Kigali Convention Centre indicates that compared to the 2014 edition, six out of eight major indicators have recorded higher scores while only two presented slight decline.

RGS is an annual publication seeking to gauge the state of governance in the country. It is a comprehensive governance assessment based on primary and secondary data drawn from over 200 questions.

While launching the 2016 RGS, Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi said it has become a governance mirror that scientifically describes the country’s governance performance.

“RGS is a unique assessment tool based on locally generated data like citizen satisfaction surveys. It helps us to understand Rwandan 2016 state of governance and what we need to do to achieve more good results,” the Premier said. 

The findings of last year’s Governance Scorecard show that three best performer’s indicators of the RGS2016 scored over 80% with Safety and Security leading with 92.62%, closely followed by Control of Corruption, Transparency and Accountability standing at 86.56% as well as Political Rights and Civil liberties which scored 81.83%. Other indicators recorded moderate scores: Rule of Law, 79.68%, Economic and Corporate Governance, 76.82%, Participation and Inclusiveness, 76.48%, Investing in Human and Social Development, 74.88% while the Quality of service delivery comes last with 72.93%.

The Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Governance Board, Prof Anastase Shyaka says that RGS 2016 clearly shows that Rwanda is making commendable strides towards building and sustaining a social developmental democratic state.

“By using universally recognised indicators of governance and credible selected source of data, RGS has emerged as an evidence-based tool of governance that drives policy and social reforms in Rwanda through identifying challenges and providing actionable recommendations,” Prof Shyaka said.

Commenting on the Scorecard, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Lamin M. Manneh noted that RGS has, through rigorous research and empirical analysis underpinning advocacy work and policy making, undoubtedly established a proven track record in advancing good governance in Rwanda.

The Rwanda Governance Scorecard is a scientifically designed national governance index used to measure and evaluate the state of governance in Rwanda. Introduced in 2010, it is crafted around eight indicators. These indicators are developed and consolidated on three-tier setting: International framework, international indexes and Rwanda-specific indicators.