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SD must rise to the occasion

05/10/2009 00:00:00 The Editor

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Swaziland has jumped to position 29 out of 53 African countries according to the world respected Ibrahim Index of African Governance for 2009, which is Africa’s leading assessment of governance that informs and empowers citizens.

The rise is welcome and much needed. Five places up may seem a few small steps ahead but it counts a great deal when such an index is used by the much sought after investors to decide where to put their money together with other indictors such as the ease of doing business index where the country slipped one step backward compared to the previous year.
Putting the two together, it would appear we are a better country politically but now more difficult to deal with economically.

The challenge that now lies with the current government is to balance this up. Both indicators should see Swaziland moving up the ranks and nowhere else.
The latest statistic should have everybody taking note of what could happen if High Court decisions like the protracted Mzikayise ruling and the Mario Masuku case could be accepted at all levels of the country’s administration.

It increases our score on the rule of law which is why government needs to tread carefully on the ruling on free education which should be accessible to all primary school going children by the beginning of next year as per the court ruling; otherwise this particular issue could easily take the country five steps back.
On the corruption score, we appear to have made some significant improvement, but we still await action on many cases of corruption despite having a fully operational Anti Corruption Commission. Counting the cases would need all day.
With regards to Human Rights, the biggest threat to this country remains the Suppression of Terrorism Act which appears to be the supreme law of the land and has the potential of sending us back to where we were under Zimbabwe.

Also, fresh moves by the ministry of information, communication and technology to muzzle the press will do more harm to this country than the minister thinks the media commission can achieve. This is probably why the minister is not publishing the bill but rather the code of ethics to have people think it’s all good.

The index should also serve as a reminder that the world is watching us and everything that we do very closely. If Swaziland wants to be a part of this world, the index provides the expectations. How high or low we wish to be listed, will unfortunately decide whether this country will swim with the rest or sink on its own.
Congratulations to Swaziland for the improvements in the areas cited by the report. We hope that up is the only way to go for this country moving forward and we anxiously await results for 2010.