Ranked 7th out of 52 African states, Burkina Faso won the "Gold Palm" medal for good governance practices within the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS)'s zone, according to a World Bank report issued in Ouagadougou Friday.
The World Bank July 2007 report is based on investigations and consultations conducted from November 2006 to January 2007 in 52 African countries.
Six basic criteria were taken into consideration in the classification of the bank's report, namely, efficiency in the public service, political stability, quality control, zero- tolerance on corruption, constitutional state, and respect of political liberties.
Based on these benchmarks, the report places Botswana at the top while Equatorial Guinea is ranked last on the continent.
In ECOWAS zone, Burkina Faso is ranked first and 7th in the whole continent ahead of Senegal at 12th position, Mauritania at 13th, Mali at 14th, and Ghana at 16th position.
Gambia is ranked at 22nd position, Togo at 23rd, Niger at 29th, Guinea at 30th, Sierra Leone at 36th, Benin at 37th, Guinea-Bissau at 40th, Liberia at 42nd, Nigeria at 46th and Cote d'Ivoire at 47th position.
Each country was also assessed on "human rights, possible threats against its government or violent change of power, competent bureaucracy and quality of public service delivery."
In their assessment, the bank's experts also took into consideration negative market policies, procurement regulations, police and judicial performance, independence of the judiciary, and criminality rate.
The report shows that improvement of living conditions of the continent's populations is as a result of enhanced governance which plays an important role in fighting against poverty.
<i>Source: Xinhua</i>
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