Kenya scores high in Democracy Index
By Samuel Ouma
Kenya is ranked in position 95 worldwide in the Democracy Index 2020 ratings.
The ranking conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit looked at how countries handle elections, the functioning of government; political participation; political culture; and civil liberties.
Out of ten, the East African nation scored 3.5 on its electoral processes and pluralism, 5.36 on government functioning; 6.67 on political participation; 5.63 on political culture, and 4.12 on civil liberties.
Kenya was grouped among countries with hybrid regimes meaning their electoral process is always not free and fair.
According to EIU, there is rampant corruption in such nations, and they have a weak rule of law and civil society.
Besides, harassment and pressure on journalists are at a high level, and judiciary independence is nonexistent.
EIU also described such countries as to where there is uncommon pressure on opposition parties and candidates from the government.
Compared with her neighbors, Tanzanian performed better as it was ranked number 93 and Uganda was in position 98.
Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, and Canada were rated the most democratic countries globally.
Some African countries that performed well in the rankings are Senegal, Malawi, Lesotho, Ghana, South Africa, and Mauritius.
Kenya was also ranked number 13 in Sub-Saharan African.
