Govt scores high in Afrobarometer report
THE sixth phase government has scored high in the new Afrobarometer survey report in areas of governance, rule of law, economy, democracy and freedom of expression and public trust in government’s institutions.
Released on Thursday by the REPOA (Policy Research for Development), the annual survey is based on public perceptions on the five areas.
The report shows that citizens approved the government’s performance by an average of 69.3 per cent in all five surveyed topical areas.
Each area and its average score on brackets are governance (64.9), economy (60.5), democracy freedom of expression (66), rule of law (81.5) and public trust (73.6).
When presenting the report findings, Dr Lucas Katera, Director of Collaborations and Capacity Building from REPOA, elaborated that 82 per cent of the respondents were confident on how the government manages education sector.
The report shows at least 74 per cent of interviewees approved government’s efforts in promoting equal rights while 69 per cent expressed satisfaction on how the government provides health services, including efforts in fighting corruption.
On the rule of law, the report shows that 82 per cent of the citizens interviewed expressed confidence on the President Samia’s performance with 81 per cent of them saying the President respects the Parliament.
However, the citizens expressed concern over high prices of goods and services as well as the rising youth unemployment.
Giving details of the research, Dr Katera said the findings show only 21 per cent supported the government’s efforts in controlling inflation, with 45 per cent expressing satisfaction on how the government addresses the challenge of unemployment among youths in the country.
According to Dr Katera, the survey was conducted countrywide, using a sample of 2,400 people picked randomly, adding that the sample was drawn from the national master sample – the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Speaking during the briefing, REPOA Chief Executive Officer Donald Mmari said the report plays a vital role in the country because it helps the government and its relevant agencies to make improvement on areas that citizens have raised concerns.
Dr Mmari also observed that findings help the government to assess itself through the eyes of its citizens.
REPOA Senior Research Fellow, Mr Ahmed Ndyeshobola said there is a need to rethink about indicators and methodologies employed in conducting the survey to improve the statistics and make them sound more relevant.
Responding, Dr Katera said the methodology used was standard and adhered to the agreed standard by the member countries that participated in the survey. This year’s Afrobarometer survey was conducted in a total of 36 African countries.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in African countries.
Tanzania has conducted Afrobarometer surveys in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2017, 2021, and 2022. The surveys are conducted in Kiswahili.
The launching of the report yesterday attracted a number of activists, people from Non-government Organisations (NGOs) and media personnel.