Accra — The Africa Parliamentary Monitoring Organizations Network (APMON) has launched the 2025 edition of the Africa Open Parliament Index (OPI), spotlighting South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya as the continent’s leading parliaments in legislative openness while urging urgent reforms to deepen transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement.
The second edition of the OPI, released virtually on Tuesday, assessed 33 national parliaments across Africa, measuring their performance in transparency, civic participation, and public accountability.
South Africa’s bicameral parliament emerged as the most open in Africa with an overall score of 79.69%, followed closely by Ghana’s unicameral parliament at 77.60% and Kenya’s bicameral parliament at 73.96%. At the bottom of the ranking were Comoros (31st, 29.69%), South Sudan (32nd, 28.65%), and Guinea-Bissau (33rd, 28.13%).
Speaking at the launch, APMON Secretary General Sammy Obeng described the index as a crucial roadmap for democratic strengthening:
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“The OPI is not just a ranking – it is a roadmap. It challenges parliaments to open up their work, engage citizens meaningfully, and demonstrate accountability. The 2025 edition shows encouraging progress in many countries, but also highlights areas where urgent reforms are needed.”
The launch featured a panel of civil society leaders who reflected on the results and shared strategies for building more open, responsive, and citizen-centered parliaments.
APMON urged parliaments, governments, and development partners to adopt evidence-based reforms guided by the OPI findings, pledging to work with parliaments, civil society organizations, and regional bodies on country-specific action plans.