Africa’s best and worst ran states
October 7, 2016
Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese telecoms tycoon who gives a $5 million prize every year to reward excellence in African leadership, laments that a lot of people do not seem to know Hifikepunye Pohamba or Festus Mogae, yet notorious dictators are feted like rock stars.
The two leaders, former presidents of Namibia and Botswana respectively who have won the prestigious accolade, are sterling examples of superb leadership, says Ibrahim.
Ibrahim’s observations are spot on, but perhaps this is because democratic leaders are very few in number in Africa.
The 2016 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), the most authoritative survey of its kind, released a report this week showing that governance across Africa has improved very little in the past decade.
Deteriorating safety and the rule of law have held back progress recorded in areas such as economic opportunities and human rights, the survey revealed.
The report, titled A Decade of African Governance, defines governance as “the provision of the political, social and economic goods that a citizen has the right to expect from his or her state, and that a state has the responsibility to deliver to its citizens”.
The Ibrahim Index rates 54 African nations on criteria such as human rights, free elections, corruption, rule of law, security, economic stability, poverty, health, education and infrastructure.
The overall index for Africa as a whole went up by just one point over the past 10 years.
Almost 50 percent of Africa’s 54 nations saw their governance scores deteriorate during the decade, particularly in the areas of personal safety, national security as well as accountability and the judicial system.
Some of the findings show a startling regression in democratic indicators. Six of the 10 highest-scoring countries in the index’s rights category have registered deterioration in the past 10 years.
In that connection, two-thirds of the countries on the continent, representing 67 percent of the African population, have shown deterioration in freedom of expression in the past decade.
The top-scoring countries, generally, tend to be either islands or have small populations. Mauritius retained its top spot, followed by Botswana, Cape Verde, the Seychelles and Namibia.
Remarkably, African economic powerhouses like South Africa and Ghana have seen their governance scores deteriorate. South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised economy, ranks sixth, after suffering the largest decline of any African country.
South Africa’s alarming decline, described by the researchers as a “concerning negative trend”, is attributed to an economy that has teetered on the edge of recession, buffeted by chronic electricity shortages, high unemployment and diminishing public confidence in President Jacob Zuma’s stewardship.
Predictably, countries wracked by armed conflict, such as Libya, South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Burundi, fare poorly in the governance stakes.
Somalia, mired in endless turmoil, is ranked last.
Writing in the annual report which is compiled by his foundation, Ibrahim says various factors militate against good governance in Africa.
“Today, current opinion focuses on the potential aftershock of deflating commodity prices and third- term challengers to democracy.
“What is striking is that these are not areas which demand the most attention.
“All four components which make up safety and rule of law have deteriorated.
“This is holding back the continent’s progress and remains the biggest challenge to its future,” Ibrahim says.
The Ibrahim Index report says Ivory Coast has made the largest overall improvements in governance, while Libya is the worst performer.
There is a shocker on Zimbabwe: the report says the perennially troubled southern African nation has registered the third-largest improvements in governance, after Ivory Coast and Togo.
Zimbabwe, according to the survey, has outperformed Liberia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Niger, Morocco and Kenya in improving governance.
