An attempt to create the most comprehensive annual benchmarks to measure the performance of governments in Africa shows the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius to be the best-governed country in Africa, Somalia the worst, and Rwanda the fastest improving.
The Ibrahim Index of African Governance was published Tuesday in London by Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born former telecommunications magnate turned philanthropist.
It sets out to provide a more complete picture of governance in Africa than existing indices, in the hope of providing “objective criteria by which citizens can hold their governments to account” and to stimulate African leaders to improve.
Ibrahim said that the idea of the prize and index stemmed from his conviction, gained while building his continent-wide mobile phone network, that poor governance was the single biggest impediment (forhindring) to Africas development.
The index was prepared and complied for the foundation by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the US.
Launching the index, Ibrahim said the aim was to provide an objective assessment of what life was like for ordinary men and women.
The index ranks 48 countries against 58 individual measures. The foundation uses those measures to rank countries on five factors: safety and security; rule of law, transparency and corruption; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; and human development.
Island nation Mauritius topped the index (86.2), followed by Seychelles (83.1), Botswana (73.0), Cape Verde (72.9) and South Africa (71.1).
The bottom five were Guinea-Bissau (42.7), Sudan (40.0), Chad (38.8), the Democratic Republic of Congo (38.6) and Somalia (28.1).
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is next month due to award over 5 million US dollar to a former African head of state who is judged to have demonstrated exemplary leadership. The presidential prize is also aimed at encouraging best practice.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
