Ibrahim index of African governance
09.10.2009
Seychelles top for people’s development
If you are an African who ranks health, education and freedom from poverty as your top priorities, you are best off in Seychelles, a study published on Monday shows.
This is among a host of findings revealed in the 2009 Ibrahim Index of Governance, which was launched at the Centre for African Studies in the University of Cape Town on Monday.
The index is named after Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese-born cellphone entrepreneur who launched the foundation of the same name to improve the quality of leadership in Africa.
It says southern Africa is the continent’s best-governed region and central Africa its worst-governed.
“If you value human rights and participation in government highest, you are best off in Mauritius. You’re worst off in Somalia, but Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya and Sudan are not much better,” it says.
The 2009 index covers the period 2007-08, and Seychelles scored 77.1 points out of 100 to come third over all four categories – safety and rule of law; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; and human development, which examines poverty levels, health and education provision. More than 80 measurements were used to rank quality in these four areas.
In human development Seychelles scored 97.9 points to rank first in Africa, in safety and rule of law it gained 75.5 (fifth), in participation and human rights it scored 70.6 (eighth) and in sustainable economic opportunity it gained 64.5 (sixth).
Seychelles scored well above the East African regional average, which was 46.9, and well above the overall continental average – 51.2. It outperformed the continental average in every category and came first in East Africa in every category.
Mauritius came top overall with 82.8 and Cape Verde was second with 78.
After Seychelles came Botswana with a total score of 73.6 and South Africa with 69.4.
Somalia was ranked as the worst-governed country on the continent, with a score of 15.2. Chad was next to bottom with 29.9, while Zimbabwe was in 51st place with 31.3.
This year’s index differs from the first two – published in 2007 and 2008 – by including North Africa for the first time, boosting the number of countries surveyed from 48 to 53. One North African country enters the ranks of the 10 best-governed in the continent: Tunisia, which comes in at eighth place. Egypt is ranked 11 of 53, Algeria 14, Morocco 16 and Libya 23.
Also for the first time, the index groups countries by region. On an index ranging from 1 to 100, Southern Africa scores 58.1, North Africa 57.7, West Africa 51.7, East Africa 46.9 and Central Africa 40.2.
Regional groupings are those used by the African Development Bank, and Central Africa comprises Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Overall, this year’s index shows that “about 26 or 27 countries have improved in general”, Mo Ibrahim said in an interview a week ahead of the publication of the findings.
The 2009 survey shows that Southern Africa includes five of the 10 best-governed countries on the continent – Mauritius, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho – but its score is dragged down by Zimbabwe.
West Africa includes two of the 10 best-governed countries – Cape Verde and Ghana – but is pulled down by Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire in the bottom 10.
In East Africa, Seychelles and Tanzania are in the top 10, but Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia are in the bottom 10.