VARIOUS/FILE: Mauritius tops new Africa good governance index

Which African country has the best government --and the worst? The first annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance is rating the performance of 48 nations against a series of criteria including security, human rights, economic stability, just laws, free elections, corruption, infrastructure, poverty and health. And the overall winner? The small island nation of Mauritius. Mauritius is the best run country in Africa and Somalia is the worst, according to a new good governance index published on Tuesday (September 25). The first annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance rated the performance of 48 nations against a series of criteria including security, human rights, economic stability, just laws, free elections, corruption, infrastructure, poverty and health. Mauritius scored highest overall on the index, followed by Seychelles, Botswana, Cape Verde and South Africa. But in individual categories some other countries stood out. Gabon was first on safety and security; Botswana on transparency; and Seychelles on sustainable economic opportunity and also on human development. At the foot of the table and just ahead of Somalia were the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Sudan and Guinea-Bissau. Somalia was seen as most lacking rule of law, worst on human rights, and least able to sustain economic opportunity; Sudan was seen as most dangerous; and Chad was lowest on the human development index. Zimbabwe, in the news because of a political crisis that has lead to a police crackdown and an economic meltdown that has resulted in the world's highest rate of inflation at around 6,600 percent, is 31st on the list. It fell 10 points on the Ibrahim index between 2004 and 2005, and is expected to fall even lower in next year's index. The most dramatic improvement came from Rwanda, which climbed 18 points, and now ranks 18th out of 48 on the index. The index was prepared and compiled for the foundation by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and provides up-to-date figures compiled between 2000 and right up to 2005. "What's the objective of this set of data? This data really is our gift to the civil society in Africa, because what we hope as a result of this, that the civil society will be able to have an informed dialogue with the governments, to engage in the issue of governance, but again, based on factual data, factual information, what's happening in this area here, why our neighbouring country is doing better than us in that element, maybe the policy here was better than our policy. It is that debate which we really hope that this set of data will inspire among African people, and it's also a good diagnostic tool for the government, so we hope also other African governments will take note and will treat these numbers to see for themselves what is working and what is not working, and why,"said Ibrahim Foundation founder and leading Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim at a press conference at the Ibrahim Foundation headquarters in central London. The Ibrahim Foundation began operating in October 2006 to promote African development with a special focus on sub-Saharan Africa. It hands out a five million U.S dollar prize for the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The next winner will be announced on October 22,2007. Intended to be an annual benchmarking exercise, its index covers a total of 58 criteria grouped under five main headings. Each of these categories generates an overall country score from which the final national index is produced. Professor Robert Rotberg, Director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, oversaw this complex project. "Good governance is responsible for peace, stability and prosperity, all over the world, not just in Africa, and bad government is responsible, particularly in Africa but all over the world, for conflict and for poverty. So, just starkly put, the reason for looking at governance is that governance is central to all the good that comes out of Africa, and to most of the ill that comes out of Africa, or any other place in the world," said Professor Robert Rotberg. The full index can be found at www.moibrahimfoundation.org.

ITN Source | September 25, 2007

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