- Southern Africa is the continent’s best performing region, according to the annual governance suvey results released by the Mo Ibrahim Foudantion today.
The region has scored an average score of 58.1, followed closely by North Africa with an average score of 57.7, with West Africa ranked third with an average score of 51.7, followed by East Africa with a score of 46.9, while Central Africa is the worst performing region, with an average score of 40.2.
Mauritius tops the 2009 Ibrahim Index with a total score of 82.8, ranking first in all four main categories. Cape Verde is ranked second with a total score of 78.0. Seychelles is ranked third with a total score of 77.1, followed by Botswana with a total score of 73.6. South Africa is ranked fifth with a total score of 69.4.
According to the results released in Cape Town today, Southern Africa is ranked highest in both Safety and Rule of Law and Participation and Human Rights, with five of Africa’s ten best performing countries, Mauritius, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho all coming from the region.
The results further showed that Central Africa is the worst performing region across all four categories.
"All seven Central African countries are ranked outside the top 20 in the 2009 Ibrahim Index, with all of them except Gabon performing below the average for the continent," the Foudation said in a release, adding that, Somalia is the worst governed country on the continent, with a total score of 15.2, followed from the bottom in the 52nd place by Chad which has a total score of 29.9, while Zimbabwe is third from bottom in 51st place with a total score of 31.3.
The Foundation also mentions that, for the first time, in 2009 the Ibrahim Index covers all 53 countries in Africa. It also includes data from 2008, making it more current than any other assessment of African governance.
Speaking at the launch of the third iteration of the Ibrahim Index, Mo Ibrahim, the founder and Chairman of the Foundation, said: “The 2009 Ibrahim Index gives us the clearest – and most current – snapshot of governance performance on the continent we have ever had. With Southern Africa outperforming North Africa, we can see a picture emerging that fundamentally challenges our perceptions about Africa. Our objective is to generate debate about what we can expect our governments to deliver in our name.”
The Ibrahim Index is Africa’s leading assessment of governance, established to inform and empower the continent’s citizens. It measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government and non-state actors across 84 indicators of governance. Those governance indicators are grouped in four overall categories of Safety and Security, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity, and Human Development. All 53 of Africa’s countries are then ranked according to their total scores across the categories.
The Ibrahim Index of African Governance was created in recognition of the need for a robust, comprehensive and quantifiable tool for citizens and civil society to track government performance in Africa. The development of the Ibrahim Index reflects the Foundation’s long-term commitment to support African ownership of the governance debate, to develop capacity in African institutions, and to improve the quality, reliability, and availability of data about Africa.
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