Foundation says governance results for SA, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria are a concern(SABC)
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The sixth Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) released today reveals that some of Africa’s regional powerhouses including Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, have shown unfavourable governance performance since 2006.
Over the past six years, all four countries have declined in two of the four main IIAG categories – Safety & Rule of Law and Participation & Human Rights. Each of the four countries deteriorated the most in the Participation sub-category, which assesses the extent to which citizens have the freedom to participate in the political process.
South Africa and Kenya have also registered declines in Sustainable Economic Opportunity. And Nigeria, West Africa’s powerhouse, has for the first time this year fallen into the bottom 10 governance performers on the continent. South Africa came third out of 12 countries in Southern Africa and fifth out of 52 overall.
Abdoulie Janneh, former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa and Board Member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, says: “Given the vast natural and human resources of these four regional powers, these governance results are a concern.
“Each of these countries plays a key role in the economic and political landscape of the continent. To continue to optimally play this role requires a sustained commitment to balanced and equitable governance.”
Good governance is about harnessing a country’s resources to achieve the results any citizen living in the 21st century has a right to expect
According to the index, governance has improved in many African countries since 2000.
Meanwhile, the 2012 IIAG provides full details of South Africa’s performance across four categories of governance: Safety & Rule of Law, Participation & Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.
Mo Ibrahim says: “Good governance is about harnessing a country’s resources to achieve the results any citizen living in the 21st century has a right to expect. One of Africa’s biggest leadership and governance challenges going forward is to master its own robust statistical system. Political sovereignty begins with data autonomy.”
South Africa’s performance in the 2012 IIAG:
South Africa scores 71 (out of 100) for overall governance.
South Africa scores higher than the regional average for Southern Africa which is 59.
South Africa scores higher than the continental average which is 51.
South Africa receives its highest score in the Human Development category (77) and its lowest score in the Sustainable Economic Opportunity category (62).
At sub-category level South Africa’s highest rank is in Public Management (1st) and lowest is in Personal Safety (41st).
Between 2000 and 2011 South Africa's overall governance score improved, however, since 2006, South Africa has shown unfavourable governance performance in the categories of Safety & Rule of Law, Participation & Human Rights and Sustainable Economic Opportunity.
