Mo Foundation Says African Governance Improving

 

 View over a section of Bakara market, Mogadishu.

 Photo: Mohamed Amin Jibril/IRIN

THE 2014 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) was launched, showing that overall governance improved on the African continent between 2009 and 2013.

However, over the past ten years, the main drivers of this overall positive trend have changed.
Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Mo Ibrahim said in a statement issued in Dar es Salaam said that the results of the 2014 IIAG challenge their perceptions about the state of African governance.
"Africa is progressing but the story is complex and doesn't fit the stereotypes. Even if the overall picture looks good, we must all remain vigilant and not get complacent," said Mo Ibrahim, At the country level, the 2014 IIAG highlights the potential of governance underperformers while revealing the weaknesses of current frontrunners.
Countries in the bottom half of the rankings register the largest improvements over the past five years. Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Niger and Zimbabwe have changed course since 2009 from negative trajectories to become the biggest improvers on the continent.
This progress has been driven in large part by gains in Participation and Human Rights. Meanwhile, the historically strong performers, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana, South Africa and Seychelles, have shown some deterioration in at least one category over the past five years, notwithstanding that all these countries remain on overall upward trends.
"The 2014 IIAG results show that high ranking countries cannot assume that future achievements will necessarily follow previous accomplishments.
More generally, let us make sure that the Africa Rising narrative, that everyone is talking about, truly benefits all African people," said Jay Naidoo, Board Member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
At category level, the 2014 IIAG also reveals that the main drivers of the overall positive trend in African governance have changed.
For the most recent five years, from 2009 to 2013, progress has been jointly driven by Participation and Human Rights and Human Development, whereas the main driver of gains in the previous period (2005-2009) was Sustainable Economic Opportunity, which has stalled in the most recent period.