John Ngirachu
6 October 2009
Nairobi — Kenya has dropped seven places in this year's Ibrahim Index of Governance.
The country ranked 22nd out of the 53 African countries. In 2007, the country ranked 15th.
The index, published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by governments and non-state actors across 84 indicators of governance.
These governance indicators are grouped into four main categories: Safety and Rule of Law; Participation and Human Rights; Sustainable Economic Opportunity; and Human Development.
Kenya scored above the East African regional average of 46.9 and the overall continental average of 51.2.
It scored 53.3 on Safety and Rule of Law, 58.9 in Participation and Human Rights, 50.5 in Sustainable Economic Opportunity and 52.3 in Human Development.
Overall, Kenya's performance dropped from 59.3 per cent in 2007 to 53.7 this year.
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Uganda is ranked 24th, while Tanzania is way ahead at 12th place.
The index aims at promoting good governance in the continent.
It also recognises excellence in African leadership by rewarding former heads of state who led their countries well.
The prize committee is chaired by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.
Last year's award of $5 million was won by former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano.
The announcement of the next winner will take place on Monday next week.
Mauritius tops the index with a total score of 82.8, while Somalia is last with a score of 15.2.
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I have never ever read an honest African voice that strikes on the right note on African issues like the voice of Mo Ibrahim. Africa has had very spirited articulators, enthusiatic leaders, warm philantrophist, but Mo Ibrahim is a great and practical African patriot with profound moral insight. He doesn't just possess the capacity to perceive the true nature of Africa' problems, he has an incredible pool of practical solutions to those problems. He has the potential to be the architect of a modern Africa and i hope he has a strong voice in the AU summits.
I Totally agree with Mr.Ibrahim,though my feeling is that we need as Africans to facilitate social integration so as to get rid of the biases that have brought about suspicion amongst us,only then can we begin to achieve effective Economic Integration. There is also need for us to strengthen the existing regional blocks in Africa afterwhich we can talk about an all Africa integration process.
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Africa has no "economic future" until it has "consumer demand" for its products.
In my view, the Mo Ibrahim's Index is missing a critical data, the "EDUCATION LEVEL" of the Heads of State. It is not a surprise that, overall, the Presidents of the best-governed are more educated than their counterparts of the worst-governed nations. Most people seem to accept the notion that better governance is associated with a higher or lower degree of formal education achieved by the Head of State of each country.
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