Cape Town — Standards of governance in Africa are gradually improving but there are warning signs of backsliding, especially on the economic front, according to the latest edition of the continent's most authoritative survey of the way its nations are ruled.
This year's Ibrahim Index of African Governance shows a "slight improvement" in overall governance over the past five years, but that the improvement has been a little slower than during the previous five years.
However, the trend in the field of "sustainable economic opportunity" – one of four major categories the index uses to judge standards of governance – is more alarming. Whereas opportunities improved in the five years from 2005 to 2009, they have declined in the five years since.
The decline is "a very slightly negative trend, but still negative," said Nathalie Delapalme, the executive director for research and policy of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which produces the index. "This is something that everybody probably needs to be watchful about."
In a briefing for AllAfrica ahead of the release of this year's index, Delapalme and Elizabeth McGrath, the director of the index, also highlighted evidence that even the five best-governed countries on the continent display signs of what Delapalme called "a kind of fatigue or weakness."
This is particularly so in South Africa, the fourth best-governed country in Africa, which has seen a deterioration over the last five years in two of the four categories of governance: that of safety and the rule of law and that of participation and human rights.
Mauritius, which continues to retain its record as the best-governed African nation, has also deteriorated in the safety and rule of law category. Cape Verde has slipped back in "human development" – which comprises welfare, education and health, Botswana has deteriorated in sustainable economic development and the Seychelles in safety and the rule of law.
There is no change this year in the countries ranked as Africa's top 10 performers – Namibia, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal and Lesotho occupy places six to 10 on the list – but two countries have moved out of the list of the 10 worst-governed countries: Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, to be replaced by Libya and Angola.
Somalia remains at the bottom of the rankings, followed by the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Libya.
As in previous editions of the index, there are encouraging trends in nations which remain low in the rankings, but have improved their positions over previous years, and there are calamitous plunges in rank both among some previously well-governed nations and those which were already in the bottom half of the list.
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The greatest improvements in score over the past five years have been seen in countries where democracy was strengthened or survived challenges over the period: Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Zimbabwe and Senegal (see Photo Essay: Africa's Five Most Improved Nations). In general, the worst setbacks were experienced in countries afflicted with internal conflict or crime: Egypt, Libya, Guinea-Bissau, the Central African Republic and Mali (see Photo Essay: Africa's Five Worst Backsliders).
Further reading
Echoing the language of Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese-born entrepreneur whose foundation supports the index, Nathalie Delapalme says the index helps to promote "Afro-realism", as distinct from "Afro-pessimism" or "Afro-optimism".
"Africa is going well but maybe not as well or not exactly as you... as you may think or believe or hope it is going. [We cannot be] complacent about African progress. There is still a way to go for this progress to be sustainable and shared."
For more detailed and nuanced information on the governance performance of Africa's 52 nations in greater detail, read AllAfrica's package of materials, including the full index and a breakdown of performance indicators by category and country.
