Nairobi — Kenya's ranking in overall governance across Africa has improved significantly over the last decade with the country's score improving by 3.1 points to 58.7 out of 100, a new report shows.
The 2022 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) ranked Kenya 13th in 2021 up from 18th in 2020.
According to the index, the country's performance has improved in three out of four categories from 2012 to 2021, namely participation, rights & inclusion, foundations for economic opportunity, and human development.
This means Kenya scored well on matters such as personal liberties, equal access to services, proper business environment, good infrastructure, quality education, and access to health services among others.
However, the county's performance deteriorated in security & rule of law, driven by decline in the sub-categories security & safety and accountability & transparency.
Further, despite the improvement during the decade, the index noted that Kenya's pace of improvement has slowed down over the most recent five years (2017-2021).
This means that when former President Uhuru Kenyatta took the reigns of power the country's governance levels deteriorated.
In the continent, Mauritius took first position in the goveranance index, Seychelles came second while Tunisia came third.
Closer home, Tanzania was ranked at 21 while Uganda took position 31.
The 2022 IIAG results show that even though the average continental level of Overall Governance is better in 2021 than in 2012 (+1.1), progress has flatlined since 2019.
Driving this stagnation is the deterioration of both the Security & Rule of Law and Participation, Rights & Inclusion index categories, due to an increase in armed conflicts, violence against civilians, and democratic backsliding across growing parts of the continent, the index notes.
"Our continent is uniquely exposed to the converging impacts of climate change, more recently Covid-19, and now the indirect impact of Russia-Ukraine war. These are challenging times. More than ever, commitment to strengthen governance must be renewed, unless we lose all progress achieved," said Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
