October 9, 2009
Tesfa Alem Tekle
The 2009 Index of African Governance, released by the World Peace Foundation has ranked Ethiopia at 37th place, among the middle performing countries, with 51.1of average point.
The index showed that Ethiopia performed well in Safety and Security and Human Development but recorded poor in Sustainable Economic Development and Participation and Human Rights.
The top performers in this year’s Index of African Governance are Mauritius, the Seychelles, Cape Verde, and Botswana.
Next, is Tunisia, followed by Ghana, Algeria, Namibia, South Africa, and São Tomé and Príncipe, in tenth.
Mauritius heads the list with a score of 86 points out of a perfect 100. It is an “all around” performer, ranking in the top three in all five categories of the Index.
The next six countries all score in the 70s and the final three dip slightly under 70. Scores are based on data for 2007, the latest year for which data are reasonably complete for all countries.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Gabon, this year in eleventh place, shows a similar trend, benefitting in the overall rankings by being secure, despite low participation scores.
Just above Guinea, at numbers 37 through 43 are Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burundi, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland, and Congo (Brazzaville), in that order. Nigeria, despite its vast oil wealth, suffers as in previous years by weak scores for safety and security, participation, rule of law, and human development.
The bottom eleven countries would be: Somalia (number 53), the Sudan, Eritrea, Libya, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Guinea, and Egypt.
The approach is equivalent just to the group’s categories of “Rule of Law, Transparency, and Corruption” and “Participation and Human Rights.” If we thus exclude “Safety and Security,” “Sustainable Economic Development,” and “Human Development,” the high performing list is still
Despite policy reforms and the efforts of leaders, the 2009 Index shows clearly that many aspects of good governance are slow to change in the continent.
