Tanzania tops regional governance survey

By Al-amani Mutarubukwa, Citizen Reporter Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is the best governed country in East Africa, a new continental report shows. Ranked 15th among Africa’s 53 countries, Tanzania scored higher than the regional average for East Africa which was 45, according to the Mo Ibrahim 2010 Index country rankings.

Tanzania has climbed 19 places and is placed top among the five East African Community member countries followed by Uganda (24), Kenya (27), and Rwanda (31) and Burundi (32). At the sub-category level, Tanzania’s highest rank was in gender and lowest in education. While the country is place in the top ten

This is a striking difference as Tanzania ranked in the top ten in gender, it is in the bottom ten in education.

Tanzania also performed well in national security (93), private sector (62) and environment and the rural sector (67).

The rankings released on Monday show that overall governance performance in Africa is being driven by gains in economic and human development but undermined by democratic recession.

The report, which was launched in four cities across the continent, is published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an organisation committed to supporting good governance and great leadership in Africa. The Index measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by governments and non-state actors across 88 indicators.

The governance indicators are grouped into four categories, safety and rule of law (personal safety, rule of law, accountability and corruption, national security), participation and human rights (participation, rights, gender), sustainable economic opportunity (public management, private sector, infrastructure, environment and rural sector) and human development (health and welfare).

Other top ten African countries are the Seychelles, Botswana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, Tunisia, Lesotho and Egypt.

East Africa was the fourth-highest ranking region in the 2010 Ibrahim Index. The region ranked fourth out of the five regions in Safety and Rule of Law and Sustainable Economic Opportunity as well. In the remaining two categories, Participation and Human Rights and Human Development, East Africa was ranked third out of the five regions.

East Africa ranked lowest in only two sub-categories: National Security and Public Management, while achieving second place rank in Gender.

Seychelles was the best performing country in the region in all four categories of the Ibrahim Index and consequently for overall governance quality. Somalia was the worst performing country in the region in all four categories of the Index and consequently for overall governance quality.

The Index shows recent gains in many countries in human and economic development but declines in political rights, personal safety and the rule of law.

Dr Mohamed Ibrahim, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation founder and chair, said: "The 2010 Ibrahim Index gives us a mixed picture about recent progress on governance across the continent. While many African citizens are becoming healthier and have greater access to economic opportunities than five years ago, many of them are less physically secure and less politically enfranchised."

The Ibrahim Index is Africa’s leading assessment of governance, established to inform and empower the continent’s citizens and to support governments, parliaments and civil society to assess progress. Angola, Liberia and Togo saw significant improvements in governance performance. Forty-one countries improved economically, 10 significantly, 44 progressed in human development while 35 declined in safety and rule of law.


(2010-10-05/thecitizen)