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Ethiopia slips on Ibrahim Governance Index

The 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance has some positive things about the continent in its detailed report which bases data collected during 2006 and in earlier periods. Financed by the Foundation, the Mo Ibrahim research was conducted by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Overall progress
The general picture the Index gives is that nearly two thirds of the forty eight Sub- Saharan governments [31 out of 48] have scaled up their governance performance. As per this year’s ranking, Liberia is in 38th place, only topping ten countries, but when compared to last year, it has witnessed dramatic progress. Liberia’s average, taken from the five governing criteria of the Index; Safety and Security, Rule of Law, Transparency and Corruption, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development, is 48.7/100. It still falls short but is10.4 higher on last years average.
Even if not as significant as Liberia’s, progress is registered by most nations in all the five areas especially in Participation and Human Rights, an area where African governments historically if not naturally perform very poorly. Mary Robinson, a board member of the Foundation and a former President of Ireland and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, cites this improvement as historical; achieved when the world marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, nearly twenty countries are still with a below 50 percent score on this assessment-with Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan occupying the three bottom spots.
Somalia which is least on every count scored the worst (6.4) points in Participation and Human Rights while Eritrea and Sudan follow with 10.6 and 12.0 respectively.
Some of the notable improvements seen in the fifty seven sub criteria which make up the five governing categories are areas such as macro economic stability, financial integrity, and access to technology [40 countries improved their scores in internet usage between 2005 and 2006.]
The best five performing countries are Mauritius, Seychelles, Cape Verde, Botswana and South Africa respectively- a similar order to the 2006 Index.
Deadlock in the Horn of Africa
Progress is taking place on the continent, the Index affirms, but not for the 90.2 million people of the Horn. Among the four Horn of African countries; Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia, only Djibouti has managed to improve its position in the rank [currently in 26’th position from 29th last year spot] while the rest saw governance performance deteriorate.
Among the five governing criteria in the Index, Djibouti has its highest [86/100] on Safety and Security and lowest [36.8/100] on Sustainable Economic Opportunity to take an average score of 55.2.
However, only 0.7 million Djiboutians are with better conditions while more than 89 million of the region continue to suffer from bad governance, even without promising measures.
A few months ago, economic performance reports such as the one by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) showed that East African economies were particularly performing well despite a global slowdown. But this economic boost doesn’t seem to help them much to provide better services to their citizens, as the Ibrahim Governance Index shows that Ethiopia and the horn countries didn’t only fail to improve but also fall short in the rank. The academicians; Professor Robert Rotberg and Dr. Rachel Gisselquist, who led the team that conducted the research account conflicts which occur in many parts of Horn as factors shielding back much needed good governance.
For the most populated nation in the Horn- Ethiopia- its rank has slipped 31th. The drop is not only a result of being out performed but also due to the nation’s low scores in three categories which took the overall average down to 50.9 from 51.6 last year.
“The most notable decline was in Participation and Human Rights, in which Ethiopia’s score fell by 3.9
Points, “the Foundation’s press release on Ethiopia explained. There is more bad news on the categories of Safety and Security, and Rule of Law, Transparency and, Corruption, in which Ethiopia’s performance has declined.
Ethiopia is currently in the 37th position in area of Participation and Human Rights, a much diminished position when compared to the Sustainable Economic Opportunity category where the score didn’t only improve very slightly from last year but also is among the top 25. Convincing progress is in the area of Human Development, which score rose by 1.7 points to 52.7/100.
The Eritrean government has only the first two categories in the 50% above score. Safety and Security, and Rule of Law, Transparency and Corruption category in which the government scored 81.0 and 56.6 respectively. Its lowest-also the second worst in the Index is Participation and Human Rights, which is only 10.6. Responding to Capital which sought an explanation on how Eritrea scores its highest in Safety and Security and lowest in Participation and Human Rights, Dr. Gisselquist said Safety and Security refers to national security and public safety [containing crime] which Eritrea seems to do very well despite worst Human Rights related records which explain the degree of political and civil rights participation, in which the government only outperforms Somalia. Even Eritrea’s good scores [in Safety and Security] Professor Rotberg sees as not an effective effort of a governance but a reflection of strong authoritarian state where security is strong while participation is weak.
Credibility?
Credibility doesn’t seem to be a concern for the Foundation as its Chair Dr. Ibrahim told the press in full confidence that any president or government is welcome to challenge the assessments of the Index, which he said is the best there is.
The same day it launched the 2008 Index, the Foundation released a statement explaining that it is looking for African institutions to take on the work done by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government this year. The Foundation says the move will both improve the quality of data as well as the continent’s ownership of the project. A concern Capital raised to Dr. Ibrahim is where will the selection of African institutions [mainly influenced by local governments sometimes even with full funding] leave his Index’s credibility. “We have to be very careful in selecting the institutions, “Dr. Ibrhaim responded, “the issue here is we never allow money to be a leverage to distort the Index. That’s why we do not make accept from any source. We will fund our own work as it is the case at Harvard.”
Before this transfer details of which are to be made public early next year, the Foundation will name the second Ibrahim Laureate at London’s City Hall on October 20. The first winner of this # 5mln prize which is given to outstanding former leaders of Sub Saharan African countries, was Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique.