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African governance struggling in face of hard times

African governance struggling in face of hard times The Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s latest report indicated worrying trends for the continent in the face o...

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s latest report indicated worrying trends for the continent in the face of democratic and security challenges following the pandemic.

A decline in security and democracy has caused the standard of governance across Africa to stagnate in the past three years, despite overall progress in the past decade, according to a new report.

Published on 25 January, the 2022 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) found that although the quality of governance had improved in the decade since 2012, it had completely plateaued from 2019, a situation made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further non-African challenges, such as the climate crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are expected to further exacerbate these problems, according to the report’s authors at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The finding endorsed initial signs of a decline as reported by the IIAG in 2020.

Speaking at the online launch event, foundation executive director Nathalie Delapalme reported that by 2021, Africa had become “less safe, less secure, less democratic than it was in 2012”, while inclusion and sustainability had also suffered.

Over one third of Africans live in a country where participation, rights and inclusion are currently in decline.

Now in its 14th edition, the IIAG assesses 81 indicators across four categories: security and rule of law; participation, rights and inclusion; foundations for economic opportunity; and human development.

Seychelles, Tunisia and Botswana scored best for overall governance, and are all in the top 10 while Gambia was showing the most improvement in 16th. Mauritius and Cabo Verde, despite being in first and fourth place respectively and among the long-time leaders of the index, have both declined in governance quality. South Africa, Ghana, Namibia, Senegal and Morocco made up the rest of the top 10.

Last-placed South Sudan and fifth-from-last Central African Republic have declined, while Somalia, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea are low scoring countries that have shown some signs of improvement.

In a statement on the report, telecommunications entrepreneur and founder of the foundation Mo Ibrahim said: “Unless we quickly address this concerning trend, the years of progress we have witnessed could be lost,” warning that the continent would be unable to fulfil its sustainable development goals or the African Union’s Agenda 2063 development programme.

REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

Despite the downturn of recent years, the report showed positives as well, noting the ways in which governance in Africa has progressed, with 35 out of 54 countries improving overall since 2012. This progress is due to stronger economic foundations in 48 countries and a long-term improvement in human development, with 43 countries seeing an upturn. Healthcare has been the major factor in human development, while infrastructure investment has driven economic improvement, which is accelerating in 28 countries.

Overall, however, 19 countries have deteriorated and only 15 of the 35 improved countries have accelerated their progress since 2017.

The report attributed the decline to worsening security and rule of law in 32 countries, and the diminution of participation, rights and inclusion in 31 countries, which worryingly is declining at an increasing rate.

Despite investment in infrastructure, transport networks are deteriorating and 600 million people do not have access to electricity, while a lack of economic prospects for the youth population is a problem.

Moreover, the coming economic downturn and the global impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are only just beginning to be felt.

Mo Ibrahim warned: “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. Governments must address all at once ongoing lack of prospects for our growing youth, worsening food insecurity, lack of access to energy for almost half the continent’s population, heavier debt burden, growing domestic unrest. Coups are back, and democratic backsliding spreading. These are challenging times. More than ever, commitment to strengthen governance must be renewed, unless we lose all progress achieved.”

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