Zim bucks the continental trend

via Zim bucks the continental trend Zimbabwe Independent October 18, 2013

THERE is much to celebrate in this important year for Africa — the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union). Our continent is the fastest growing economically. Global attention has rarely been greater or more positive.

Mo Ibrahim Governance guru

The OAU’s creation marked a watershed in Africa’s history and development. Its anniversary provides the opportunity to reflect on progress over the last half century and to focus on what needs to be achieved in the future to meet the bold ambitions of its architects.

The OAU’s creation marked a watershed in Africa’s history and development. Its anniversary provides the opportunity to reflect on progress over the last half century and to focus on what needs to be achieved in the future to meet the bold ambitions of its architects.

This week my foundation published the 2013 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), which we hope can inform this discussion. The results, which allow us to examine trends back to 2000, shine a light on the state of governance across the continent and the important challenges we face over the coming decades.

Tempting as it is, we must resist jumping to overly simplistic or optimistic conclusions about Africa and the direction it is heading.

We have to guard against the “Africa Rising” or “The Hopeful Continent” headlines just as in the past it was wrong to dismiss Africa as a “Basketcase” or a “Hopeless Continent”. We need, in fact, to move decisively away from both Afro-optimistic and Afro-pessimistic headlines, but towards Afro-realism.

First, while the overwhelming majority of Africans have enjoyed improved governance since the turn of the century, we must not forget the 6% of Africans who live in countries where governance has deteriorated. Madagascar, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Libya and Mali remind us that the positive overall trends experienced by most of the continent are not shared by all.

The 2013 IIAG shows that Zimbabwe ranks 47th out of 52 African countries. Zimbabwe is one of six countries to have remained consistently in the IIAG’s bottom 10 since 2000 — along with Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

The 2013 IIAG provides full details of Zimbabwe’s performance across four categories of governance: safety and rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development.

Since 2000, Zimbabwe has shown its biggest improvement in the category of human development. Human development measures welfare, education and health.

Despite improvements since 2000, Zimbabwe’s governance score remains below the continental average for Africa as well as the regional average for Southern Africa.

Second, while improvements have been seen within the IIAG’s categories of human development and sustainable economic opportunity, smaller gains have been made in the category of participation and human rights. Even more worrying, safety and rule of law scores have shown year-on-year declines since 2010.

The IIAG’s data suggest that the underlying factors driving recent declines in safety and rule of law include increased threats to safety of the person, worsening social unrest and a rise in incidents of human trafficking. These findings are simply unacceptable. They should sound a clear warning signal that we may be looking at a future with fewer regional conflicts, but increased domestic social unrest and violence.

Thirdly, despite overall progress on the continent, there is a widening difference in performance between the best and worst governed countries on the continent — the “haves” and the “have nots”. Mauritius’ score, at the top of the table, is more than 10 times that of Somalia at the bottom.

There is a crucial lesson here. By working together more closely, best practice — including which policies, structures and approaches are most effective for a country and its citizens — can be shared.

Sharing is in the African spirit. It’s embedded in our communities, through our local businesses, villages and family networks. But the truth is that over the last 50 years Africans have not shared enough of their knowledge, data or even goods with each other.

Today, traditional donor aid is diminishing. Reliance on foreign partners to buy our commodities and send us financial resources has to come to an end. Africa is rich enough to stand on its own feet, but much more work needs to be done. There can be no sustainable African unity without building strong cohesion and solidarity within the continent. We will not meet the hopes of those who called for African unity 50 years ago without it.

Overall then, an honest assessment of the continent as supported by the 2013 IIAG should note Africa’s many achievements, but it should also include a pragmatic acknowledgement of the distance we still have left to go.

The IIAG tells us that the outlook is mixed and that neither Afro-pessimism nor Afro-optimism does justice to modern Africa.

No winner of the 2013 Mo Ibrahim leadership prize

THE Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s independent prize committee has decided not to award this year’s 2013 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.

The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is the largest prize in the world, worth an annual US$5 million over 10 years and US$200 000 annually for life thereafter.

The prize was established in 2007 by Mo Ibrahim, founder and chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, to celebrate excellence in African leadership and to provide laureates with the opportunity to pursue their commitment to the African continent once they have stepped down from office. It is judged by an independent committee composed of seven eminent figures, including two Nobel laureates.

Previous winners of the Ibrahim Prize include former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano in 2007, Festus Mogae (2008) former Botswana president, Pedro Pires of Cape Verde (2011) and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (honorary).

Ibrahim is a Sudanese-born governance expert and founder and chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.