April Gregory

Professor Martin Lewis

History 206

The Good, the Bad, and Somalia: Measuring African Governance with the Mo Ibrahim Index

Sudanese philanthropist, mobile telecommunications entrepreneur, and billionaire Mo

Ibrahim is on a mission to change the way the world evaluates African governance – and the way

Africa evaluates itself. Since 2006 the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has developed tools and resources

for citizens and governments alike to assess progress in governance and the recognition of

excellence in African leadership. To this end, the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African

Leadership has been established to reward exceptional African leaders. The $5 million award—

$4 million more than the Nobel Peace Prize—was given this year to Pedro Verona Pires, former

president of the island nation of Cape Verde. After two years of deeming no African leader

worthy of the award, the prize committee chose Pires for his “vision in transforming Cape Verde

into a model of democracy, stability and increased prosperity,”1 hailing the peaceful transition of

power that followed the end of his term.

In addition to the leadership prize, the foundation is also notable for its yearly report of

the Mo Ibrahim Index. Established in 2007, the index constitutes what is arguably the most

comprehensive collection of data reflecting government performance in Africa. The index

consolidates 86 governance indicators under 14 sub-categories and 4 overarching categories into

a numeric measure (from 0 to 100) of political, social, economic, and developmental efficacy.

Each sub-category also features a sub-index measuring the performance of African governments

in various spheres pertaining to the index’s four main categories: safety and rule of law,

1 http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en

participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity, and human development. The

2011 Ibrahim Index includes several new sub-indices, two of which – gender and health – will be

explored in this post in terms of geographic patterns and fluctuations in the progress of specific

countries . The Ibrahim Index’s evaluation of business environment and education will also be

considered in this same way.

Before any analysis can be made, it is important to pose several key caveats regarding the

accuracy of the index. First, many key indicators of governance, such as poverty, are not

included in the index because “the data are not sufficiently comprehensive.”2 Second, all data

was gathered prior to both the establishment of South Sudan and the events of the Arab Spring.

In light of these crucial developments, it is inevitable that some measures pertaining to North

Africa have lost their salience. For the purposes of this post, North and South Sudan are

represented as one country since the Ibrahim Index was compiled prior to South Sudan’s

independence. Finally, the maps in this post do not include the island nations of Mauritius, Cape

Verde, and Seychelles, but it should be noted that all three states ranked in the top ten in each of

the four main governance indicators as well as in each of the fourteen sub-indices. Their

consistent outperformance of the rest Africa is another reason for their exclusion from this post –

these island nations are conspicuous exceptions to overall patterns, and citizens enjoy a

disproportionately higher quality of life than their continental counterparts.

Overall Governance Scores

Based on a synthesis of each nation’s scores in the Ibrahim Index’s four main categories,

overall governance scores provide a foundational assessment of government efficacy in those

2 http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en/section/the-ibrahim-index

nations. When those scores are displayed

cartographically, clear regional patterns

are evident. Southern Africa exhibits the

highest prevalence of good governance,

followed by north Africa, west Africa,

east Africa, and central Africa in that

order. Not surprisingly, South Africa,

Botswana, and Namibia stand out as the

stars of the continent as a result of their democratic, relatively uncorrupt governments. Such

governance allows for economic security and stable infrastructure, resulting in relatively highly

developed states that are generally able to meet the health, education, and safety needs of their

citizens. Central Africa represent a trend in governance opposite to that of southern Africa. It has

been argued that the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic are actually

de-developing as a result of relentless civil strife, a complete lack of infrastructure, and

nonfunctional economies. Worse off than central Africa, however, is Somalia, a failed state that

sticks out like a badly bruised and bloodied thumb in every governance indicator measured by

the Ibrahim Index. Scoring a dismal 7.9 out of 100 overall, Somalia, ravaged by famine and civil

war, is unquestionably the least stable country in Africa.

West Africa’s status as the third highest overall scoring region in the index reflects

significant governance improvements made by two countries in the region: Sierra Leone and

Liberia. These two nations exhibited the most improvement made by any African country

between 2006 and 2010, with Sierra Leone’s score increasing by 9.4 points and Liberia’s

increasing by 11.1. Both countries emerged from devastating civil wars in the earlier part of the

decade and have steadily progressed ever since.3 Sierra Leone and Liberia showed improvements

in all four of the index’s main categories, an accomplishment that Mo Ibrahim called “the biggest

success story…this year.”4 Madagascar, on the other hand, showed the most striking decline,

losing 11.6 points since 2006. This drop is likely due to an armed crisis between dissident troops

and the central government, resulting in what was essentially a mutinous standoff. The crisis

devastated one of Madagascar’s primary economic sectors, tourism, to such a degree that 2010

arguably became a write-off for that industry.5

Gender

The 2011 Ibrahim Index features a new indicator, gender, based on nine variables. This

3 http://newafricaanalysis.co.uk/index.php/2011/10/mo-ibrahim-improved-governance-sierra-leone-liberia4 http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/africa/news-entry/governance-in-liberia-and-sierra-leone5 http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2009/03/13/madagascar-how-bad-can-it-get/

measure considers such factors as gender balance in primary and secondary education, women’s

participation in the labor force, women’s participation in political and economic rights, and

legislation on violence against women. Again, a clear geographic pattern correlates with these

scores, with southern Africa taking the lead followed by the east, north, west, and central regions

of the continent. Despite high levels of literacy, North Africa largely falls into the lower half of

the gender ranking, a result of the general exclusion of women from the public sphere in this

region. Women in west and central Africa, however, fare even worse. In West Africa, female

genital mutilation is still common, despite the widespread passage of laws against the practice. In

Mali, for example, some 80% of girls are subjected to FGM, and the region as a whole lacks any

mechanism for mitigating cross-border

evasions of anti-FGM laws {THIS SENTENCE IS UNCLEAR – TOO MANY NEGATIVES –

“LACKS” – “EVASIONS: -- “ANTI”].6

In central Africa, DRC and CAR are both ranked in the bottom five countries in terms of

gender equality. This is to be expected, given the pervasiveness of sexual violence as a military

tactic in those countries. Patricia Galey, professor of human geography at Oxford University and

author of Gender and Genocide, argues:

6 http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45696

“In the context of Central Africa, control over women’s bodies is central to the struggle over resources. It is here, in the quest for territory or resources, even basic foodstuffs, that genocidal rape is practised; also in the quest for respect by the most marginalized in the military rank and file that opportunistic rape occurs.”7

The political and economic insecurity that has chronically plagued post-colonial central Africa

has thus resulted in the implementation of rape as a means of exercising control over a volatile

and uncontrollable environment.

In examining the list of countries where women fare best in Africa, it may come as a

surprise to see tiny Lesotho positioned at the top. Lesotho is not only deemed the most gender-

equal African country by the Ibrahim Index, but has also experienced the most improvement, as

shown by a score increase of 9.5 between 2006 and 2010. Furthermore, according to a report

from the World Economic Forum, Lesotho is ranked eighth in the world in terms of bridging the

gender gap.8 Women enjoy an extraordinarily high level of

status in Lesotho, largely due to the country’s recent

economic past. Historically, vast numbers of men from

Lesotho worked in South Africa's mines, leaving women

to take their places in schools and jobs. While many of the

men have since returned, Lesotho has evolved into a

female-focused nation. Female literacy rates are

remarkably high in Lesotho – 95% of Lesotho women are literate compared to just 83% of men.

One in five government ministers is a woman, including the chief of police, the speaker of

parliament, and at least a dozen senior female judges. Perhaps most importantly, the country has

fostered a strong culture of learning that, along with pro-women government policies, has made

7 http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/patricia-daley/understanding-contemporary-violence-in-central-africa-militarism-race-and-gender8 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12664832

Lesotho the standalone leader in gender equality in Africa.

Business Environment

The business environment indicator of the Ibrahim Index is based on eight variables

including investment climate, bureaucracy and red tape, and competitive environment. The best

environment for doing business in Africa is again south, with the north, west, east, and central

regions following sequentially. In keeping with its development in all arenas of governance,

Sierra Leone displayed the highest degree of progress in terms of business-friendly initiatives.

Doing Business 2009, an annual report published by IFC and the World Bank, indicated that

Sierra Leone is the top performer in West Africa when it comes to the ease of

starting a business.9 To this end, the government has drastically cut costs and sped up the process

of establishing a business by abolishing many registration formalities that deterred the

entrepreneurial process.

Central Africa again stands out as the low-performer in this measure of governance.

According to the 2011 Doing Business report, four of the six lowest ranked countries on the

“Ease of Doing Business” index are located in central Africa, a finding consistent with the

business environment indicator of the Ibrahim Index.10 The governments of countries such as

Congo impose tax policies and red tape that make small and medium enterprise all but

impossible.11 Of course, a general lack of infrastructure only serves to exacerbate the disincentive

for local and foreign entrepreneurs alike to start businesses in central Africa, despite the wealth

of natural resources found in the region. Business is similarly difficult to carry out in Somalia,

which again sits decidedly at the bottom of the list – pirate-swarmed waters aren’t exactly the

9 http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/SIERRALEONEEXTN/ 0,,contentM DK:21896701~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:367809,00.html10 http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings11 http://www.economist.com/node/21533395

most welcoming invitation to investors. Somalia is rivaled by Zimbabwe for the bottom spot, a

result of Zimbabwe’s six-year bout of hyperinflation and economic collapse.12

Education

Quality of education as measured by the Mo Ibrahim Index is determined by five factors:

education provision and quality, teacher to student ratio in primary school, primary school

completion, progression to secondary school, and tertiary enrollment. North Africa bests

southern Africa in this governance indicator, with the western, eastern, and central regions

coming up third, fourth, and fifth in education performance. North Africa’s high ranking in

education is the product of tremendous progress in the provision of primary education over the

past 30 years. According to UNICEF, in 2006 the region achieved “by far” the world’s highest 12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe#Hyperinflation_2003.E2.80.932009

average annual rate of increase (AARI) in the proportion of the population with at least primary

education.13 However, education in these predominantly Muslim nations tends to reproduce the

broader social, economic, and political disparities faced by girls and women in North Africa. In

that regard, the region’s education systems are generally lacking gender responsiveness – a trend

illustrated by its decidedly lower ranking in the Ibrahim Index’s gender measure.

This phenomenon is illustrated in the case of Sudan (specifically the Southern region),

which is tied with Niger for exhibiting the most improvement in education between 2006 and

2010, yet is ranked among the bottom 15 African countries in terms of gender. The Ministry of

Education in Sudan has partnered with USAID and the Academy for Educational Development

(AED) to build a stronger education system through such efforts as conducting a census of

schools to lay the informational foundation for system-wide improvements.14 An AED

spokesperson declared that in terms of increasing enrollment, “the system has been

phenomenally successful since 2005…parents are sending their children to school in record

13 http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2005n2/mideastafrica.php14 http://www.theaedhub.org/archives/347

numbers in Southern Sudan.”15 However, a 2009 UNICEF report notes the gendered nature of

these improvements, as the number of girls enrolled in school remains significantly lower than

the number of boys. The report cites socioeconomic factors and cultural norms as impediments

to female education: “In some communities…the girl-child is prized for the labour she provides

to the family, and for the dowry she brings.”16 Consequently, there is a high opportunity cost for

educating a girl, which often results in early marriage for the sake of economic expediency.

Education has deteriorated the most in the tiny nation of Djibouti between 2006 and

2010, as shown by a decrease in score of 6.3 points. High teacher attrition rates and an extremely

low prevalence of education among Djibouti’s nomadic peoples, who constitute one-sixth of the

entire population, may account for this decline.17 Neighboring Somalia’s dismal performance in

all of the indicators measured by the Ibrahim Index appears in the sphere of education – the

nation scored literally a 0 out of 100. With the destruction of Somalia’s government

infrastructure was accompanied by the destruction of its education system, resulting in a virtual

disappearance of schools. While some reports indicate that a few schools remain open,18

obtaining accurate information on the state of education – like other indicators of governance –

in Somalia is nearly impossible.19 Over the next few years, many more African nations could

face devastating blows to their education systems as a result of recent, and dramatic, declines in

foreign aid. Burkina Faso will be losing over half of its education aid, while Zambia and

Mozambique will respectively see 31% and 18% of their aid slashed as well.20 These

withdrawals of aid constitute the biggest drop in aid levels in the past 15 years, a trend that could

15 http://www.theaedhub.org/archives/34716 http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=8525517 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Djibouti#Challenges18 http://www.unicef.org/somalia/education.html19 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Somalia20 http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/aid-cuts-could-spell-disaster-for-the-education-of-poor-children

prove disastrous for impoverished, aid-dependent African countries.

Health

Like gender, health is another new governance indicator measured by Ibrahim Index.

Determined by eight variables – including maternal mortality, child mortality, availability of

immunizations against measles and DPT, availability of ARVs, and prevalence of cholera,

malaria, and tuberculosis – health is by far the most optimistic measure featured in the index.

Only two countries showed declines and many nations enjoyed improvements of 10 points or

more. North Africa leads the continent in health, succeeded by the south, east, west, and central

regions. HIV/AIDS is much less prevalent in the north, which largely accounts for its high marks

in health. Health improvements in sub-Saharan Africa are tied to overall improvements in the

treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, in addition to substantial progress in combating some

types of malaria. However, it is important to note that sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s

most vulnerable region to the spread of disease as a result of the reciprocal relationship between

poverty and health. Moreover, the strides made in health may appear overly significant given the

abysmal state of public health that prevailed in Africa before significant improvements began.

Cautious optimism should be exercised when considering the state of health in Africa, as

nations’ abilities to improve health are contingent on and intertwined with nearly every other

aspect of governance. Rwanda, ranked fourteenth in health by the Ibrahim Index, exemplifies the

strides that can be made in public health when government cooperation meets effective health

improvement mechanisms. Ninety-two percent of Rwandans are covered by a government-

provided national healthcare plan, despite the fact that Rwanda also ranks among the world’s

poorest countries.21 In the face of a continuing AIDS epidemic, Rwanda’s government has made

health a top priority, embracing strong partnerships with USAID and Inshuti Mu Buzima

(Partners in Health) in order to achieve its health goals. On the opposite end of the spectrum,

countries such as DRC, Chad, and of course Somalia illustrate the dire health conditions that

continue to exist in Africa as a result of civil strife and unbridled political and economic

instability. Good governance is key to good health, just as it is key to gender equity, a productive

business environment, and access to education. For those nations at the bottom of the Ibrahim

Index, one can only hope the old adage of “it can only go up from here” will hold true.

21 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/health/policy/15rwanda.html?pagewanted=all