Africa powerhouses 'fail' in governance
2012-10-15 14:43
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Cape Town – Governance has improved in many African countries since 2000 but there are some unfavourable shifts in South Africa and other regional African powerhouses, the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) said on Monday.
IIAG said regional powerhouses, among them, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa had shown poor governance performance since 2006.
"Over the past six years, all four countries have declined in two of the four main IIAG categories – Safety & Rule of Law and Participation & Human Rights.
Each of these four countries deteriorated the most in the participation sub-category, which assesses the extent to which citizens have the freedom to participate in the political process," IIAG said.
South Africa and Kenya were also mentioned as giving registered declines in Sustainable Economic Opportunity.
According to IIAG, Nigeria, west Africa's powerhouse, for the first time this year, fell into the bottom 10 governance performers on the continent. South Africa came 3rd out of 12 countries in southern Africa, and 5th out of 52 overall.
Abdoulie Janneh, former executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa and board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, said: "Given the vast natural and human resources of these four regional powers, these governance results are a concern.
Each of these countries plays a key role in the economic and political landscape of the continent. To continue to optimally play this role requires a sustained commitment to balanced and equitable governance."
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