2020 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance |25 November 2020

 Seychelles ranked third overall

Compiled by Gerard Govinden

Seychelles has been ranked third behind Mauritius and Cape Verde in the 2020 Ibrahim Index on African Governance.

The country is in third place out of 54 selected in terms of good governance with a score of 72.3% ‒ this represents +7.8 points garnered from 2010-2019.

Mauritius ranks the best performer with a top score of 77.2% and is followed by Cape Verde (73.1%) in second place. Tunisia (70.4%), Botswana (66.9%), South Africa (65.8%), Namibia (65.1%), Ghana (64.3%), Senegal (63.2%) and Morocco (61.0%) are ranked fourth to seventh respectively.

Mauritius’ score of 77.2 is -0.5 for the period 2010-2019, while Cabo Verde has experienced a +0.2 to reach 73.1 during the same timeframe.

The report released on November 16, 2020 by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in London said that for the tenth consecutive year, Mauritius maintained its top position in 2019 while Somalia remained bottom because of security challenges in parts of the country posed by al-Shabaab militants.

Created in 2006, the Mo Ibrahim foundation named after its founder, has set itself the mission of promoting good governance in Africa. The 2020 Ibrahim Index on African Governance (IIAG) is a tool that measures and monitors governance performance in 54 African countries annually.

Speaking to DW, Mo Ibrahim Foundation executive director Nathalie Delapalme said “sixty percent of Africans live in countries where governance is better in 2019 than it was in 2010. However, since 2015, this progress has been slowing, which is a bit worrying.”

The foundation defines governance as providing the political, social, and economic public goods and services that every citizen has the right to expect from their government, and that a government has the responsibility to deliver to its citizens. Over the last decade, governance dimensions have followed diverging paths. That is to say, while there has been an increase in improved infrastructure, economic opportunities, and human development, there is a decline in the rule of law and security.

With an African average score of 48.8, overall governance has improved by +1.2 points over the last decade (2010-2019) in Africa, according to the index.

However, the rate of progress has slowed since 2019, with the annual average trend between 2015 and 2019 (+0.05) being less than half that for the decade (+0.13).

A further cause for concern is that in 2019 the African average governance score has declined for the first time over the decade, while between 2010 and 2018 overall governance had either maintained or increased in score every year.

The framework comprises four categories:

• Security and rule of law (security and safety, rule of law and justice, accountability and transparency, and anti-corruption),
• Participation, rights and inclusion (participation, rights, inclusion and equality, and gender),
• Foundations for economic opportunity (public administration, business environment, infrastructure, and rural sector), and
• Human development (health, education, social protection, and sustainable environment).

In 2019, human development was the highest-scoring of the four categories of governance.

Seychelles has made progress in all four categories over the last decade, ranking joint-fourth with Tunisia with 72.4 points (+7.4) in security and rule of law (continent average of 49.5%); third with 75.3 points (+6.2) in participation, rights and inclusion (continent average of 46.29%); seventh with 66.1 points (+9.1) in foundations for economic opportunity (continent average of 47.8%); and second with 75.2 points (+8.2) in human development (continent average of 51.9%).

Mauritius leads in all four categories with 79.5 points (-1.4) in security and rule of law; with 77.8 points (-3.5) in participation, rights and inclusion; with 76.0 points (+3.6) in foundations for economic opportunity; and with 75.5 points (-0.8) in human development.

Seychelles fares better than Cabo Verde in the human development category with a score of 75.2% compared to the central Atlantic Ocean’s island country’s 67.0%. In fact, Seychelles has since 2011 been outsmarting Cabo Verde in human development.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Seychelles Human Rights Commission (SHRC) chairperson Bernardin Renaud said “such achievements are commendable and are worthy of congratulations”.

He however added that “we should keep striving to always do better. We now need to identify areas of shortcomings and improve upon them. The SHRC will include this in its work plan. Our holding of peaceful elections, smooth and cordial transition of power, effectively managing Covid-19, providing financial assistance and initiating programmes to alleviate human hardships and sustaining economic activities, are among the many recognisable actions furthering human rights.

“The SHRC will also endeavour to raise awareness of and further promote respect for human dignity which is the bedrock of humanity. May we continue to work together in peace and harmony to improve our future.”

While the 2019 average score for Africa fell for the first time since 2010, Seychelles’ score in good governance has kept increasing from 64.5% in 2010 to 72.3% in 2019. The progress has been more significant in 2018 and 2019 when the score progressed to over 70%. In 2018, the country’s overall good governance score was 71.4% and it increased by 0.9% to 72.3% in 2019. The previous highest score of 67.2% was recorded in 2016.

The recent decline is triggered by worsening performance in three of the four IIAG categories: participation, rights and inclusion; security and rule of law; and human development.

"This is a testing time for Africa. Pre-existing weaknesses and challenges in African governance, as uncovered by the 2020 IIAG, are exacerbated by Covid-19, which also threatens economic progress. Citizens' dissatisfaction and mistrust with governance delivery are growing. African states have an opportunity to demonstrate both their resolve to safeguard democracy and their ability to drive a new growth model that is more resilient, more equitable, more sustainable, and more self-reliant,” said Mo Ibrahim, chair of the foundation.

As for Camilla Rocco, head of research at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, she said: "The analysis of our findings was that there was overall dissatisfaction among African citizens when it comes to governance delivery in their countries, and the level of satisfaction is worse than ten years.

"Citizens are the recipients of public leadership and governance, and the assessment of governance performance needs to be rooted in results for citizens and cannot rely on official and expert assessment data alone.”