Ghana ranks 7th on latest Mo Ibrahim Governance Index

The 2015 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance has ranked Ghana 7th for the second time.

The Index, which seeks to assess the performance of various countries by measuring the extent to which they meet the expectations of citizens politically, socially and economically showed Ghana had experience a decline over the last ten years in three of four key indicators.

This year's release which featured 54 African countries was released by Mohammed Ibrahim, the Chairman of the Mo Ibrahim foundation on Monday.

'Governance'
The report rated Ghana 7^th on the overall performance in governance. The country scored 63.9 out of 100 for the year under review.

It emphasized that although Ghana could be listed among the top ten performing countries in terms of overall governance in 2015, the country ranked the 8^thmost deteriorated over the past decade.

'Human rights'
On human right indicator. Ghana was ranked 4th out of the 54 countries, recording a score of 73.1 out of 100 in 2015 representing a marginal increase of 0.1 between 2006 and 2016.

'Sustainable Economic Opportunity'
According to the report, there was a slight improvement in the sustainable Economic Opportunity (+1.8) across the continent. However, it remains the lowest scoring category in 2015, achieving an African average score of 42.9 points.

For Ghana, it recorded a score of 39.1 but the decade trend reveals a decline of 4.2. The country was placed 15^th.

'Safety and rule of law'
On Safety and Rule of Law, Ghana placed 6^th but was ranked 14^th, 23^rd, 11^th and 5^th in the sub-categories of Rule of Law, accountability personal safety and national security respectively.

A statement accompanying the release of the report said: “The tenth edition of the IIAG, the most comprehensive analysis of African governance undertaken to date, brings together a decade of data to assess each of Africa's 54 countries against 95 indicators drawn from 34 independent sources.”

It added that, ''this year, for the first time, the IIAG includes Public Attitude Survey data from Afrobarometer. This captures Africans' own perceptions of governance, which provide fresh perspective on the results registered by other data such expert assessment and official data.”

“Over the last decade, overall governance has improved by one score point at the continental average level, with 37 countries – home to 70% of African citizens – registering progress. This overall positive trend has been led mainly by improvement in Human Development and Participation & Human Rights. Sustainable Economic Opportunity also registered an improvement, but at a slower pace.

“However, these positive trends stand in contrast to a pronounced and concerning drop in Safety & Rule of Law, for which 33 out of the 54 African countries – home to almost two-thirds of the continent's population – have experienced a decline since 2006, 15 of them quite substantially,” the report also noted.

Read the full report here .
‘No winner for Mo Ibrahim Prize for fifth time’

The Mo Ibrahim foundation in June this year announced that there will be no winner of the 2015 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership for the fifth time.

The foundation announced that no African leader will benefit from the US$5 million prize money rewarding outstanding leadership and commitment to democracy.

The Foundation has awarded only four leaders since its launched in 2006; President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia (2014), President Pedro Pires of Cabo Verde (2011), President Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008), and President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique (2007).

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana