2008 sub-Saharan African government report card

Tony Blair said, in his final remarks at the 2005 G8 summit at Gleneagles, 'the only people who can change Africa ultimately are the Africans.' And he is right, for despite the continuing offers of help from rich countries, poverty can only be defeated in Africa by African governments laying the foundations for fast-track economic development and good governance.

Yet OECD governments, international aid agencies, poverty campaigners and even pop stars continually fail to understand this fundamental fact and continue to believe that only a massive transfer of resources from rich countries will deliver a better life for the people of Africa.

No country on earth has reached high stages of development without its government resolutely focusing on what is needed to advance its people. And there is no better example of this onward march today than China where economic growth has averaged 10% for the last 20 years. But in the 50 or so years since the winds of independence swept through Africa, with a few exceptions, governments in Africa have been mainly concerned with feathering their own nests rather than troubling to take the time to lay the foundations for sustainable economic growth, tackling corruption and expanding civil liberties.

It is time then for this scandal of ineptitude to be exposed and to put governments in sub-Saharan Africa to the test in order to highlight those that are serious about trying to bring advances to their people all the way down to those that continue to fail abysmally.

One way in which the international community can compare the performances of individual governments in sub-Saharan Africa is by using a series of independent international surveys available on the internet. For this exercise just1WORLD has chosen four surveys based on - 1) political rights/civil liberties, 2) economic freedom, 3) corruption perceptions and 4) media freedom. The scores for each country in all four categories are then added together to compile a 'Report Card' which will highlight each country's progress or the lack of it in implementing policies for social justice and constructive development.

As all 4 surveys (*see RECOMMENDATIONS) are based on indicators of civil liberties and economic management, the score for each country is not dependent on how wealthy it is or even its position in the latest UNDP Human Development Index. Thus, if any government is serious in laying secure foundations for the advancement of its people there is no reason why even the poorest country should not figure prominently in the league table.

In order to compile this 'Report Card' on the governments of sub-Saharan Africa the various scores given to a country in each survey have been converted to a score out of 10 and then all 4 added together to reach an individual total for each country (max score 40). The figures used are all based on surveys for 2007. And in order to compare progress (or the lack of it) since 2002 when the African Union was set up each country's score for that year is also given.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REPORT CARD

The first thing to notice is that there is a slight decline in the total score which means overall progress is not being made.

Out of the 48 countries only 10 (21%) reach a 'pass' score of 20/40. The top places are all occupied by what can genuinely be termed African success stories in the shape of Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana and Cape Verde Islands. (South Africa and Botswana are the only countries in the entire continent with a score of more than 50% in each discipline.) Next come Namibia and Ghana, both of which have put in place policies to encourage economic and social development. In 7th place is Mali, a country which is rated 173/177 in the 2007 UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) which makes this high placing an outstanding achievement. Benin, too, occupies a commendable 8th place even though it stands at 163/177 in the 2007 UNDP HDI. Senegal, which shows slight improvement on its 2002 result is in 9th place followed by the island nation of Sao Tome & Principe which completes the top ten.

Next along come Lesotho and Madagascar followed by Seychelles, which although one of Africa's only 3 countries classed with High Human Development in the 2007 UNDP HDI, fails to get a 'pass' score here.

It is disappointing, however, to see the three former UK colonies of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda all still failing in their efforts at tackling corruption. This is particularly so in the case of Kenya where the Rainbow Alliance of Mwai Kibaki romped home in the presidential election of 2002 on the back of a promise to tackle corruption - root and branch. And in Uganda, the very first nation to obtain debt cancellation through the HIPC Initiative and Tanzania, the largest recipient of UK ODA in Africa, whose governments are supposed to be progressive, rampant corruption is still relieving their people of too much of their scant resources. However, all three countries at least have higher scores in 2007 than in 2002.

On the other hand Mozambique seems to be moving in the wrong direction even though the government showed initial promise after the end of the long civil war which ended in 1992.

Four countries which continue to progress are Niger, Comoros, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, and the latter two in particular are to be congratulated for implementing progressive policies so soon after the ending of the recent civil wars. However, Gabon, a major African oil exporting nation, led by the world's longest serving leader Omar Bongo in power since 1967, has the wealth but has singularly failed to use the abundant oil revenues for the benefit of its people.

And the same can shamefully be said of Africa's other three major oil exporters - Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Angola - although Angola at least is now moving slowly forward.

Ethiopia, another major recipient of UK ODA and whose prime minister, Meles Zenawi, sat on Tony Blair's Commission for Africa, is well down the league table with a lower score than in 2002 which begs the question as to why this leader was chosen to serve on such an important body.

Meanwhile towards the bottom are a whole list of countries with entrenched and autocratic governments which, as the figures show, seem not to be too bothered about helping their people progress. The sole aim of governments here seems to be to maintain themselves in power for as long as possible at any cost.

In the bottom six are three countries - Dem Rep of Congo, Somalia and Sudan - where conflict is never far away from the surface and perhaps they are just too big and too diverse to be single countries. And here, too, the true extent of President Mugabe's policies which have led to the destruction of a beautiful country can now be seen in full light. No way should a nation as fertile in land and as rich in people as Zimbabwe have sunk so low to the extent that today it relies on the international community for food aid.

This 'Report Card' highlights the immense chasm between governments in sub-Saharan Africa which are genuinely trying to lay the foundations for greater human rights and economic advancement and others at the bottom which are unquestionably failing their people. A small number of these latter governments may make the excuse in that that they are recovering from conflict but more often than not they are the cause of the conflict. Six years after the creation of the African Union governments in Africa should now be living up to the ideals of the African Union and be starting to work to improve their peoples' lives. Most are not and inducements are needed to bring pressure to bear on recalcitrant governments.(see RECOMMENDATIONS)

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