Lions of Africa!

There is no question that the most successful developing countries in the last 50 years are to be found in the Far East e.g. Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore. And arguably the most successful of these 'tigers' has been Singapore.

After gaining independence in 1963, under prime minister Lee Kwan Yew, Singapore set about laying the foundations for success through creating a business friendly environment in order to encourage local business and foreign companies to invest and thus help create jobs. And in order to ensure foreign investors that all contracts would be honoured Lee promised that the rule of law would not be compromised. In order to deal with the thorny problem of corruption Lee ensured that all government ministers, judges and civil servants were paid a salary commensurate with the private sector and that anyone caught 'stealing' would instantly be dismissed. The rest, as they say, is history as Singapore today is a modern dynamic economy having moved from third world to first in 40 years and is presently placed in 26th position in the 2011 UNDP Human Development Index, ahead of the U.K. An outstanding achievement.

Interestingly, though, based on our own sub-Saharan African league table on effective governance (see RECOMMENDATIONS), Singapore would only register a score of 27.6 points, a similar total to the second placed Cape Verde Islands but behind Mauritius with 29.5. Yet Singapore is a much more dynamic and developed country than either of these African island nations.

Our league table is based on 4 independent international surveys available on the internet on - 1) political rights/civil liberties, 2) economic freedom, 3) corruption perceptions and 4) media freedom. In two of these disciplines Singapore scores outstandingly high - economic freedom and corruption perceptions - but, in the other two, its scores are very average.

This, then, begs the question as to the relative importance of each of our four indicators for improving the living standards of people in developing countries. If all four criteria do not have the same value in forging development then perhaps they should be differently weighted so that the more growth inducing indicators carry more weight.

So, using Singapore's outstanding success as a yardstick, just1world has created a 'lion table', based on our own league table on effective governance (see RECOMMENDATIONS). As this is a growth orientated league table not surprisingly we give economic freedom the highest weight and multiply each country's score in that discipline by 4; next control of corruption is fundamental for fast-track development and so we have multiplied the score for corruption perceptions by 3; political rights/civil liberties are still important and we times this score by 2 and media freedom we leave x 1. (scores in this 'lion table' are out of 100)

The realisation that economic development is paramount for delivering higher living standards has also been recognised by African countries since 2002 when they collectively set up the African Union (AU). In establishing the AU, Africa's governments called for new co-operation between Africa and the international community and drew up the New Economic Plan for Africa's Development (NEPAD). NEPAD promised that in return for more debt relief, overseas aid and better trade opportunities, African leaders would move their countries onto a course of sustainable progress and stability. To this end they would all work to achieve economic growth of 7%+, encourage enterprise, tackle corruption, cut red tape and strengthen the rule of law. So African leaders have already signed up to laying the foundations for enterprise to flourish. This new 'lion table' then will be the judge and jury as to whether African governments are delivering on their promises.

'LION TABLE'

Right away let us congratulate the governments of Mauritius over the years for laying sound foundations for enterprise to flourish. So much so that this country is on a par with such outstanding success stories as Taiwan and South Korea. Mauritius can certainly lay claim to be the 'lion king' of Africa.

However, there are other enterprising 'lions' in Africa with the governments of Botswana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Ghana and Namibia all showing that they understand what is needed for continued economic success which creates the resources needed for building the social fabric of any nation. Botswana (-5.9), South Africa (-6.7) and Namibia (-6.0), though, have slipped back in the last 9 years and this should be worrying. At the same time Cape Verde (+7.3) and Ghana (+5.8) have both shown marked improvements in that time.

Six nations out of 48 with pass marks in these combined disciplines - the drivers of development - says much about why the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa continue to eke out an existence as subsistence farmers from one generation to the next. The strong foundations needed for people to improve their lives are just not being delivered as the AU promised in 2002, when it was set up.

However, perhaps there are signs of hope with some nations further down the table showing signs of real improvement. The greatest advance here, in the last 9 years, comes from Rwanda with an astonishing improvement of (+21.0). Here President Paul Kagame is starting to embrace change and is actively encouraging companies to diversify and to adopt new technology. Not far behind is Liberia (+17.3) under the able leadership of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who is quietly putting this battered country back together again. Sierra Leone (+11.6) is also showing a healthy improvement since UK troops helped to bring an end to the civil war there in 2000. The best of the rest is Kenya with (+7.0) but this still only puts the country on a score of a disappointing 42.6%

On the debit side, as well as 3 of the top 6, several other nations have seen their scores retreat 2011/2002. The top faller is Mauritania (-15.5) which has been racked by military coups in the intervening years. But there is no excuse for Gabon (-12.1) with its oil and mineral wealth which is now lead by Ali Bongo Odimba who took over as president on the death of his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009. Next down is Eritrea (-10.0) where everything is subordinated to the military followed by Cote d'Ivoire (-9.5) which has seen a decade of division and instability which has just culminated with the accession as president of Alassane Ouattara, and Lesotho (-7.4) where the textile industry is now struggling whilst the government tries to stabilise its debt.

Collectively, when the rest of the developing world seems to be going from strength to strength, it must be disappointing for poverty campaigners to discover that sub-Saharan African governments collectively scored lower in 2011 than in 2002. This, then, is a sorry report on the competence of African governments. And it is time that the international community realised this and started to push investment and overseas aid towards those governments that are really trying to make a difference whilst, at the same time, flagging up to the laggards why they are doing this. And maybe, just maybe, in some African countries, there may be a positive response. Surely this is the very least we can do for the people of Africa where hunger still kills more people than all the continent's infectious killer diseases put together, and where average life expectancy is just 53 years.

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