Has Zimbabwe climbed up Africa’s governance rankings? - ZimFact
Ngoni Mhuruyengwe
March 8, 2019
Report by Nevanji Madanhire
Claim: Zim climbs up Africa’s governance ranks, Herald 26 February 2018. (https://www.herald.co.zw/zim-climbs-up-africas-governance-ranks/)
Conclusion: Incorrect. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) has not listed Zimbabwe as one of Africa’s four most improved countries over the past 10 years in overall governance. Instead, Zimbabwe has been listed only as one of the four “largest improvers” in one sub-category, gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the Sustainable Economic Opportunity category.
What does the report say?
Zimbabwe’s overall governance is categorized as “slowing improvement” which means it’s not improving at the rate it should. It is ranked 39 on the continent of 54 countries scoring 44.7% in its overall governance score for 2017.
The report covers the 10 years from2008 – 2017.
In the General Overview of the reportthe Mo Ibrahim Foundation states the IIAG is a tool that measures and monitorsgovernance performance in African countries.”
“The Foundation defines governance asthe provision of the political, social and economic public goods and servicesthat every citizen has the right to expect from their state, and that a statehas the responsibility to deliver to its citizens.”
In the IIAG, country performance indelivering governance is measured across four key components that effectivelyprovide indicators of a country’s Overall Governance performance.
The key components that form the fourcategories of the IIAG are (Zimbabwe’s overall rankings and IIAG assessment inbrackets):
·        Safety& Rule of Law, (37/54, slowing improvement);
·        Participation& Human Rights, (34/54, slowing improvement);
·        SustainableEconomic Opportunity, (41/54, increasing improvement); and
·        HumanDevelopment (30/54, warning signs).
A hundred indicators
Each of these categories containssub-categories under which are organised various indicators that providequantifiable measures of the overarching dimensions of governance. In total,the IIAG contains over 100 indicators.
The Herald report states that Zimbabweis among four countries on the continent whose GDP increased over the past 10years but neglects to mention that GDP growth is just one of the 100 indicatorsand that it does not have, on its own, a significant effect on the lives of thecitizens and that is does not translate to the overall governance ranking of acountry on the More Ibrahim Index.
“Economic growth has not resulted inimprovement in Sustainable Economic Opportunity. Of the ten African countrieswith the largest percentage increase in GDP in the period 2008-2017, only fourfeature among the 10 largest improvers at the category level over the decade:Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.  The correlation between the size ofa country’s GDP and scores in Sustainable Economic Opportunity in 2017 is weak(r= +0.19). When looking at the entire time series (2008-2017), the correlationappears to be weak as well (r= +0.16).”
The low correlation shows that thegrowth in GDP did not affect governance in a significant manner.
Safety and rule of law
The Herald story claims that Zimbabwe postedsignificant improvements on safety and the rule of law. In this category,Zimbabwe is ranked 37 out of 54 and the situation is adjudged to be “slowingimprovement”. The category has four sub-categories (ranking and assessment inbrackets) namely,
1.       Rule of law (39/54, increasing improvement);
2.       Transparency and accountability (38/54, warningsigns);
3.       Personal safety (42/54, slowing improvement); and
4.       National security (30/54, warning signs).
GDP growth
This claim is verified by the IIAG. Itsays only four countries feature among the ten largest improvers at the (GDP)category level over the decade; these are Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Electricity supply
The Herald story’s claim that Zimbabweenjoyed more reliable source of electricity is correct in the period underreview.
The IIAG report states:
“Of the 43 countries for which there isdata, 25 have improved in the indicator Reliability of Electricity Supply overthe decade. This number went up to 29 between 2013-2017. The five largestten-year improvements are those of Uganda, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Cabo Verdeand Chad (+31.0, +29.6, +28.5, +23.7 and +19.7, respectively)”.
Foreign investment
The story claims the environment forforeign investment improved but according to the IIAG the business environmentwas ranked 48 out of 54 meaning Zimbabwe is better than only six countries onthe continent but is “bouncing back” according to the Report. On thesub-category Absence of restrictions on foreign investment Zimbabwe isranked 41/54 adjudged to be improving, while on the sub-category Absence of
excessive bureaucracy and red tape it is ranked 30/54 adjudged to mean “nochange”.  Generally the business environment is assessed to be “bouncingback”.
Antiretroviral Treatment (ART)
Provision
Zimbabwe is ranked 1/54 in thissub-category, but according to the report the improvement is “slowing”. Thecountry is still ranked 31/54 in overall health provision and “warning signs”are showing that this may not be sustainable.
Welfare policies and services
Welfare policies and services scoredvery highly at 12/54 and are showing “increasing improvement” but the promotionof socio-economic integration of the youth is a red flag showing “increasingdeterioration”. General welfare was adjudged to be “slowing improvement”.
Environment
There was no change in environmentalpolicies but promotion of environmental sustainability showed “increasingimprovement”.
Gender equality
The promotion of gender equality wasranked 10/54 and “increasing improvement” was noted in this sub-category.Representation of women in the judiciary was ranked 1/54, but there was “nochange”. Gender equality in the workplace was improving and was ranked 4/54 andshowed “increased improvement”. Women’s labour force participation at 6/54showed “increased improvement”. But there were “warning signs” with regard lawson violence against women and women’s political empowerment and women’s politicalrepresentation.
Original source:  2018 Ibrahim
Index of African Governance
(http://s.mo.ibrahim.foundation/u/2018/11/27173840/2018-Index-Report.pdf?_ga=2.259128778.1195410440.1551169316-257826390.1551169316)
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