Ghana has declined in participation and rights – Ibrahim Index
The 2022 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) has been released today, January 25, 2023, and Ghana doesn’t look good on some of the indicators like Participation and Rights.
According to the Index, Ghana, one of the many best scoring countries has declined since 2012, while a country like Seychelles has gone from being ranked fifth in 2012, to reaching first in 2021.
Since 2014, Seychelles has recorded year-on-year in improvement, while many other of the best scoring countries have declined since 2012, such as Cabo Verde (-0.6), Ghana (-2.2), and Mauritius (-6.5).
The Index notes that improvement in Seychelles has primarily been driven by progress in the Participation sub-category, with more free and fair elections and greater freedom of association and assembly. Meanwhile, Cabo Verde, Ghana, and Mauritius have all recorded a deterioration in Participation, as well as large declines in Rights for both Ghana and Mauritius.
On food security, the Index found that almost 60 per cent of Africa’s citizens are already food insecure. With an African average score of 59.4, the Food Security indicator records its lowest score since 2012 in 2020 and 2021. The average rate of decline in the latest five years has been nearly 13 times faster than between 2012 and 2021. Food security has declined in 32 countries since 2012 with 20 of those having declined at an accelerated pace since 2017.
It points out that of the 20 countries where food security has improved since 2012, in eight the situation has worsened between 2017 and 2021, issuing warning signs that the initial trajectory might be overturned.
“The decline in the indicator Food Security is driven by an increase in the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity as well as of undernourishment. Both sub-indicators Absence of Undernourishment and Absence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity record their lowest scores since 2012 in 2020 and 2021,” the Index said.
The Index states that in a positive development, the adequacy of food supply in terms of calories and the variability of food supply on the continent has on average improved.
Since 2012, 40 countries have improved their scores in the IIAG sub-indicator Dietary & Food Supply.
“Only Algeria and Ghana have managed to improve in all the underlying sub-indicators of Food Security. Central African Republic receives the lowest possible score of 0.0 for Absence of Undernourishment in 2021, while Madagascar also scores below 10.0. Five countries – Central African Republic, Congo Republic, Malawi, Sierra Leone and South Sudan – achieve a score below 10.0 for the sub-indicator Absence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity,” it said.
In a press statement copied to Ghana Business News, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation said, despite a marginal improvement over the past decade (2012-2021), the 2022 IIAG shows that governance in Africa has flatlined in the three years since 2019. Improvements in human development and economic opportunities are being undermined by an increasingly perilous security situation and widespread democratic backsliding, as the continent struggles to manage the combined impacts of COVID-19, climate change, conflict and coups, as well as food and energy insecurity.
By Emmanuel K Dogbevi
Copyright ©2023 by NewsBridge Africa
All rights reserved. This article or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in reviews.