Ghana has maintained its position in the 2015 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance as the country was ranked 7th for the second time.
The Index, which measures the political, social and economic performance of various countries with regards to the expectations of its citizens also showed that Ghana had experience a decline over the last ten years in three of four key indicators.
The release by Mohammed Ibrahim, the chairman of the Mo Ibrahim foundation featured 54 African countries and rated Ghana 7th on the overall performance in governance.
The country scored 63.9 out of 100 for the year under review, however the country ranked the 8th most deteriorated over the past decade. Â
On ‘Human Rights’, 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. Â
On ‘Sustainable Economic Opportunity’ Ghana recorded a score of 39.1 but the decade trend reveals a decline of 4.2 which placed the country 15th. Â
With regards to ‘Safety and rule of law’, Ghana placed 6th but was ranked 14th, 23rd, 11th and 5th in the sub-categories of Rule of Law, accountability personal safety and national security respectively.
According to the statement,†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.â€
“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.
 “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 stressed.
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 which means that no African leader will benefit from the US$5 million prize money usually rewarded to outstanding leadership and commitment to democracy.
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