By Dominic Nkolimwa
5th October 2010


Tanzania's 15th ranking among the 53 African countries in the 2010 Mo Ibrahim index, has drawn mixed reaction, with some of the people praising the development while others criticised it.

A cross section of people comprising politicians, academicians and ordinary people said the country deserved the rank, while disputed the rank alleging that the criteria being used is unknown.

Dr Benson Bana from University of Dar es Salaam supported the ranking saying it was a positive move, regardless of the fact that Tanzania was among the poor countries compared to other African countries.
“We can not ignore this success. Rather more efforts are needed to ensure next year we perform better that now,” the don.

CCM general secretary Yusuph Makamba said, he would not be surprised to hear some politicians from the opposition side disputing the ranking Tanzania has gained. “We have done a lot of good things. We have constructed roads and schools but still the same people complain that there are no schools. To me the rank is a great success and we should build on it,” said Makamba.

Prof. Abdallah Safari said Tanzania did not deserve the ranking due to various issues including lack of true democracy.

He also said there is no proper implementation of human rights and that people were living in very poor condition.

“Corruption now is higher compared to the time when Tanzania got independence,” he said.
In terms of free and fair electoral commissions, Prof Safari said only Kenya, Ghana and South African had such commissions.

Dr Sengondo Mvungi, a senior lecturer at the school of law at UDSM said Tanzania did not deserve the rank citing lack of true democracy.

He said the constitution has been limiting the power of courts to correct laws which violate human rights.

“In section 30 (5), the Tanzania constitutions restrict courts in correcting anything from the constitutions even if it negatively affects human rights,” said Dr Mvungi.

… “How can you say that you have good governance and true democracy, while candidates are not given funds to facilitate election campaigns? Worse still the government has enacted a law to restrict the expenses during elections while candidates have no money,” added Dr. Mvungi.

In 2006/2007 Tanzanian ranked 16th and its index was 54.5, dropping to 17 in 2007/2008 with the index of 54.7. In 2008/2009 it was ranked 15th, a position it retained this year.

In the 2010 Ibrahim Index of African Governance Tanzania scored 54 for governance quality and was ranked 15th out of 53 countries.

The country has also scored higher than the regional average for East Africa which was 45 and the continental average which was 49. At sub-category level, Tanzania's highest rank was in Gender and lowest in Education.

“This is a striking difference as Tanzania ranked in the top ten for Gender while falling in the bottom ten for Education,” said part of the statement from Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Commenting on the results, Salim Ahmed Salim, Board Member of the Foundation and former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity said: 'We must ensure that the political side of governance in Africa is not neglected. We have seen from evidence and experience across the world that discrepancies between political governance and economic management are unsustainable in the long term. If Africa is going to continue to make progress we need to pay attention to the rights and safety of citizens.”

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance was created in recognition of the need for a robust, comprehensive and quantifiable tool for citizens and governments to track governance performance in Africa. The Ibrahim Index continues to be improved each year as part of the Foundation's commitment to ensure it is a living and progressive tool, the statement said.


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN