Tanzania has been voted the best governed country in the East African Community, beating its two main competitors Kenya and Uganda.

The country emerged top in the region after recording improvements in public safety, rule of law and participation and human rights in 2008/09, earning it an overall ranking of 15th in the continent and first in East Africa.

The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance, a survey designed to encourage good government by naming and shaming the worst ones, however, gave the region a mixed report card, saying recent economic growth and development has been offset by stagnation in political rights and security.

The index, launched in 2007, is published annually by a foundation created by Sudanese business magnet Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel International telecommunications.

"The 2010 Ibrahim Index gives us a mixed picture about recent progress on governance across the continent," Ibrahim said in a statement.

The Tanzania’s index score of 54 is at variance with its performance on the Millennium Development Goals, having been identified as one of the laggards in the Continent.

MDG trailblazers

A recent report entitled ‘Who are the MDG trailblazers? A new MDG Progress Index’, released by Washington Think Tank, Centre for Global Development, had expressed disappointment on Tanzania, saying its high ratings in institutional performance, has not been replicated on MDGs.

“In fact, Tanzania’s performance is below the required achievement trajectory for every indicator examined,” said one of the researchers Ben Leo.

However, in the Mo Ibrahim Foundation survey, the country scored above 50 in public safety and rule of law, participation and human rights and sustainable economic development.

"The 2010 Ibrahim Index gives us a mixed picture about recent progress on governance across the continent," Ibrahim said in a statement.

"While many African citizens are becoming healthier and have greater access to economic opportunities than five years ago, many of them are less physically secure and less politically enfranchised," he added in reference to the five regions of the continent.

The index examines 88 indicators and ranks African countries in five areas: overall governance, safety and rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity, and human development.

Uganda, was ranked second in the region, with an index score of 51, performing above average in safety and rule of law and human development.

Kenya, the region’s economic powerhouse, came third with an index score of 50, recording top marks on participation and human rights.

However, the country performed poorly on safety and rule of law, sustainable economic opportunity and human development.

Rwanda closely followed with an index score of 48, following its exemplary performance in sustainable economic opportunity.

It confirmed, yet again, the landlocked country boasted the best environment for doing business, thanks to its high speed economic reforms. It had an index score of 55 in the sustainable economic opportunity category.

Burundi came last, with a score of 32, following its below par performance in all the indicators studied.

The rankings which were released in Nairobi, by Dr Abdalla Hamdok, a member of Mo Ibrahim Foundation advisory board, showed Mauritius as best governed country in Africa, with an overall score of 82, followed by Seychelles (75), Botswana (74), Cape Verde (74) and South Africa (70).

At the bottom end, Somalia (8) scored lowest. Eritrea (33), Zimbabwe (32), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (32) and Chad (31) rounded out the bottom five.

Under safety and rule of law category, the Achilles heel of many African countries, several issues relating to governance were considered.

In the personal safety sub-category experts analysed safety of residents, occurrence of violent crime, social unrest, human trafficking and domestic political persecution.

Rule of law focused on the strength of the judicial process, judicial independence, property rights, orderly transfers of power and sanctions.

Accountability and corruption focused on transparency and corruption, accountability of public officials, corruption in government and public officials, prosecution of abuse of office and corruption and bureaucracy.

National security sub-category looked at domestic armed conflict, government involvement in armed conflict, civilian deaths from targeted violence, refugees originating from the country, internally displaced people and international tensions.

Dr Hamdok, said Kenya performed dismally in the category, partly due to its poor ratings in accountability and fight against corruption.

Kenya slid from its earlier continental ranking of position 23 in 2005 to 27, with its score dropping by one from 51 to 50. Uganda, on the other hand, rose from position 26 to 24, with its governance average increasing by one from 49 to 51 while Tanzania jumped from position 19 to 15.

At the regional level, East Africa ranked fourth (45) above Central Africa(38) and below, Southern Africa(57), North Africa (54) and West Africa (50).

Ibrahim is also the creator of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the world's largest annual prize, established to reward former leaders for good governance.

Winners get a five-million-dollar (3.6-million-euro) prize split over 10 years, plus 200,000 dollars annually for the rest of their lives and 200,000 dollars a year for charitable causes of their choice.

The prize far exceeds the 10 million Swedish kronor (1.5 million dollars, 1.1 million euros) given to recipients of the Nobel Prize.