AROUND AFRICA: Fans at FIFA World Cup (WANG YUGUO)

> The governance matrix

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation index, seen as Africa's leading assessment of governance, failed to identify a winner for 2010. The Ibrahim Prize annually recognizes and celebrates excellence in African leadership. The prize is awarded to a democratically elected former African Executive Head of State or Government who has served their term in office within the limits set by the country's constitution and has left office in the last three years. The two previous winners were Joaquim Chissano in 2007 and Festus Mogae in 2008.

In failing to award a winner, Mo Ibrahim was quoted as saying, "Whether there is a winner or not, the purpose of the foundation is to challenge those in Africa and across the world to debate what constitutes excellence in leadership. The standards set for the prize winner are high, and the number of potential candidates each year is small. So it is likely that there will be years when no prize [is] awarded. In the current year, no new candidates emerged."

The failure to identify a winner was criticized by many African governments as a way of despising the various efforts and milestones so far achieved in trying to improve on the governance across the continent. As 2010 comes to a close, there is still contention among many African scholars and politicians on the criteria employed in determining some of these standards. Some have politicized such systems as being Western-world driven and interest grounded.

However as we move into 2011, the reality of Africa's governance must be seen in efforts to try and stamp out the estimated $148 billion lost to corruption yearly. This measures to about one quarter of the continent's GDP. This is accounted for from both public and private sector corruption and political leaders are adjudged to be the main drivers in both instances. The International Crisis group still rates human rights abuses in Africa to be high along with the lack of public accountability.

> Africa's socio-economic indicators

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) indicated that in 2010, there were 29 countries with alarming hunger levels and that 22 of them are from Africa. However, the measurement taken in 2010 also reveals that the overall African index has improved from 25.3 to 21.7 in the last 20 years. The DRC, Burundi, Chad and Eritrea are the most affected. The improvement however needs to be celebrated and built upon in the succeeding years.

Ghana, which is set to become West Africa's newest exporter of oil, is ranked highest in Africa on access to credit. The UN Report of 2010 indicates that Ethiopia was Africa's top performer in improving its people's lives in the last 40 years. It was rated 11th in the world.

Other top Africa performers on the global scale were Botswana in 14th place, Benin in 18th place and Burkina Faso in 21st position.

The Africa Capacity Building Foundation reports that 27 African economies were able to implement 49 regulatory reforms to improve their business environment between June 2009 and June 2010. Rwanda, Cape Verde and Zambia were rated among the top 10 countries in the world with an improved ease of doing business for 2010.

In 2010, Malawi opened the Nganje World Inland Port on River Shire. The port cost a total of $3.9 billion to construct and it is 238 km long. Malawi will eventually save $175 million of its total import bill when the port is fully functional by December 2010. Zimbabwe and Zambia who are also landlocked will benefit from this port. Malawi's enhanced and re-invigorated agricultural sector productivity has regulated the country's economy at a world scale in 2010. This has been made possible by the reforms introduced by the Bingu Wa Mutarika government.

The World Bank rated Uganda highly in the improved business operating environment category in 2010. Uganda was found to have made remarkable strides in credit provision, tax payments and enforcement of business contracts.

It has therefore not been a gloomy year for Africa, as the highlighted improvements seem to indicate toward some resurgence. This is also against the wave of the 2008 financial crisis whose effects have not been as devastating for Africa as have been elsewhere across the world.

In 2011, Africa must focus on resource utility, improved capital markets for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, streamlined expenditure levels, improved public sector revenue collection and accountability, improved local capital investments and savings, reduction of budget deficits, increased social expenditure and many other such initiatives.