Kenya has been ranked amongst the top 10 countries in Africa in terms of overall governance, entrenching the country's competitiveness amid political turbulence back home.
The Ibrahim Index of African Governance Report has ranked Kenya in the tenth position, marking a first time entry into the top 10 bracket. This was an improvement compared to the 12th place ranking in 2013 by the same report.
This comes at a time when the country is grappling with numerous issues ranging from a weak economy, high cost of living, high rate of unemployment, corruption and ironically, poor governance.
The report by the Mo Ibrahim foundation puts Kenya amongst countries that are “slowly improving” with quantified growth of +2.5 points, above the continental average.
The report is based on a ten year period (2014-2024) and covers various dimensions that contribute to the overall governance score.
In this regard, Kenya’s most significant improvement came in the dimension of Infrastructure (+17.5) with Kenya the most improved country over the decade. This is mainly due to advancements in Access to Energy (+30.5) and Internet & Computers (+30.8).
Decent Housing performance also more than doubled over the past decade increasing by +33.4 points. This can be attributed to the affordable housing program that began in former President Uhuru’s tenure and was picked up by current President William Ruto.
Kenya was also the sixth most improved country in Inclusion & Equality with a +12.1 point increase in Equal Socioeconomic Opportunity.
Even so, Kenya has strongly declined in Security & Safety particularly in Absence of Violence Against Civilians (-31.7) indicator, which plummeted since 2022. Coincidentally, this has happened at a time where civil unrest has been rife.
In general, 33 countries, hosting just over half of the continent’s population (52.1%), have made progress in terms of overall governance. However, Kenya’s progress slowed down from 2019.
Seychelles ranked highest in the continent and had the highest overall improvement (+10.0). Mauritius, Cape Verde, South Africa and Botswana close out the top 5. Other countries in the top 10 are Namibia, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia.
However, the report also reveals that four of the top 10 countries- Botswana, Tunisia, Mauritius and Namibia are amongst the top 10 most deteriorated countries over the decade indicating the dynamic nature of this study.
