Zimbabwe, under President Robert Mugabe, has descended from the intensive care unit into the morgue, according to the African Presidents Index compiled by the Nairobi-based East African Magazine which is part of the Nation Media Group. Mugabe was ranked 47 out of Africa’s 52 presidents and scored 22.62 out of 100.
Others joining him in the morgue were Paul Biya of Cameroon, Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar, Francois Bozize Yangouvonda of the Central African Republic, Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia, Idriss Déby Itno of Chad, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea.
Top of the list was Sir Anerood Jugnauth of Mauritius followed by Pedro Pires of Cape Verde, Ian Khama of Botswana, John Atta Mills of Ghana and Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba of Namibia.
The organisers said the index was compiled using other indices such as the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance, the Democracy Index, Freedom House’s Press Freedom Index, Transparency International’s Corruption Index, and the United Nations’ Human Development Index. Most of the indices have ranked Zimbabwe as the worst in the world.
The organisers said the index was a first “stab, a throwing of the stone in the bush to see what comes out”. Their approach was therefore by no means iron-clad scientific and should be considered as the beginning of an exploration and measurement of the continent’s leaders which will be perfected over the years.
The compilers said they had classified the leaders into groups with the best of the bunch being put in group A with good performers going into group B. Passable leaders got C while those who performed below standard got D and F.
But due to the extraordinarily oppressive, violent and corrupt governance found on the continent, two special categories were added. These were the intensive care unit and the morgue.
“Leaders in this range represent the bottom of the barrel, and their countries need intense rehabilitation to walk amongst the free and prosperous nations of the world, “they said.
Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki who got into power almost the same way as Mugabe was ranked 16th and had a score of 53.43.
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