NYARUGENGE - Rwanda has been ranked number one in the East African Community, in two categories of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Index on African Governance, which are safety and security and another category on participation and human rights.

Rwanda is ranked 4th on the whole continent in the safety and security category.

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is a new, comprehensive ranking of sub-Saharan African nations based on the quality of their governance.

The report was presented by Dr. Rachael Gisselquist, on behalf of the Foundation, at a one day conference that was attended by senior government officials and different heads of institutions, which took place at Serena Kigali Hotel.

Rwanda is among the first African countries to invite the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to understand how it works.

The Index’s assessment focuses on five areas that include; safety and security, rule of law, transparency and corruption, participation and human rights, sustainable economic development and human development.

According to Local Government minister, Protais Musoni, the purpose of the conference is to enlighten Rwandan leaders on how the index is compiled and through this, they will be able to identify the sub-indicators that would lead to the improvement of Rwanda’s ranking in areas that include service delivery.

"It will improve networking by our research institutions like the Governance Advisory Council and we shall be able to recognise the impact of the work in governance positioning in Rwanda,” Musoni added.

The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance was created in recognition of the need for a more comprehensive, objective and quantifiable method of measuring governance quality in sub-Saharan Africa.

The same foundation also awards the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, which has been awarded to such luminaries as the former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan (Chair), Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and r United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Salim Ahmed Salim, former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity and Prime Minister of Tanzania.

Speaking to The New Times, Professor Robert Rotberg, programme Director on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution, Harvard University, said that the purpose of indexing is to improve the well-being of African countries by making comparison with other countries.

"Somalia is the last in the index because, there is no government, so you cannot evaluate what is not there,” Prof. Rotberg said.

However some government officials who include the Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Dr.  Charles Muligande, urged the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to consult trusted sources in the process of collecting data.

It emerged that during the compilation of the index, that the Foundation in some instances based its findings on unreliable biased sources.

"Reporters Without Borders has been reporting the same thing from 1994 until now, I would advice you to deal with local media organisations, because I believe it will be the same argument when you visit Malawi next,” cautioned Muligande.

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