Windhoek
Namibia moved up one point in the 2015 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) and is now ranked fifth out of 52 African countries, ahead of Seychelles, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal and Lesotho.
Namibia scored 70.4 points out of 100, while Lesotho scored 61.1 points. Mauritius topped the list, followed by Cape Verde, Botswana and South Africa.
The IIAG measures the quality of governance in 54 African countries on an annual basis by looking at four areas: Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.
According to The Economist website, the latest report, the ninth to date, sadly shows a continent in which progress in governance is stalling.
The index itself, which takes into account a variety of indicators, ranging from corruption and the rule of law to infrastructure and sanitation, on average has changed little since 2011.
In previous years the index had shown steady improvements by most countries. More worrying are signs of reversal at the top of the list. Of the ten countries ranked best-governed, five have seen a decline in their governance scores since 2011.
The main reasons for the declines in two broad areas are issues relating to safety and the sustainable growth of the economy.
Although the average decline in measures of safety and the rule of law is pulled down by conflicts, such as those in South Sudan, Libya and the Central African Republic (all of which have fallen sharply), even nominally peaceful countries slipped on this measure.
Among the backsliders are Mauritius, Botswana and Tanzania.