The following is a guest submission by Habeeb Kolade

Thanks to its excellent scenery, pristine blue waters and exotic beaches, Mauritius stands as one of the top destinations for tourists in the world. Isolated from the rest of Africa, Mauritius stands distinct from the rest of the continent in many ways.

While many are still battling issues of gender balance in the areas of governance as well as other exploitable opportunities, Mauritius took the bold step of voting in a female president, making her only the third sitting female President in Africa, along with Presidents of Liberia and Central African Republic. Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim wasn’t even a politician and was last only in contention to be the Vice Chancellor of the University of Mauritius. A thorough-bred scientist, Dr Ameenah is known for her strides in science rather than politics. A 2007 Laureate for the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science for Africa, 2008 winner of the ‘Emma Award’ by Bank One Ltd ‘For Outstanding achievement and accomplishment’ and Fellow of the African Academy of Science as one of the foremost modern scientists in Africa, the choice of Dr Ameenah can easily be recognized as meritocratic rather than political, a system generally lacking in many African countries.

The system of government of Mauritius is parliamentary democracy where the people vote for the members of the parliament while the parliament decides through voting and appointments, the members of the executive, including the President. With 70 seats to be occupied at the parliament, the constitution leaves 8 spaces upon the completion of voting to correct ethnic and religious imbalance. The transparency and effectiveness of the system as well as the excellence of the Mauritian government over time has led it to the crest of African governance when the Economic Intelligence Unit in its 2011 Democracy Index classified Mauritius as the only African country with full democracy and also ranked high at 24th among the world’s best democratic systems. Mauritius has also spent more than 5 years at the summit of the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance that rates excellence of governance in the continent.

How has Mauritius fared against the corruption monster? The excellent independent judicial system of the country has contributed immensely to its crime rate reduction which went from 0.43 per cent to 0.36 percent between 2009 and 2010. This has also translated to an incredibly low level of corruption as the country boasts a fair legal system and an efficient Independent Commission against Corruption. Persons guilty of corrupt charges have their properties confiscated and face the wrath of an impartial law.

Mauritius operates an efficient free market system which has placed it, as rated by World Bank, as the best place to conduct business in Africa, and one of the best across the world. Mauritius enables its citizens to choose how they buy, sell, produce amidst other things. This has contributed immensely to its economic growth with the country boasting of one of the best economy in Africa with $16,820 GDP Per Capita. Despite having no exploitable natural resources, Mauritius still leads other African countries as the country with the highest investment freedom in the world as indicated by the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom. With an excellently diversified economy, revenue streams are built on its sugar exports, a strong outsourcing and financial sector and an ever-growing tourism industry.

 
Good governance and a healthy economic system can only lead to better welfare. A life expectancy of over 75 years is a credible evidence. Students, disabled persons and senior citizens also get free rides in an efficient transport system. In addition, students enjoy free education from pre-primary to tertiary level which shoots its literacy level to approximately 90 percent for males and females. Many would agree this is not obtainable in many African countries.
Part of a continent that is still struggling to break free from the entanglement of poor leadership and boasts pitiable indices in areas of life expectancy, economic and political freedom, government systems, corruption, education and gender equality, Mauritius has broken way and is becoming the leading light to Africa’s political and economic systems.

While its little size might be its edge towards achieving such excellence, the incredible efforts of Mauritians towards creating tremendous systems that rightly supports good governance, economic freedom and an enviable social welfare must be commended and leads the way in a path where many African countries keep getting lost.