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Africa in focus special edition

Governance in Africa

When talking about governance in Africa, one can say that it has alarmingly declined over the past decade. Characteristics such as bureaucratic obstruction, weak judiciaries, the rule of law and corruption have led to that. This can only be modified through accountability, transparency and competency. There are three main trends that can be identified when addressing governance on the African continent.

The first one was that African regions are diverging. Southern and West Africa have significantly improved their democratic governance, but Central and East Africa have suffered major setbacks. The growing gap between East and West Africa is particularly striking. Over the past 12 years, democratic governance has been deteriorating in East Africa while much of coastal West Africa improved. There was a strong decline in countries such South Sudan, Mali, Burundi and Ethiopia, followed by Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Mauritania and Niger. Countries like the Gambia, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal have shown improvement while Botswana, Angola, Zimbabwe and the DRC showed no change.

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Inter-generational Trauma affecting the future leaders of tomorrow

On the 3 ^rd of April 2018, Never Again Rwanda hosted the conference under the theme; Remember, Unite, and Renew: Empowering post-genocide generation to overcome intergenerational trauma. This national conference aimed to establish a platform for the Rwandan youth and other key stakeholders to discuss and provide input into the national policy and practice for commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

“The government can create community interactions where professionals on healing can teach elders how to share knowledge with the young ones without creating intergenerational trauma. We must continue to support individuals who underwent different traumatic events. As a representative of Government, we pledge to continue to support the youth in order to have a wealthy nation”, stated Hon. Rosemary Mbabazi, Minister of Youth, who happened to be the guest of honor of the conference. She called upon the youth to take center stage in promoting unity and fighting ethnic based ideologies.

The issue of inter-generational trauma is evident. According to Dr. Darius Gishoma, during the 23 ^rd commemoration period, 18% of individuals received by mental health facilities were between the ages of 14-21. Young people have noted the prevalence of inter-generational trauma and its harmful implications towards the future of the youth. A focus should be put on establishing safe spaces for discussion of wounds, which will initiate a journey towards healing. Post genocide generation needs a safe space to tell their stories and experiences as a part of breaking the silence. Through this process, youth are empowered to reflect and speak out, which is vital to building solid democratic processes.

“There can be transmission of trauma, but can we also mention a possible transmission of resilience? This is also possible within our society.” – Prof. Vincent Sezibera, Head of Clinical Psychology, University of Rwanda.

Recommendations were made that parents should be careful on how and when to share their experiences with their children in order to not harm them indirectly. On another important note, the youth believe that parents need to trust their children more in their capacity to make their own judgments on our history. A lack of trust between parents and children has led to distorted narratives being passed along generations.

Another recommendation was that there’s a need to establish dialogue spaces between young people and the older generation so they can help each other in healing in order to work towards ending transmission of inter-generational trauma.

The Executive Director of Never Again Rwanda, Dr. Joseph Nkurunziza, appreciated the youth for their zeal in getting to know their history and pledging not to let genocide ever happen again. He added that “youth are the beacon of hope and they can overcome intergenerational trauma through various approaches.”

Democracy in Africa: A way forward

Since the majority of Africans prefer democracy to any kind of government and that there’s a need for it, it is very important that members of different Civil Society organizations gather together and debate on what democracy in Africa is at present and what it should be. On the 24 ^th and 25 ^th of May 2018, at the Kigali Marriott Hotel, the African Democracy Forum in partnership with Never Again Rwanda, hosted the conference Democracy in Africa: A way forward . The conference aimed to bring together scholars, civil servants and civil society representatives familiar and expert on democracy in Africa to debate and discuss the state of it. It also focused on dealing with the impact, role and importance of democracy in Africa. Participants talked about joining together and finding solutions to peace, security, freedom, the rule of law, good governance and the empowerment of women and youth.

In his opening remarks, keynote speaker Prof. Shyaka, CEO of Rwanda Governance Board, thanked ADF for organizing such an important conference on democracy in Africa and welcomed every guest to Rwanda. He said: “This conference on Democracy in Africa is timely. It is a testimony that the role of civil society in Africa’s democratization and development is growing, becoming substantive and positive. However, democracy is not an end in itself but a means to an end.” Beyond the generic meaning of democracy as the “power of the people, by the people and for the people”, Prof. Shyaka pointed out three key imperatives of democracy which are participation of the citizens, satisfying citizens’ needs and interests and accountability to the citizens.

The Chairperson of African Democracy Forum, Dr. Joseph Nkurunziza, equally emphasized the importance for Africans to discuss democracy and understand what it means for them. Furthermore, he called upon participants to this conference to deeply reflect and come up with strategies for women and youth to really engage in democratization process in Africa.

· The meaning of Democracy and why it is important

"By many accounts Africa is more democratic than it has ever been or relatively better compared to earlier decades. At the same time we see evidence of plummeting dissatisfaction with the workings of democracy in various jurisdictions. There’s a need for us to pay attention to our public representatives as well as organizing ourselves as a forum in such a way that we can generate a relationship of critical solidarity with those who are actually trying to make things happen on the ground. Going back to the theme of partnering with the people, I think we have fallen, for many years, into this trap of looking at history as something that is made by generals, kings, famous freedom fighters and the people are just a footnote in the biographies of leaders. It is one of the things that have held us back as a continent from stimulating the potential for sustainable development, a potential that we have just like any other continent. We need to participate in processes that help to open up decisions about economic development, public budgeting and development planning to society wide processes of popular participation”, Dr. Sydney Mufamadi, University of Johannesburg.

Adama Dicko from Mali commented saying that it is problematic to talk about democracy where people do not have access to water and their basic needs are not met. Dr. Eric Ndushabandi added that within Africa’s homegrown cultures, there are strong values that support the ideals of democracy and that education and empowerment of the people are central to consolidate democracy.

The impact of legal frameworks on democratization

« La démocratie est morte mais ne soyons pas prêts à l’enterrer. La premiere chose est qu’il s’agit de consolidation de la démocratie qui signifie la sécuriser et la préserver contre les menaces d’érosion ou de transformation vers la dictature. Limiter la menace ou alors sécuriser ce qu’on a déjà acquis. Deuxième idée est la légitimité populaire des acteurs et des institutions. Cela signifie la capacité des acteurs de diffuser les valeurs démocratiques qu’on a déjà acquise et éliminer les risques d’autoritarisme dans toutes les structures surtout ce qui sont familiales et non pas seulement les structures politiques. Les acteurs politiques doivent croire en la légitimité de la démocratie qu’ils sont supposés défendre. Cette conviction est mesurée par voir les comportements des acteurs politiques, ce qui n’est pas toujours évidents. » Dr. Eric Ndushabandi

« Le respect et la promotion d’état de droit et des droits de l’homme sont des ingrédients très importants de la démocratie. Ces deux facteurs doivent être garantis par un pouvoir judiciaire est indépendant. La pratique de la bonne gouvernance qui passe par la conception participative et la mise en œuvre de politique publique et le devoir de rendre compte de ces politiques publiques. Elections libres et transparentes, état de droit, respect et promotion des droits de l’homme, pratique de la bonne gouvernance comprenant la conception participative et la mise en œuvre de politiques publiques appropriée et le devoir de rendre compte. » - Sénateur Pierre Ngayap, Cameroun.

"Democracy has been reduced to a slogan in many African countries. We can no longer refer to democracy as a western concept. It is a global principle as well as a means and an end to development which is a right that the people have.

In many countries the judiciary is not independent. It answers to the ruling party or the president. The independence of the judiciary is important and critical to democratization."- Dr. Andre Mangu, Institute of Democracy in Africa

The role of Civil Society in democratization

“There cannot be democracy without Civil Society and therefore when civic space is lacking you can’t say that there’s democracy.”- Gilbert Sendugwa, Uganda.

"CSOs must do all it takes to retake the Civic Space which is extremely shrinking. Division among Civil Society, internal and local ones failing to make coalitions to better serve the people we claim to represent. CSOs in Africa should rethink on constructive ways of engaging the governments."- Betty Mutesi, International Alert, Rwanda.

We need to rethink the notion of the independence of Civil Society. It’s becoming more evident that the only way Civil Society can make a great impact on the state is interdependency which doesn’t remove in any way the independence of the Civil Society. In the context of West Africa, most of the civil society actually emerged to drive away a military regime but since then that perception of we verses them hasn’t left the minds of the states. There’s this mentally in the Civil Society that once you belong in the state you know nothing and therefore sometimes we are ill prepared to engage state and stand in the way of activism just to shame the state for what they have not done without providing alternatives. – Dr. Eze Chukwuemeka, Ghana

"Civil societies have been playing an important roles all over the world in politics, social change, democratization etc. However we have noticed that in some parts of the continent, CSOs have taken the role of political parties especially where they don’t exist like in Uganda at one point ir in Kenya and this leaves no one to hold governments accountable because those who are supposed to be doing that have joined them." – Job Kiija, Uganda.

The importance of access to information in the implementation of democracy in Africa

“Right to information is key to democracy. There are three benefits of social media; enlightened citizens, platforms for expression and exposure to different set ups and cultures. Free media makes healthy democracy”. Andrew Karamagi, Uganda.

“Information is at the heart of meaningful participation of the citizens. There are issues of shutting down internet as an infringement to the enjoyment of the right of access to information.”- Gilbert Sendugwa, Uganda.

"No piece of information is neutral. Media can be used to transfer false information and depoliticize the society. In the spread of xenophobia, social media should preserve values of African people.”- Brian Kagoro, Zimbabwe.

Woyocracy: The role of women and youth in the democratization process in Africa

"There is a limited amount of women who are involved in decision making processes. In terms of the way forward, I think a system needs to be set up to make sure that the youth and women are equally represented at all level of governance.”- Satang Nabaneh, Founder, Law Hub Gambia.

“Mobilizing young people and women for effective and responsible participation creates more links between citizens and the government”, said Adama Dicko from Mali, urging African governments to build a strong bond with their citizens through engaging youth and women in the democratic governance.

"Les jeunes ne peuvent pas faire quelque chose seuls. Demandez-moi ce que les dirigeants actuels font au Cameroun? Les dirigeants sont eux qui doivent organiser l’avenir des jeunes en bâtissant l’avenir avec eux. C’est une malhonnêteté paternelle, un père n’a pas le droit de se comporter comme ça avec ses enfants et je pense que c’est le cas avec beaucoup de dirigeants en Afrique. Il n’y a que quelques très rare exceptions."- Adv. Alice Nkom

Terrorism and how it is linked to Democracy

While presenting on the matter of terrorism and extremism in Africa, Ambassador Frederic Ngoga stated that,"Terrorism is a threat to democracy as much as the lack of democracy is fueling terrorism. The bad news is that terrorism is not going anywhere anytime soon and it is expanding and becoming much more complicated. Africa is ranked number one in comparison to other continents in terms of the presence of terrorist groups and is considered a major theater for all the groups who will be coming here on our continent. There’s an increase in frequency in terms of what terrorists are doing now.

What worries me beyond this is that wherever terrorists are right now, they are becoming good at providing social services and acting as an alternate to local governments. In Al Shabab controlled areas, they deliver timely justice and enforce rulings. Example, if you have a complaint and go to them for help, they will tell you that they won’t take more than 72 hours before they have made a judgment. Try going to our courts and see how long it will take before you can justice. They have an effective taxation system, they are not corrupt and are efficient. I tie this to democracy because we have reached a time where people forfeit their freedom just to meet their fundamental basic rights like safety and security. That is what is fueling these terrorist organizations.

What are we doing about it? Quite a lot; various protocols have been signed in order to deal with the issues that will arise due to terrorism linked to Artificial Intelligence. We have drafted an AU model law for this meaning that we are helping the member states to make sure that we have the same common laws so that people don’t abuse the term terrorism for instance. We have deployed new tools, one of them being Continental Structural Conflict Prevention Framework . This tool helps member states to assess their own vulnerabilities and resilience. We also help them to mitigate strategies. We need to address what leads to radicalization because radicalism leads to violence. Radicalization is the sum of small injustices. If you suffer small injustices day in day out you will become radicalized.

People fight for four reasons; power contestation, lack of inclusivity, unequal distribution of resources and impunity. We have a crisis of values and we need to reclaim our value system and not normalize what is bad for us."

Q&A with special guests

What do you think are the challenges to democracy?

"Following the history of colonialism and military regime, our democratic institutions are either weak or at best they are a work in progress. The second thing that also relates to that closely is the issue of the way through which people come to power which are the political parties. If you look at the age of our political parties, they’re quite young so that also means that their potential to produce the kind of candidates that we can call good leaders is questionable. But beyond that it’s that even the management of our electoral process through the electoral management bodies is in itself a bit challenging to the extent that people do not believe that our election management bodies are so independent and impartial enough to produce those candidates. What is the independence of the judiciary you ask? When candidates in an election especially those gearing towards managing the state itself do not have the confidence that the judiciary can deliver judgments that are unquestionable. When you have the kind of violence we have in Africa, even the possibility to use democracy as a vehicle for development is affected so in most countries, even the few developmental strides we have had are not seen. There’s also no consensus with regards to what kind of constitution that would guard and guide our institutions either the level of electoral processes or even at the level of the kind of government that we want to practice. A lot of people still feel that our constitutions are not homegrown and therefore there’s a lot of influence from in the kind of constitution that we uphold in a different context from where we took the constitutions from."- Dr. Eze Chukwuemeka, Nigeria.

"The first challenge is that the world has decided that we are going into democracy and then as far as Africa is concerned it was more of what the westerners wanted. They wanted elections so we gave them elections then they decided they wanted political parties and we did that too. They tried to organize all the characteristics of democracy but democracy is not there. There’s a lot of naivety due to the fact that people are not informed or empowered. The next step for us should be to educate people. We are here talking about democracy like elites but the grandmother in the village has no idea what is going on. Civic education is very important. When citizens are called for elections, it should not be just for that. They should be able to vote for someone whom they’ll have the task to engage, influence as well as holding him/her accountable for their responsibilities."- Senator Appolinaire Mushinzimana, Rwanda.

"Le premier défi de la démocratie c’est la participation populaire, il n’a pas de démocratie si le people n’adhère pas par ce que le dirigeant lui propose. C’est par rapport à cela que la conference a relevé que la participation électorale est très souvent faible. Cela démontre la défiance des populations par rapport au système politique. L’autre défi de la démocratie c’est de mettre en cohésion ce que la conference a appelé les 4 piliers de la démocratie. Premièrement, organiser des elections free and fair qui dégagent une majorité incontestée. Le deuxième pilier c’est respecter et promouvoir un état de droit ou les conflits sont réglés par un pouvoir judiciaire indépendant et efficace. Le troisième pilier c’est de respecter et de promouvoir les droits de l’homme. C’est par rapport à ce respect de droits de l’homme que les populations vont se sentir protégées; droit à l’intégrité, droit à la vie, droit à l’expression, droit de voter, droit de se soigner, droit à l’éducation, etc. Le dernier pilier c’est de mettre en place un système de bonne gouvernance qui permet aux dirigeants d’adapter de manière consensuelle et participative des politiques publiques et s’assurer que ces politiques sont contrôlées, c’est-à-dire que les dirigeants rendent compte de leurs actions. Mettre en rapport tous ces piliers pour qu’ils soient interconnectés est le deuxième défi de la démocratie. Le troisième défi de la démocratie est la participation des jeunes et des femmes. Il a été relevé que ces deux catégories sociales qui sont les plus nombreuses n’ont pas la place proportionnelle à leur poids démographique. Il s’agit maintenant qu’à la fois les jeunes, les femmes et même les hommes, se tiennent la main pour que tous participent de manière égale aux politiques publiques."- Senator Pierre Ngayap, Cameroun.

What do you think the current leaders are doing wrong?

"We cannot put them all in the same bag. There are the good, the bad and the ugly. I think that each circumstance is different but overall and at the end of the day the bottom is line is, do people feel like they have a say in the way they’re being led and do they like what they’re seeing and are they comfortable with the trajectory of their country? Some countries which might look autocratic, people might feel good about the system and might feel good about the direction the country is taking. There are also those that seem democratic where people feel horrible about where things are going whereby you have too much democracy and no development for instance. I think the thing that people have difficulty with is to find a balance between democracy and development. People need both, in fact we deserve both instead of one at the expense of the other and I think that’s where the challenge lies."- Amb. Frederic Ngoga

"La premiere contradiction des dirigeant africains aujourd’hui c’est que nombreux parmi eux sont arrivés au pouvoir par des voix illégitimes et ceux sont eux qui décident maintenant de comment les autres doivent arriver au pouvoir. Notamment l’Union Africaine considère qu’ils n’acceptent pas des régimes qui arrivent au pouvoir par des coups d’états, des régimes qui changent les constitutions pour se maintenir au pouvoir alors que nombreux parmi eux sont arrivés au pouvoir par ces moyens-là. Il faudrait d’abord que ceux qui parlent au nom de l’Afrique aient les mains propres. Ce n’est pas tous mais il ne faudrait pas que ceux qui sont arrivés au pouvoir par des moyens illégaux parlent pour l’Afrique, il y a assez de dirigeant propres qui peuvent faire cela. Ce qui est encore irrégulier c’est la corruption. Si l’Afrique reconnait encore de nombreux retards dans le développement c’est parce qu’une grande partie de ses richesses sont spoliées par les dirigeants ou par des personnes protégées par les dirigeants. Cette corruption, ce détournement de biens publics, cette vente de resources naturelles aux puissances étrangères sont principalement la responsabilité des dirigeants parce que si les dirigeants ouvraient les yeux, les simples habitants de leur territoire n’auraient pas les moyens de commettre ces actes-là." - Senator Pierre Ngayap

Do you think Africa is democratic?

" Je pense que l’Afrique n’est pas démocratique. La premiere chose est qu’il n’y a aucune adéquation entre les populations et les élus. Il n’existe pas de contrat entre l’élu et ceux qui l’ont élu. Le mandataire se retrouve avec plus de pouvoir que le mandant et forcement ils ne l’utilisent pas en faveur du mandant, il fait ce qu’il veut et n’est pas puni. Il prend tous les dispositions pour ne pas rendre compte et se revêtir du manteau de l’impunité et je ne vois pas beaucoup de pays ou ça ne se passe pas comme ça. Cela ne veut pas dire que les elections ne sont pas nécessaires mais ils ne marchent non plus que quand il y a la vraie démocratie. C’est-à-dire que quand on a mis en place un système de gestion qui se retrouve dans la constitution qu’on fait en suite valider par le peuple et qui li tout le monde y compris celui qui va organiser les elections. Or celui qui va organiser les elections ne se sent jamais tenu par le pacte qui donne aux elections le sens qu’on doit normalement donner à une élection. En Afrique nos chefs d’états se font élire pour être au pouvoir et réjouir tous les avantages d’un pouvoir et pour que s’adure indéfiniment. Ils n’ont pas de comptes à rendre à leur pays et ils ont tout le pouvoir en main, pouvoir économique, pouvoir politique et les peuples se retrouvent sans droit a la justice. Leur agresseur est celui qu’ils ont élu et ils ne trouveront même pas où aller se plaindre. Les elections ne sont qu’une mascarade."- Adv. Alice Nkom, Cameroun.

Do you think the role of the youth is in democracy going forward?

"The youth has a major role to play, in fact you cannot do much without the youth, women and minorities. As far as I’m concerned we should consider them as any segment of the population and they should have their rightful role and at the end they’re the workers, they’re the ones with energy however we also need the wisdom of the elders."- Amb. Frederic Ngoga

What did you take from the conference?

" I learnt that democracy is universal with general principles but still has a long way to go as far as being achievable in Africa."- Senator Appolinaire Mushinzimana

"Le premier gain de cette conference est la pluralité des acteurs et des participants qui venaient d’horizons très divers, qui étaient tous très qualifies pour les communications qu’ils ont présenté, pour les participants. Pour les contributions qu’ils apportaient dans les débats. Il s’agissait d’une conference de très haut niveau qui mériterait d’être mieux connue même si tout le monde ne peut pas participer et que les conclusions soient diffusées très largement. Le défi de ce genre d’initiative positive c’est le suivi. Il ne faut pas qu’une fois que le rapport de la conference a été rendu publique qu’on passe à autre chose. La démocratie ne doit pas s’arrêter. On doit tous les jours, tous les mois, toutes les années s’assurer que ce qu’on a commencé continue. J’encourage donc les initiateurs de cette conference de garder le cap, la détermination, la force de maintenir les rails de ce qu’ils ont commencé."- Senator Pierre Ngayap

"I think the conference is a very good opportunity to compare notes in some kind of peer review mechanism among civil society actors with the government. It’s also the opportunity to informally let the continent of Africa understand the thinking of the civil populace. My only fear is whether such an initiative can be sustained or expanded over a period of time otherwise it goes into the kind of engagement that we have that is worn off and not enough to make impact."- Dr. Eze Chukwuemeka

"J’ai appris beaucoup. Il y a eu des propositions qui pourraient aboutir à des solutions et des améliorations mais pour moi ces résolutions ne tiennent pas comptent de la réalité concrète sur le terrain. Par exemple au Cameroun dans la constitution on définit le pays comme état uni et décentralisé et c’est la constitution de 1996. En 2018 il n’y a pas eu un début de décentralisation et ça donne la crise Anglophone, ça donne une guerre, des refugies et du sang partout."- Adv. Alice Nkom

When you look at Africa:

1. What does good Governance Look Like?

Well, a lot of scholars and practitioners have tried to pin-point what ‘good governance’ is but the term itself is very indeterminate and means different things to different people. Suffice to say, governance in contemporary development language put simply refers to how public institutions conduct public affairs and administer public resources. For what ‘good’ governance looks like, probably we can characterize it by assigning a few basic tenets of what it ought to encompass, or what should be there for us to conclude that there is good governance.

While there are many notions or characteristics that are used to define good governance, I think the most important revolve around respect for the rule of law, accountability and how consensus-building is managed in the interests of the group or the nation. Other characteristics in my view subordinate to these basics and these will include but not limited to such notions as equity, participation especially in how the government or leadership is constituted and in setting the rules for such governance; basically here we talk about the constitution upon which a nation or group is governed. Directly linked to this is constitutionalism, where the constitution becomes supreme to everyone under it. Also important to good governance is responsiveness which is the cornerstone of effective and efficient leadership and service delivery.

2. Does democracy lead to good governance?

To read more of the Q&A with ADF member Terence Chitapi click HERE