Rethinking African Governance Architecture; Lessons and Recommendations for Action (original) (raw)

Governance and Leadership Challenges in Africa

This paper is a critical analysis of leadership and governance crises in the horn of Africa in particular and the rest part of the continent in general. It argues that Africa's failures have come largely as a result of frequent leadership change, lack of clear ideology, policy reversal and weak institutional setups. It also examines the leadership selection process in Africa and it takes the imposition pattern and that African leaders have frequently come to their position with limited experience or just the source of their authority is beyond the governed (Afegbua, 2012).. Hence, the decline in moral and discipline caused by bad and unsustainable policies, eroded professional standards and weakened the system of governance. It observes that for Africa to overcome the contemporary leadership and governance crisis, those on whom the burden of leadership will fall in the future must fully comprehend their responsibilities. Since the long term salvation of developing countries depends on the quality of its future change makers, they must also be well prepared to face the challenges of leadership in developing society. The paper concludes that only leadership that has maximum empathy for the people can be relevant to the qualitative movement of Africa.

The Challenges of Leadership and Governance in Africa

This paper is a critical analysis of leadership and governance crises in Africa. It argues that Africa's failures have come about largely as a result of frequent leadership change, lack of ideology, policy reversal and weak institutional patterns. The paper also examines the leadership selection process in Africa and that the leadership selection process in Africa takes the imposition pattern and that African leaders have frequently come to their position with limited experience. Hence, the decline in moral and discipline caused by bad policies, eroded professional standards and ethics and weakened the system of governance. The paper lay emphasis on leadership and governance in some selected African countries. The paper observes that for Africa to overcome the crises of leadership and governance in the continent, those on whom the burden of leadership will fall in the future must fully comprehend their responsibilities, duties and obligation. They must also be exposed and be prepared to face the challenges of leadership in developing society. Since the long term salvation of developing countries depends on the quality of its future leaders. The paper concludes that only leadership that has maximum empathy for the people can be relevant to the qualitative movement of Africa.

Good Governance, Democracy and Leadership styles in Africa

Issues of constitutionalism, good governance and democracy are determined by the type of leadership in a country and/or continent. Despite colonial legacy, leadership in Africa has struggled to promote pro-people policies that accommodate the needs of the populace. Leadership deficiency is a cause for concern in African countries in terms of progressive and visionary leadership. Perspectives on political leadership in Africa vary from the"criminalisation" of the state to political leadership as "dispensing patrimony", the "recycling "of elites and the use of state power and resources to consolidate political and economic power as stated by Van Wyk (2007) . African states and their leaders have exploited and monopolized internal sovereignty to mean absolute power, persornalisation of state-like services and have monopoly of and over organised violence.

Re-engineering African Political Leadership Through Good Governance for Sustainable Development and Growth in Africa

Canadian Social Science, 2012

The history of Africa from the pre-colonial till date clearly shows that it is a continent with all the potentialities for greatness. What is largely lacking is the proper leadership that could successfully harness abundant natural resources of Africa for sustainable growth and development. The development of Africa is in the hands of Africans as President Barack Obama of the United States of America rightly observed in his recent trip to Ghana. Therefore, what Africa needs to step into the terrain of greatness are a political leadership that has integrity, accountability, transparency, vision, the education, the will, the credibility and the capacity to manage the process of change and a followership that is ready to change its attitude, its ways and taste.These are necessary qualities and attributes required in African Leadership to guarantee sustainable growth and development of the continent.

Challenges in Africa: Facing a leadership crisis

Africa is riddled with many challenges and horrors yet remains a jewel in the rubble of our world's manifold conflicts. The legacy of colonialism, cultures of violence and ethnic clashes, combined with the pressure to Westernize, have not eased the burdens of this land. Every day we see the plight of its people through international media and the world either looks on or tries, at times seemingly in vain, to effect a much-needed change. Though it is in many ways broken, Africa can still work. So what then is standing in her way?

Leadership and good governance in Africa: Is there any link?

2020

This paper is an analysis on “Leadership and Good Governance in Africa: Is there Any Link? Africa’s failures of good governance and regional development have been largely as a result of leadership failures. These manifest in frequent leadership change, lack of political will, lack of realistic ideology, policy reversal and weak institutions. The paper focuses on selected African countries with more emphasis on Nigeria. Data were generated from secondary sources and analysed using content analysis. The paper reveals that the leadership election processes in the continent takes the imposition pattern and that African leaders have frequently come to their position with different motives instead of the quest to facilitate the delivery of services through good governance. Therefore, leadership failures in the areas of poor policies, policy sumersault, indiscipline, corruption and the likes have weakened the system of governance or rather good governance, which affect overall development....

Government and the process of governance in Africa

2012

Democracy and good governance are two concepts that are often perceived as closely interlinked. This paper uses different examples from Africa to show that these ideas are, in fact, not only different, but are endowed with dimensions which also allow them to exist independent from one another. To do so the paper defines and examines the interrelation between democracy, government and governance and analyses the failures in African political systems based on deficiencies in these interrelations. It concludes that these deficiencies can be overcome by both the right kind of democratic constitution and political arrangement that would safeguard constitutionalism, as well as a good leadership for the people and not for the leaders. Furthermore, this paper argues that even though good governance and democracy are far from being synonymous, they are necessary for any successful political system aiming to establish and promote economic and socio-political development in Africa. Even though democracy is not equal to good governance and a country could be well governed without a democratically elected leader, democracy is a key factor to hold governments accountable.