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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Some Alternatives to the Crisis of Political Leadership in Africa: The Case of Eritrea and many other African countries
| Panel |
71. African political leadership: any alternatives?
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| Paper ID | 430 |
| Author(s) |
Fisseha-Tsion, Menghistu
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | While the vast majority of the people of Africa are suffering from basic needs and are struggling for their survival the Continent has no less than 82,000 African Millionaires whose total capital and assets is worth $786 bn. State power is also controlled by many authoritarian regimes that continue to murder and dehumanize their own people. In short, many political leaders of Africa, particularly the military dictators, have brought about shame and humiliation for their own people. Now individualism and greed have reigned supreme. Many are abandoning Africa. Almost every one is trying hard to make more money for oneself than sacrificing for the collective good of the people. Sadly even the legislative organs of many African countries are a rubber stamp of the Executive Branch, which in turn are more influenced by external actors. That is why the question of quality, caliber, integrity and vision of African leadership remains a crucial issue for the future of Africa.
In the 1990s the dominant view was to say “if we only could promote human rights and get democracy in these fragile states in Africa... all would be well. Democracy is the solution to their problems”. However, the imposition of donor driven institutional or constitutional methods of democracy in poor, fragile and crippled African countries have neither delivered the results desired nor did they have lasting effects. Despite democracy promotion projects, many African countries are suffering from violence, ethnic and religious conflicts in ways hitherto unknown in the past. The question is why?
But are there some other alternatives to the current trend and political leadership in Africa? Empowering the people, civil societies and even the Diaspora by local and foreign NGOs seem one alternative option. But the question is how does one empower the grass root people, and civil societies? In which African countries have real empowerment took place? And to what extent has it been sustainable and durable? What are the responsibilities and duties of political parties in the opposition to their own people and constituencies? What are some of the institutional mechanisms of ensuring rule of law and justice as well as ensuring that power and resources such as oil revenues and other tax revenues are fairly and equitably distributed to the people? How does one create a good leadership that treats its citizens equal and distributes the goods and services in a fair and equitable manner? Is political empowerment in itself enough? What are the internal and external obstacles and challenges to empower people, civil societies and even the Diaspora in Africa now? Can there be new alternatives without removing the internal and external obstacles? These are some of the issues explained in the paper with a special focus on the experiences of Horn of Africa and some other case studies such as in Southern Sudan.
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