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Good governance remains elusive to the Third World: A youth perspective
from Africa
Mutsa Murenje
June 05, 2009
Good governance can tentatively be defined as the just use of power
to create conditions for unity and trust and inspiring in the governed
the desire to contribute to the common good. What worries me, however,
is the fact that our African leaders appear to have forgotten that:
"Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others"
(1 Corinthians 10:24). In view of the foregoing, this, my little
work, is dedicated to the proposition that good governance remains
elusive to the Third World in general and Africa in particular.
A lot shall undoubtedly be depicted in the paragraphs that follow.
According to
the World Bank, good governance is characterized by the following
features: accountability of government officials including politicians
and civil servants; transparency in governmental procedures; predictability
in governmental behaviour and expectation of rational decisions;
openness in governmental transactions; the rule of law and an independent
judiciary; free flow of information and freedom of the press; respect
for human rights; decentralization of power structure and decision
making. Perchance the question we should grapple with is: Are these
features evident in our African governments? If so, to what extent?
From a more
analytical perspective, one may argue that it is genuine and veritable
that good governance remains elusive to the Third World. This is
so ostensibly because government officials including politicians
and civil servants in Africa have failed to establish and maintain
the trust and confidence of those they represent. In short, they
are not accountable. For example, large-scale corruption involving
senior officials in executive, judicial, legislative, or other official
positions in government has had a devastating effect on democracy,
the rule of law, and economic development. I have in mind the 'Willowgate
scandal- of the late 1980s, the grain scam of the 1990s, the
War Victims Compensation Fund of the late 1990s, the distribution
of food based on party political affiliation, the allocation of
land along party lines or a nepotistic grouping of cousins and relatives
and the looting of agricultural inputs going on in Zimbabwe today.
It is because of this barrage of corroborative evidence that one
is left with no choice but to conclude that it is indeed a truism
that good governance has eluded Africa.
Furthermore,
transparency in governmental procedures has become a nightmare or
is it a pipe dream? Predictability in governmental behaviour and
expectation of rational decisions has resultantly been undermined.
Maybe these examples will suffice: up to this very day we still
wonder why war veterans had to get Z$50,000 for taking part in the
liberation struggle, why did we have to involve ourselves in the
DRC war in 1998, did we really have to grab land from white farmers,
and was Operation Murambatsvina really meant to restore order? From
this it becomes clearer that it is really true that African countries
appear to have been eluded by good governance.
With regards
the issue of the rule of law and an independent judiciary, it can
be argued that the combination of the undermined independence of
the judiciary, the failure of the security forces to implement court
rulings, the excessive use of private violence for political goals,
and the participation of security forces in human rights abuses
have shown beyond argument that the rule of law is almost non-existent
in African countries and that this has had serious negative implications
on the observation of basic human rights in Africa. Zimbabwe, DRC,
Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia are cases in point.
To further buttress
the argument, it can also be argued that only a few African countries
have had free and fair elections as long as we can remember. In
most if not all cases, our participation in elections has been,
as it were, a struggle against the arbitrary rule of omnipotent
dictators and has been aimed at restricting their absolute powers.
These names quickly come to mind: Idi Amin, Kenneth Kaunda, Yoweri
Kaguta Museveni, Mobutu Sese Seko, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, and Hastings
Kamuzu Banda to make but a quick, short list which could be extended
many times over.
The thing is
our governments are characterized by partial or complete absence
of constitutional rights and freedoms, the prohibition of democratic
parties and working people-s organisations, reduction in the
number of elective state organs, and the concentration of power
in heads of states. The psychosis of militarism helps strengthen
their parties. They are striving to expand their social base and
their growth is promoted by the strengthening of bureaucratic power,
the broadening of the legal base for police repression and the enactment
of anti-worker, anti-popular legislation. And we ask ourselves:
Why are our leaders so capricious, unfair? Why do they delight in
watching us squirm, why do they stamp out human beings like cigarette
butts?
In a nutshell,
I would want to remind our African leaders that the time for justice,
equality, liberty and freedom is now! We want the necessary conditions
that ensure the individual-s all-round, harmonious development,
stimulate his/her activity in labour and in government, and raise
his/her cultural level. With unflinching courage and unwavering
commitment, we shall always demand respect for human dignity and
worth, social justice, service to humanity, integrity and competence.
We have refused, as young people, to be the pot that just cooks
but never tastes the food. Yes, we have indeed refused to take the
proverbial stance of the ostrich, burying its head in the sand in
the face of many problems. For I know, as you know that we want
to meet personal and social needs, develop our potential and create
a fairer society. I put it to you and I rest my case.
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