Africa needs tailored governance systems

Reflection is an essential component lacking in the politics and governance of African states. Objective oversight of government by independent expert bodies are often seen as interference and not central to governance. The average citizen remains distant from the structures that govern him or her, and purposefully so. We adopted colonial governance structures that served the interests of the minority White population and the metropolitan while marginalising the native Black majority, and those same structures are now actively serving the interests of the Black wealthy elites, the powerful and their allies. Blaming colonisers for today’s non-representative governance systems is abject hypocrisy and a good example of how not to respond to injustice.

Systemic injustice does not become less damaging because the people heading the highest offices of governance happen to share the same identity profile as you. We need structures and institutions that reflect communities and structures and institutions that provide real power for the average person to conduct oversight of public authorities’ performance.

Changing and reframing how governments engage with citizens is paramount to Africa’s political and economic independence. We must take ownership of our mistakes; instead of regurgitating excuses, we must be honest about internal frameworks that continue to limit creative thinking and policy innovation. Contemporary Africa is battling structural inadequacies and imbalances where the average citizen is starved of information and remains marginalised, where the socioeconomic and political institutions serve the wealthy and powerful and their allies.  

Historically, making excuses for bad governance has only provided one winner – the elite and powerful; it has only bought the elites enough time to buy more chains to rein in the working class. The average citizen must take control and act in his best interest. Citizens must be at the core of governance priorities; governance systems must fit in with society’s needs not the other way around. Society must not be a mere consumer of good governance; people must be co-creators of it.

We need a systematic evaluation of current governmental structures, policies, and actions with a view to improve efficacy, fairness, and accountability. First, we must confront systemic tribalism which acts as a reserve for governance incompetence and a barrier to accountability.

Tribal supremacy, stereotypes and suspicion have set a bad tone in how our socio-culturally diverse states operate. There is always suspicion on policy intentions between different population groups which makes intentional progress difficult to achieve as people cannot constructively work together to understand how different communities understand challenges and solutions.

Frame-reflective policymaking is necessary to challenge underlying assumptions and ensuring government responsiveness. Top-down governance systems have failed; politics and policymaking structures need to be decentralised back to the control of average citizens directly impacted by policy decisions.

African states are endowed with diverse and rich culture, which, if optimised, can be a great source of progress (not conflict) in the continent. Cultural differences and contextual exposure are often reason for communities to view the world differently thus frequent conflicts on our policy views.

Differences may lead to controversy and conflict, but they need not be a natural source for failure by different population groups to work together productively; instead, they must be motivation for creating safe spaces to understand each other. There may be need for the different parties to take a step back from their fixed positions to understand how their own actions contribute to controversy and then engage in constructive dialogue to attempt to “reframe” the situation to allow for new, more integrative solutions.

Expanding from the argument made above: we must intentionally allow for constructive disagreement to learn how our different perspectives highlight our different realities and then work towards policy designs that address and reflect those differences.

It is essential that structures of belief that shape, define, and constrain how policy problems are perceived and addressed are designed and owned by citizens and local communities. We believe local involvement, partnerships, and an inclusive approach to policymaking is central to Africa’s future.

Rigidity and centralised governance lead to inefficiency and wastage. Government must be dynamic and flexible enough to address specific local complexities with urgency. This requires bottom-up, inside-out approaches that tend to promote increased local participation and effective use of local expertise.

Progressive governance is the future for Africa; government must avoid generic, rigid structures to ensure systems are “fit-for-purpose” and retain enough flexibility to directly support local priorities. Government for the people by the people is central to success. To counter exclusion of minorities and less powerful population groups, we need governance structures that pivot towards localism. Last, Africa needs structures that encourage transparency and improve the ability to analyse socio-cultural institutions that create enclaves of power and access to opportunity within certain population groups and not others which restricts access to a wider pool of talent thereby limiting creative thinking and policy innovation.