Good governance is a journey to make real impact that changes lives, gives meaning to life and living to those governed. It requires adaptive networks with a capacity to respond to every community’s needs; the legitimacy of whatever model a society settles on depends on how well its institutions respond to local environmental feedback and cultural values. The biggest concern with governance in Africa is that for many reasons, including the legacy of colonialism and tribal pivoting social environments, it often lacks moral clarity to protect citizens from harm. Governments have become exclusionary institutions where alternative ways of expressing civic commitment are suppressed by dominant tribes and/ or the political elites and their wealthy allies.
In return for foreign ‘aid’, Africa has often consented to being a gigantic experimental space for foreign governance models. But to expect local communities to seamlessly fit into foreign projects of democracy is a delusional undertaking replete with self-doubt and ideological deficiency. We need to review our approach, invest in understanding local communities and their problems to build locally informed solutions, including conflict resolution mechanisms.
Problems in the political environment of Africa are a byproduct of misuse of governance institutions to marginalise the average citizen from genuine participation in the decision-making process. Foreign models used without contextual due diligence cannot be right drivers to build an Africa that serves Africans.
Blindly adopting Western informed governance systems and structures is unsurprisingly not progressive because these were never built with the empowerment of Africa as a goal but a subject of colonial control; Africa needs its own governance networks responsive to the social and traditional environment. Democracy is failing in Africa and with it, Africa because its architecture – used without exception – requires Africa to be less African, thus governments are less African in design, not relatable to the communities they are trying to govern.
Furthermore, Africa is confronted by the toxicity of tribalism which continues to pose tensions between communities and remains the greatest risk to national stability, development, progress, peace and justice. We continue to perceive decisions with social identities over ideological clarity and relevance. When stereotypes are rationalised and used as facts to inform important governance decisions, real challenges are left unattended and eventually implode on society and explode into disastrous national outcomes.
We need to reduce tribal conflict and that requires shifting away from rigid group division through identity expansion, traditional mediation, and shared community goals.
Focus for Reform:
- Reviewing executive composition and power.
- Shifting federal funding and programme administration directly to communities.
- Encouraging co-governance so communities exercise sovereign rights in shared environments (water quality management) with the federal government.
- Balance customary law and constitutions through frameworks that rebuild capacity for local communities to effectively engage with the federal government.
- Designing local public health, justice, and social programmes.
Decentralised federalism offers effective ways of addressing modern political polarisation and domestic tribalism and focusing on proactive tools such as investment in building comprehensive social, economic and governance structures that encourage engagement and promote transparency.
Decentralised federalism:
Decentralised federalism is a political and constitutional system where power is divided between a central government and regional or local units, and a very high share of authority, decision-making, and financial responsibility is pushed down to those lower levels.
Envisaged Features:
- Executive made up of Federal Council (of a pre-determined number of members) that acts as the collective head of state and government, with decisions made by consensus. Rotating non-executive presidency – president first among equals.
- Empowered local communities operate as independent, federally recognised sovereign entities.
- Vertical power-sharing where responsibilities are split between levels, letting national governments handle macro-level goods (like defence or foreign policy) while regional units manage local priorities (like education, local health services, emergency services, and regional development).
- Fiscal Federalism – Subnational units hold significant power to raise revenues, manage budgets, or receive structured intergovernmental transfers, avoiding heavy financial dependence on the centre.
Local Government Role:
- Customary chiefs and elders mediate local arguments over land, grazing rights, and water between neighbouring communities.
- Local leaders often notice tensions in villages early enough to facilitate proactive interventions including alerting national security forces or courts.
- Traditional systems often focus on community healing and reconciliation rather than harsh punishments, helping prevent cycles of revenge.
- Traditional networks help maintain basic order and cross-border cooperation in remote areas with limited central government reach.
Conclusion
We have nothing but contempt for the kind of leaders who are afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that they know is best for their countries. Understanding every community from its own perspective is central to fair governance. Governments must extend power to communities to give real liberation to the masses.
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