Talks on governance key for democracy

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has just concluded a two-day seminar in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the rubric of the African Governance Seminar Series (AGOSS). The event highlighted some key governance issues on the continent.
The seminar, in its fifth edition, was both physical and virtual, bringing together great expertise and experience across Africa on variety of issues. According to organisers, the African Governance Seminar Series was established as an interactive platform for debate and analysis of developments and trends within governance in Africa. It focuses on democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance, socio-economic development, and state resilience.

Other interesting conversations focused on regime change, electoral integrity, access to information, data dignity, the media and democratisation, youth and women empowerment as well as digital capacity building. There is no dull moment in discussing the Africa we want and the role that citizens play in obtaining that vision.
There was so much expertise in the room and good quality conversation, prompting one to wonder why we are perpetually stuck in our quest for good governance.
It was clear that while much of Africa is littered with good policies, few meet their objectives. One presenter, highlighting the key legal wins for the empowerment of youth and women, still got us asking, if there are so many good laws, why are there many women in our communities stuck?

Other presentations got me reflecting, if most countries in Africa have good laws on access to information, why do we deal with challenges accessing information or simply making available data that is dignified? What would it take to build digital capacity of citizens to ensure there is effective service delivery or at least fight corruption? Do we want citizens to engage in governance? Perhaps, we make some laws to tick the boxes.
It is clear, many countries now have robust planning systems producing incredible national development plans, national vision documents, and of course, the African Union’s own Agenda 2063 is such a beautiful document with aspirations that could take this continent places. Some of these aspirations are nationally domesticated in laws and integrated with policies, yet, the results of their implementation are disappointing.

It is, therefore, clear that translating policy to practice, enforcing laws are some of our core governance and development challenges. It is sad, that while many policies are in place, there is little to show for their success, sometimes decade after decade, other times changing name and form to appear fresh, while the results are often the same.
Continued conversations on African governance are key for democracy. And that conversation must be in ways that allow us to hear each other. We have to learn to sit back and in civil ways, with evidence speak to our policymakers, help them see the futility of these laws, and how little some of them make a difference, when it comes to achieving objectives for which they were intended. 

A lot of money is spent by policymakers going to benchmark on areas of policy but rarely much attention is paid to the context within which they will be applied. Laws are great and provide an effective framework within which legitimate actions can be taken or barred but they must be effective. The failure of enforcement, is what hurts our people. That failure, owes to the unchanged social structures. These legal actions must be augmented with successful awareness creation and unlearning of social barriers.
It is, therefore, common for some of these biases and discrimination to find their way into the law, and become the basis of injustice. The custodians of law are often caught up in legalese and archaic procedures that sentence those who should be protected by law to further injustice. It is also not uncommon, for policies to be completely gender blind, or if they are not, to be implemented in ways that perpetuate gendered outcomes.

Until such a time when the judicial system works for the protection of citizens, it may be too much to expect that they will work for poor girls, protect vulnerable women and punish offenders. There are many examples in the decisions of court to demonstrate this. 
Still, we must continue with a holistic quest for good governance so that all actors play their part. The African Governance Seminar Series offers a viable platform for exchange of ideas and learning from others. Hopefully, the conversations will promote some good governance values across the continent.

Ms Maractho (PhD) is the director of Africa Policy Centre and senior lecturer at Uganda Christian University.                      

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