In the last 500 years ago, Africa’s economic conditions
were the same as in other parts of the world. At the beginning of the 1960s,
the economic conditions in most of the sub-Saharan countries were even more
favorable than those in south East Asian. Today Africa is the poorest content in
the world with biggest percentage of natural resources. Why is it like this?-
lest find out!
Accountability: It tests on transparency
and competition- the right to know and the right to contest. Accountability works
through three interlocking channels. In the first, one level or branch of
government seeks to hold another accountable. Secondly clients exert power over
politicians. The effectiveness of each channel depends on the flow of
information and on the power or authority to impose sanctions. Internal accountability
relationships may be the judiciary or parliaments check on the executive ( The
president and the cabinet) or may be monitoring and audits within the
government by ministers or senior officials and bureaucrats- while external
accountability is by the people- either of politicians through elections or
public debate, or of administrative service agencies through feedback
mechanisms or the option to choose.
Transparency: -Access to information by all defines transparency-
but most governments in Africa either restrict access to official information
or make no effort to publish it widely. In Algeria, the government has at its
disposal a body of inspectors to oversee the functioning of public services-
For Ugandan case, media centre has got the authority over the information to be
published.
Contestability: - regular,
fair, competitive elections are the ultimate mechanism to hold government
officials accountable in democracies. But they may need to be reinforced by
other measures such as by limiting the number and duration of terms and by
allowing multiple candidates through an open vetting process. It was therefore
one of the most misguided ideals of all times to lift the five years term limits
from Ugandan constitution in order for the president to continue contesting for
elections. Now what we see, the only candidate is the incumbent president. Parliaments
that have impeachment power and independence judiciaries that have the power to
prosecute government officials can promote internal accountability by
guaranteeing that no government official is above the law. Auditors-general
ombudsmen and official investigative commissions help ensure accountability
internally- and various mechanisms of civil society oversight can help ensure
accountability externally.
Checks and balances; most parliaments in Africa which have a wide
range of powers on paper, generally do not have as much authority in reality as
do the executives. Likewise even if the judiciary fairly upholds the rule of
law for citizens, the judiciary in Africa lacks the prerogative to question the
executive. Look at the incident when the so called ‘Black Mamba’ besieged the court
in Uganda- no question has ever come out.
This strong constitutional
basis for parliamentary authority is rarely exercised. To find the weakness of
African parliaments, one must look beyond constitutions to the legal frameworks
for executive accountability. First, that limits the possibilities for parliamentary
independence, and for parliaments often lack the resources to hold executive
authorities truly accountable. Even where they can establish some independence
from the executives, parliaments generally cannot use it to control the
legislative process. For instance parliaments may have the authority to approve
the state budget, but their review serves as an effective parliamentary oversight
of the executive in only few African countries. They have only a short period
to review budgets which are often vague and would require intensive work for
anyone to ascertain their details. The results; parliamentarians have only
limited influence over the outcome.
Oversight by the media and civil society intermediaries; Between
the citizen and the government are many intermediaries that channel information
to the public or that represent specific interests. Among those, the media act
as one of the primary means to achieve external accountability. Despite the
global information revolution –social networking channels, The media in Africa
remain subject to considerable government controls and restrictions. Some of
the gains towards more press freedom achieved in the 1990s have proved to be
fragile and easily reversed by government capitalizing on international
concerns to combat terrorism.
With a few exceptions, broadcast
media in Africa are under state control. Print media are usually freer but
often are still highly partisan- And dominant newspapers are often careful not
to take positions that could be regarded as excessively independent by the
government or the head of state. In Uganda for instance, through the ministry
of information/media council controls radio and television broadcasting, even
though the country opened its airwaves to a good number of privately owned FM. Radio
stations and some few television channels.
