Democratic Infractions and the Challenge of Good Governance in Africa: Building Moral Capacity for State Leadership

Abstract

Politics determines or at least influences the direction of individual and national socio-economic condition. There is an interconnection and some form of dependency between politics and economy. Most of the prosperous industrialized economies of the world have stable and sustainable political systems. Hence, one could argue that the poor economic situation of most African nations cannot be explained outside the issues of political impropriety across the continent. The political process in many of the African states is characterized by abuses of all kinds such as electoral infractions, constitutional violations, human rights abuses and misappropriation of powers. Many traditional political systems in Africa have been eroded meanwhile foreign and imported political ideologies have failed to deliver such dividends of national socio-political and economic gains as is the case in their respective home fronts. This research discovers through exposition and critical analysis of literature and experience that the problem with politics in Africa is not essentially about the political ideologies either traditional or foreign but basically a problem of large-scale moral and ethical failing of people who are political actors of various levels, either as leaders or followers. The paper concludes by viewing this problem as an opportunity for building ethical leadership capacity resulting in a new political paradigm for good governance across Africa.