It’s only been 18 days into 2021 and the year has already seen great tests to democracy and governance around the world.
The series of dramatic events, which will be recounted in rich detail in the coming days and decades includes the attack on the “temple of American democracy,” the US Capitol, which resulted in the death of some rioters and a security personnel.
In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his entire government resigned after accepting responsibility for years of mismanagement of childcare subsidies, which wrongfully pushed thousands of families to financial ruin.
A little closer to home, the high profile Ugandan elections that saw an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition has seen incumbent Yoweri Museveni declared the winner of the country’s presidential election.
Ghana was not to be outdone as we were treated to dramatic and chaotic scenes in the Chamber of Parliament by Members of the House during the election of the Speaker for the Eighth Parliament.
Democracy and governance in general has its bad days all over the world but one key difference persists between the West and Africa however; ACCOUNTABILITY.
After the Capitol riots, President Donald Trump has been impeached for the “incitement of insurrection,” a move House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “demonstrated that no one is above the law – not even the President of the United States.”
The Dutch government through PM Mark Rutte also acknowledged that it is “of one mind that if the whole system has failed, we all must take responsibility,” and as such, stepped down in the face of a childcare subsidies scandal.
In many resource-rich countries in Africa, however, the lack of accountability and transparency in the management of these revenues exacerbates poor governance and often fuels cycles of corruption, conflict, and poverty.
Despite the growth of democracy and the creation of numerous anti-corruption institutions, corruption continues to undermine governance processes across the African continent.
Last year, a report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development indicated that Africa lost $836bn between 2000 and 2015 due to illicit financial transactions. It also estimated that Africa loses almost $50 billion annually through these illicit flows and $148 billion through corruption.
Ghana alone, according to a report by Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), which is Transparency International’s Local Chapter, “loses close to US$3 billion to corruption annually,” with many citizens having to pay bribes before accessing basic public services.
In fact, the 2018 Global Corruption Barometer found that more than one in four people on the continent paid bribes for public services. Yet, despite the efforts by these organizations to bring these observations to limelight, virtually no action has been taken by countries all around the continent.
No enquiries, No investigations, No reforms. It’s back to business as usual and the amounts lost from illicit transactions continue to increase as elected officials especially, pocket funds the UN said “is robbing the continent and its people of their future.”
Internally, Ghana has been rocked by its fair share of transgressions including PDS Corruption Scandal, The BOST Contaminated Fuel Scandal, Agyapa Gold Royalties Transaction, the Ameri Power deal and the SADA Scandal, just to mention a few.
The events that have followed these scandals leaves much to be desired of, as little to no action have been taken against the perpetrators. It makes one wonder if people in power or the rich and affluent especially in Africa are above the law, hence cannot be held accountable for actions.
Or there is a secret provision in the constitutions that exempts them from being held responsible for their actions.
In the Dutch saga, Janet Ramesar, a parent who was waiting for the news of Mr Rutte’s resignation, said, “It’s important for me because it is the government acknowledging, ‘we have made a mistake and we are taking responsibility,’ because it’s quite something what happened to us.”
Perhaps in Africa, governments do not see mismanagement of public funds as a mistake. Jon Temin, the director of the Africa program at Freedom House, overseeing the organization’s efforts to advance democracy and human rights across the continent alludes to the fact that “Because they did not come to office on the back of popular support, and once in office do not depend on popular support—especially when they have a monopoly on the use of force and engage in grand corruption—leaders feel little pressure to respond to citizen demands and adapt to public sentiment.”
On April 15th 1958, at an All African People’s Conference in Accra, Dr Kwame Nkrumah in a call for pan-Africanism, urged African leaders to embrace the good aspects of deeds in other continents.
“If we find the methods used by others as suitable to our social environment, we shall adopt or adapt them; if we find them unsuitable, we shall reject them,” he said.
Surely, accountability can be considered a method suitable to the growth of the continent.
