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At the just concluded African Peer Review Mechanism Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, it was obvious to the participants that Africa needs urgent help. The continent needs to rise above the prevailing political tensions and governance deficits in most countries for it to make a significant headway toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 20263. Hence, I have a feeling that Barack Obama, the former president of United States, could not have imagined that this line, “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions” in his speech at the Ghanaian Parliament on July 11, 2009, during his first official visit to Africa, would, after over a decade, remain the most poignant and succinct interpretation of the ongoing demarketing of democracy in the continent by its ‘strong’ men.
Though the French lawyer and philosopher, Montesquieu had argued that, “In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state”, an assertion which perhaps influenced Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni’s retort that Africa needs both strong men and strong institutions. While it is logical to say that institutions do not just become strong without effective handlers, the framers of modern bureaucracy do not expect it to be suborned, emasculated, and manipulated. Therefore, it is an ironic twist that institutions meant to drive societal advancement have become a parody of their original selves.
Across the continent, the gale of unconstitutional change of government (UCG) and sham elections that turn democratic transitions to nothing more than a charade, are disturbing. As ECOWAS could not whip Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali into line, the trio have called the bluff of the subregional authority. Today, it is not only that they have formed Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and built strong ties with Russia, the more intriguing thing is that Burkina Faso’s Parliament – Transitional Legislative Assembly (ALT) recently dissolved the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) and transferred its powers to the Ministry of Territorial Administration. The reasons touted include that “CENI no longer reflected current sociopolitical realities and had become financially burdensome.”
Before the foregoing, the Gen Z’s uprising in Madagascar was the needed justification for the unconstitutional change of government by Col. Michael Randrianirina in the Indian Ocean country. Media reports indicate that, “He swapped his fatigues for a suit and thanked the young people who took to the streets for weeks of protests that prompted President Andry Rajoelina to flee the country and led to his impeachment.” Curiously, the illegal change of guard was formalized at the Constitutional Court in the capital, Antananarivo, which had a good turnout of the ringleaders of the demonstrations. The dangerous angle to the scenario was that the Constitutional Court president, Florent Rakotoarisoa had shrugged off international condemnations that greeted the military coup in Madagascar. As such, “He denied that there had been a violation of the constitution in Madagascar, instead blaming the constitution for causing the situation to deteriorate.” And typical of other former French colonies in Africa enmeshed in extra-constitutional power grab, Madagascar is in for a chummy relationship with Russia, too.
The fire raging on the streets of 12 cities in Cameroun is another sad tale of weakened institutions. The 92-year-old Paul Biya, who had been in power for 43 years, has again muzzled his way through for an eight term in office. “He has ruled Cameroun, a country of 30 million people, as president since 1982 through elections that political opponents said have been ‘stolen’.” The anger of the protesters who called for fair results from the presidential election held on October 12 is that if nothing was done, Biya could remain in power until 2032 as he nears 100. “Supporters of opposition candidate, Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon party have defied a ban on protests, setting police cars on fire, barricading roads and burning tyres in the financial capital, Douala, before the announcement of the election result.”
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Apart from the release of the controversial results, Biya was reportedly unfit to stand for the election. He only showed up once during the campaigns. In fact, “He and his entourage are often away on private or medical treatment trips to Switzerland”, a fact corroborated by a 2018 report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project which indicated that “Biya had spent at least 1,645 days (nearly four and a half years) in the European country, excluding official visits, since being in power.”
The climate of fear trailing the transition process in Tanzania is quite troubling and surprising. The incumbent president of Tanzania, Mrs Samia Suluhu Hassan, who seeks five more years as president and ran against 16 candidates from smaller parties, is a big disappointment. Her dictatorial style of politics is a push back to the campaigns for women inclusivity in partisan politics. Critics say that the election was a coronation, not a contest. Thus, “Hassan is now the subject of a range of uncharitable cartoons, posted on social media, derided as a dictator and lampooned as being afraid of competition”.
Amnesty International reports that there are cases of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings in Tanzania. A United Nations panel of human rights experts had in June 2025 “cited more than 200 cases of enforced disappearance since 2019.” These repressions were targeted against perceived political opponents, journalists and civil society actors. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, or ACLED, a nonprofit tracking violence and protest movements around the world, describes Hassan’ political party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) as the “last of the hegemonic liberation parties,” trying to cling to power by blocking the opposition “through administrative, legal, and extra-legal means.” Indeed, her iron-fist rule has been described as first of its kind in the country and a counterpoise to youth-led democracy movements elsewhere in the region.
More than ever before, Africa needs leaders who have respect for the rule of law and who can urgently mobilize the youthful population for the continent’s delayed greatness.
