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FYI

Charter will test Africa's commitment

PANSY TLAKULA: AFRICA ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - Jan 27 2012 12:27

When the African Union (AU) meets this weekend in Addis Ababa for its
18th summit, most member states will be preoccupied with the contest
for the next AU commission chairperson.

The incumbent, Jean Ping, faces a challenge from the widely respected
South African minister of home affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance will also
be coming into force, after Cameroon became the 15th country to submit
itself for ratification on January 16.

But not all the continent's countries will be cheering. The charter is
one of the most progressive legal instruments adopted by the AU. It
promotes and protects the rule of law, democratic principles of
governance, regular free-and-fair elections and human rights. As some
of the fundamental tenets of an open and democratic society, it
recognises gender equality, multiparty pluralism, the independence of
the judiciary, access to information, freedom of the press citizen
participation. It condemns and rejects corruption.

Almost every phrase associated with democracy and good governance is
contained somewhere in the charter. Perhaps its one weakness is that
it tries too hard to be everything to all people.

One of the most contentious articles relates to unconstitutional
changes of government. At the drafting stage there was debate about
whether to include attempts to remove an elected government through
unconstitutional means.

Sadly, the continent still has examples of elections that have not met
universally accepted free-and-fair standards, military coups and
refusals by incumbent leaders to relinquish power after an opposition
party or candidate has won an election.

Africans keeping a close eye on the AU
With the charter coming into force, Africans will be watching the AU
even more closely to see whether its members abide by its provisions
and meet their collective responsibility to address unconstitutional
changes of government effectively.

The charter could also help to entrench democratic practices that
should become part of the way governments do their everyday business.
But, like all international instruments, it will require political
will from government leaderships for its effective implementation. A
positive first step would to be for the 14 countries that have not yet
signed the charter to do so.

The Southern African Development Community should encourage its
members -- Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, the Seychelles,
Swaziland and Zimbabwe -- to put their signatures to it to signal
their intentions to be part of the continental community that values
and respects government accountability and transparency.

Other notable absentees from the list of signatories are the North
African member states -- Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. With the
exception of Algeria, they have provided the world with cogent
examples of what can be achieved when the people of a country have had
enough of one-party rule with minimal checks and balances on executive
power. The new regimes in these countries need to demonstrate their
commitment to the African community of nations and to a new, more
democratic way of governing.

The charter has the potential to unite the continent and to counter
the oft-heard refrain that there is seldom consensus in the AU. If the
charter can provide just some degree of unity among member states, it
will go a long way in countering this kind of criticism.

Africa's governments have the opportunity to commit themselves to
democracy, elections and good governance -- ideals that most of their
citizens have long held dear. So it is hoped that this opportunity
will be embraced and that its positive consequences will be recognized
as outweighing the narrow sectoral or party political interests that
are seldom for the good of the nation or the continent.

Pansy Tlakula is a commissioner of the African Union Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rights and the chairperson of South Africa's
Independent Electoral Commission.

Nchunu Justice Sama Esq.
Barrister-at-Law
Executive Director

--
Hakim Moi PhD | Hon. Secretary of Board of Directors
AMDISS | Phone: +44 7092 100226 | E-mail: hmoi.dario@amdiss.org