Accountable Governance.

As Nigeria and some other countries approach their elections it is timely we explore governance.Goal 16 of the UN SDG is peace, justice and strong institutions  and it revolves around  inclusive sustainable growth and accountable governance ,how this can be achieved in Nigeria and in Africa. The dynamics of governance in Africa over the past two decades have been disgusting and shockingly amazing as leaders/ presidents of some of our countries in the continent have displayed a high sense of disregard for their followers as they have ruled with exclusive rights within the democratic states ,impeded  criticism by their people hindering sustainable growth of the masses and amassing so much of tax payers money.They are looting as they rule with non transparency. We know that even Late Koffi Annan said that better governance means greater participation coupled with accountability .Accountability means that  government is answerable for their actions and the consequences that follow from them.Therefore accountability is a way of correcting mistakes, abuses of power plus incompetence .The more open and accountable  a society is, then the more it is able to learn, improve and prosper well .We have seen and continue to see that governance in Africa is outright exclusive and non transparent .Due to these facts displayed by the African leaders ,they are not answerable to we the people (the masses) who are affected by these decisions  and are not consulted in decision making.Our leaders shield their activities from external monitoring, public monitoring and usual reviews. The leaders prevent parliamentary scrutiny especially in our elections.Our leaders use one sided laws to prevent their access from being disclosed and their performance to be scrutinized .Our African leaders use sweet promises before they are elected with no sense of clear and agreed statement of purpose or vision somehow bewitching the masses hence they display a non transparent set of rules procedures in their decision making pathways”

African leaders hate to disclose information and hinder the press, public access to information as they kick against monitoring, evaluation, analysis of their activities. These African leaders prevent public participation in policy development as they draft the policies to favor themselves, their pockets, their families.

Sadly, these leaders seriously put in place mechanisms that hinder processes, complaints, appeal, address. There is no systemic, fair and open process for making appointments at all levels.

For us to change the tide and promote  inclusive sustainable growth and accountable governance in Africa, we must ensure and promote that these actions and value systems take place. We must ensure clear sanctions for the unsatisfactory actions of our leaders. We the people, press and citizens should criticize our leaders. If our leaders are not performing we must ensure that they are not re-elected. Our non performing leaders should be stripped of their licenses and demoted where  and when necessary. These non performing leaders should be financially penalized for breaching their contracts, loss of funding, and we must ensure non renewal of their contracts.

We know fully well that non accountability, non inclusiveness of our African leaders triggers petitions, protests. So we basically need to ensure we elect and encourage leaders with the following mentality, attitude and behaviour:

We need leaders that are awake. We need African leaders that are sensitive to people’s needs and national priorities. We need leaders that are interconnected. We need leaders in Africa to believe in teamwork, to dissolve complex and interconnected problems we face on the African continent. We need leaders who not only believe in teamwork but also breakdowns of tribalism and social status as they work and lead us.

We need leaders who are quick. We need African leaders that are proactive, adaptable, flexible to trends and technology. We need African leaders that are trustworthy. We need African leaders who have good, clear and clean integrity. We need leaders who trust and who trust us too, to be able to listen, to embrace our suggestions and our criticism.

We need African leaders who are accessible and who work in network rather than hierarchal structures.

Our actions as followers, masses, citizens and media lead to behavioural change communication that has a domino effect on our leaders. Once we do our part and keep the leaders in check, they will have more public support and lesser opposition, which will bring about inclusiveness, social stability and sustainable growth.

For us to reduce and erase corruption and bribery which are products of non inclusiveness and non accountable governance in Africa, in all its forms, we need to elect, encourage, effective accountable and transparent leaders at all levels. Thereby ensuring responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision making at all levels.

We need to promote peace, justice and strong institutions in Africa as this will trigger inclusive, sustainable growth and accountable governance in our country.