African Nations Face a Daunting Decade Ahead

By Henry Srebrnik, [Moncton, NB] Times & Transcript

As we enter the third decade of the 21^st century, what are the prospects for Africa? Its nations face some daunting problems.

First, there remains the continuing problem of flawed elections.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara won a controversial third term Oct. 31. Since opposition groups boycotted the election, only 54 per cent of the electorate cast a ballot.

They maintain Ouattara violated the constitution, which limits presidents to two terms. Main opposition candidates Pascal Affi N’Guessan and Henri Konan Bédié announced a rival “transitional government” in protest.

In Guinea, Alpha Condé won a third term as president on Oct. 18. In March the 82-year-old Condé, who has ruled for almost a decade, pushed through a new constitution that allowed him to run for two more six-year terms.

Dozens of people were killed during protests and Condé’s rival, Cellou Dalein Diallo, was trapped inside his home for over a week.

There were two contests in extremely poor states on Dec. 27. The Central African Republic saw the re-election of President Faustin Archange Touadera. His main challenger, Anicet Georges Dologuélé, was a former prime minister supported by former President François Bozizé.

Bozizé’s own candidacy was rejected by the country’s constitutional court after he was accused of planning a coup.

The opposition insisted the elections were an “electoral farce,” with widespread ballot stuffing, and a third of voters unable to cast ballots because of violence. Fighting has continued nationwide.

In Niger, former Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum led in first-round balloting to succeed outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou, his close ally. Bazoum was far ahead of former president Mahamane Ousmane, who was backed by Bazoum’s main opponent, Hama Amadou. But Bazoum fell short of the 50 per cent mark needed to win outright. A run-off will be held Feb. 20.

Amadou, who came second in 2016, was declared “ineligible” to run by the constitutional court on Nov. 13 because of a one-year prison sentence related to a baby-trafficking investigation.

An election in Uganda Jan. 14 saw President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986 and winner of five previous elections, returned to office. The home of opposition candidate Robert Kyagulanyi (popularly known as Bobi Wine) was surrounded by security forces and internet access was cut off. There were also unprecedented levels of violence and murder, and Wine rejected the results as fraudulent.

Africa also faces ongoing terrorism. In Nigeria, Boko Haram continues to create mayhem and the authorities seem unable to stop it. For a decade, the group has killed tens of thousands of civilians in their stronghold in northeast Nigeria.

The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has been conducting attacks in the border regions of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. In Niger, gunmen killed more than100 people in a terror attack Jan. 2 near the border with Mali. Several armed groups took over the town of Bangassou in the Central African Republic Jan. 3.

This cycle of violence has also played out in Somalia and, in a recent troubling addition, northern Mozambique.

Corruption is another major hindrance; the continent loses about $100 billion each year due to this. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). On the most recent CPI, the African average score was 32, with corruption especially prevalent in the public sector.

 Under Julius Maada Bio’s presidency, Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has actively tackled this practice. 

Government ministers and members of parliament are required to declare their assets and liabilities within three months of assuming office. Sierra Leone’s former president, Ernest Bai Koroma, is himself facing a corruption trial. In October, he and 120 officials who served in his 2007–2018 administration were barred from leaving the country.

South Africa’s recent corruption scandals have centred around COVID-19 funds and pushed the country towards new anti-corruption measures. Allegations of widespread mismanagement has undermined confidence in a government that had initially received international acclaim for its response to the pandemic.

It has become a source of embarrassment for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was elected on a platform of stamping out corruption. He called those accused “a pack of hyenas circling wounded prey,” and announced a new law enforcement unit to investigate the allegations.