OPEN SESSION ON CONSTITUTIONALISM, DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE
Date | 5 August 2024
Tomorrow (6 August), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) is expected to hold its 1226th open session on the theme of Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Governance.
Following opening remarks by the Permanent Representative of Botswana to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for the month, Mr. Tebelelo A. Boang, the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), Bankole Adeoye, is expected to make a statement. The statement will be followed by a presentation by Professor Mpho Molomo, Political Advisor to the President of the Republic of Botswana and a statement by H.E. Mr. Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU).
The theme of this session lies in the cross-section of the PSC mandate that combines security and democratic governance. Indeed, under Article 7(1)(m) the PSC is explicitly mandated to ‘follow up, within the framework of its conflict prevention responsibilities, the progress towards the promotion of democratic practices, good governance, the rule of law, protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for the sanctity of human life and international humanitarian law by member states’.
The last time the PSC convened a session on this theme was during its 1061st session. In that session, the PSC requested the AU Commission to undertake an in-depth analysis of the 2000 Lomé Declaration on unconstitutional changes of government (UCG) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA) with the aim to ensure that these frameworks and instruments respond appropriately to the challenges that the continent is currently facing and submit to the PSC for consideration. In addition, the PSC made two important decisions: convening a brainstorming seminar on UCG in Africa and reactivating the PSC Sub-Committee on Sanctions. As a follow-up to these decisions, two editions of the AU Reflection Forum on UCGs, also known as the Accra Forum, were held in Accra in March 2022 and 2024 to critically engage on the structural root causes of UCG in the continent and explore practical recommendations to address the phenomenon. It is also recalled that in May 2022, the Assembly of the AU convened its 16th extraordinary summit in Malabo, which adopted the Declaration on UCGs as well as terrorism in Africa.
There are at least three sets of issues that are of direct concern for tomorrow’s session and are deserving of attention during the session. The first of these concerns the approach of the PSC to the theme of the session and follow-up to its various engagements on the matter thus far. The second concerns a candid reflection on the state of constitutional rule and democratic governance on the continent. The third relates to the role of relevant AU governance instruments, institutions and processes.
In terms of the approach of the PSC to the theme of the session, despite the importance attached to the subject in the PSC Protocol as noted above, the PSC has not established a systematic approach to this dimension of its mandate. It is true that the PSC addresses various aspects of the theme of tomorrow’s session through sessions focusing on specific aspects of this theme as part of its annual indicative program of work or when it is crafted into the monthly program of work of the PSC. Accordingly, the PSC held sessions on ‘popular uprisings and its impact on peace and security’, ‘sanctions and enforcement capacities’, the AU sanctions regime, ‘African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance’, ‘promoting constitutionalism, democracy and inclusive governance to strengthen peace, security and stability in Africa’, ‘engagement between the PSC and the PRC sub-committee on human rights, democracy and governance’ and the regular ‘elections in Africa.’ Added to these are the consultative meetings with AU organs with human rights and governance mandates notably the one between the PSC and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the briefings by an annual retreat with the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
Despite the richness that these engagements of the PSC highlight, they also illustrate that they reflect fragmentation and ad hocism. While some of the sessions such as the one on ‘elections in Africa’ have become regularised, the engagement of the PSC tends to be largely performative, lacking in critical and dynamic interrogation of the increasing disenchantment of the increasing number of Africans with elections. One way through which the PSC can institutionalise its engagement on constitutionalism, democracy and governance into a systematic approach is by integrating and addressing these sessions under a standing agenda dedicated to the review of and systematic reflections on the implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
In terms of follow-up on previous decisions of the PSC relevant to tomorrow’s session, of particular significance is the decision of the 1061st session of the PSC. It would be of interest for members of the PSC to get an update during tomorrow’s session on the decision of that session regarding the request for an in-depth analysis of the 2000 Lomé Declaration on unconstitutional changes of government (UCG) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA) with the aim to ensure that these frameworks and instruments respond appropriately to the challenges that the continent is currently facing.
With respect to the second set of issues of concern for tomorrow’s session, it would be fitting for the PSC to execute its mandate under Article 7(1) (m) of the PSC Protocol to reflect on the state of constitutionalism, democracy and good governance in Africa. In this respect, one overarching feature of the constitutional and democratisation landscape of the continent is the normative acceptance of regular elections, constitutional systems, the role of media and civil society at national levels and the endorsement of constitutional and democratic norms at the level of the AU. The other, perhaps most significant, feature is the growing popular support and demand for an accountable, corruption-free responsive system of governance. The large number of elections being held this year reflects that elections are widely accepted in the political practice of African states irrespective of the quality of democratic credentials of these states.
Notwithstanding these positive dimensions of the democratic governance and constitutional rule landscape of the continent, in the course of the past several years, Africa has witnessed a worrying escalation in democratic backsliding and challenges to constitutional rule and good governance. One notable manifestation of this democratic backsliding relates to elections. While it has become common for AU member states to hold elections and to do so regularly, free, fair, credible and transparent elections are very few and far in between on the continent. The Mo Ibrahim Africa Governance Index reported a decline in the integrity of elections in Africa during the decade between 2012 and 2021. As Afrobarometer, which conducts surveys on citizens’ perception, reported, one of the consequences of poor-quality elections in Africa is that ‘support for elections has dropped by 8 percentage points across 30 countries’ over the last decade. The poor quality of elections carries consequences for political stability. As the AU Commission Chairperson noted in his opening address to the 37th AU Assembly on 17 February 2024, ‘elections have become, through the extent of their irregularities, factors for deepening crises.’
Beyond the poor quality of elections, another, most notable, manifestation of the growing disenchantment with and backslide in democracy is the resurgence of coups over the past several years on the continent. As established in our policy brief of May 2022 published ahead of the Malabo Summit, ‘until 2021, the trends in the occurrence of coups in Africa is largely characterised by decline, despite its sporadic occurrence in a range of one to two coups per year (in the years when it occurred).’ Prior to 2021, the maximum that Africa experienced a coup since 2000 was in 2003. Since then, there have been a few years (2005, 2008 and 2012) when a maximum of two coups occurred, with several years passing without coups. The persistence of coups since 2020 illustrates reversals in the decline of coups in Africa since the turn of the century.
However poor elections and coups are not the only manifestations of the decline in democratic backsliding in Africa. The Mo Ibrahim Africa Governance Index ten-year trends (2012-2021) show that there has been deterioration in Africa in terms of security and the rule of law (from 50.3 to 49.0) as well as in the area of participation, rights, and inclusion (from 47.5 to 46.7). Some of these issues manifest not only in the resort of governments to excessive force to suppress dissent and peaceful protests but also in the continued shrinking of civic space across various parts of the continent. Further manifestations of the crises facing the process of democratisation in Africa include the circumventing or tampering with term limits by incumbent leaders as experienced in recent years in Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea and Togo. As pointed out in the Afrobarometer 2024 report, leaders ‘in Benin, Tunisia, and elsewhere have used a variety of means to subvert the democratic political order, weakening institutional checks on their authority, harassing the political opposition, imposing media blackouts, and even, in the case of Tunisia, suspending Parliament.’ The recurrence and in some instances the exponential increase in corruption and the failure of electoral democracies to address the socio-economic woes of citizens and deliver tangible material dividends to the public constitute additional factors for the democratic backsliding on the continent.
In light of the foregoing, the third set of issues that are of interest to PSC members as they convene tomorrow is the role of relevant AU governance instruments, institutions and processes. Based on the policy debate that the resurgence of coups triggered during the past years, there has been active engagement on the part of the AU and RECs/RMs notably the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on how to arrest the resurgence of coups. Despite such heightened level of policy attention it has garnered, the responses to the occurrence of unconstitutional changes of government (UCG) and the resulting complex political transitions in multiple countries are yet to effectively bear fruit. Yet, one notable institutional development of the policy debate within the framework of the AU has been the operationalisation of the PSC sub-committee on Sanctions, which held its inaugural session in June 2024. In terms of elections, while the regularisation of the PSC session with presentation of the report of the Chairperson of the AU Commission is commendable, both the report and the session may end up being nothing more than performative unless attention is given to initiate and implement targeted policy responses to poor quality elections. Institutionally speaking, one of the issues that are worth reflecting on in tomorrow’s session is how to operate the African Governance Architecture (AGA) in a way that harnesses the roles of the AU bodies with governance mandates that form part of the AGA Platform for engaging in joint analysis and assessment of developments, trends and dynamics in democratic governance, constitutional rule and human rights in Africa. Such joint analysis and assessments are critical not only for leveraging the unique perspectives each of the AGA platform members brings but also for crafting responses that both assign responsibility for each of the AGA platform members to initiate measures in their respective mandates and for presenting to the PSC on measures it can take relevant to its mandate.
The expected outcome will be a Communiqué. The PSC may express concern over the plethora of setbacks facing constitutionalism, democracy and governance in Africa including flawed elections, shrinking civic space, executive excesses and systematic undermining of constitutional processes including term limits and the surge in military coups. The PSC may commend the continuing support for the normative acceptance of regular elections, constitutional systems, the role of media and civil society at national levels and the endorsement of constitutional and democratic norms at the level of the AU and RECs/RMs. The PSC may also express support for the growing popular acceptance and demand for an accountable, corruption-free and responsive system of governance. It may also underscore the need to bridge the growing gap between the demands and expectations of people for a more accountable system of governance and quality democracy, and the poor state of democratic and constitutional performance of states. The PSC may institutionalise its engagement on constitutionalism, democracy and governance into a systematic approach by integrating its focus on this theme into a standing agenda dedicated to the review of and systematic reflections on the implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. In terms of elections, while welcoming the regularisation of the submission to and deliberation on the report of the Chairperson of the Commission on Elections, the PSC may also underscore the need for ensuring that attention is given to initiate and implement targeted policy responses to poor-quality elections. The PSC may reiterate its call to member states to expedite the signature and implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG). In terms of the follow-up to the request of its 1061st session for an in-depth analysis of the 2000 Lomé Declaration on unconstitutional changes of government (UCG) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA), the PSC may request the AU Commission to put in place systems to operate the AGA in a way that harnesses the roles of the AU bodies with governance mandate that form part of the AGA Platform for engaging in joint analysis and assessment of developments, trends and dynamics in democratic governance, constitutional rule and human rights in Africa.