The constitution as a source of accountability : the role of constitutionalism

Abstract

Most good governance, accountability and constitutionalism indicators suggest that, whilst African countries have made considerable strides since the tidal wave of democratisation and liberalisation reached the African shores in the 1990s, the institutional foundations and framework for effective and sustainable change remain shallow. It thus comes as no surprise that the “born again” dictators of yesteryears and the post-1990 democrats of the new era are now using the rapidly spreading dominant parties to threaten to reverse the progress towards genuine constitutional democracy all over the continent. The cancer of corruption, incompetence, poor governance, political instability and economic mismanagement which result in conflict, poverty and disease continues to plague the continent.