CONSTITUTIONALISM IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA: MYTH OR REALITY

Abstract

Constitutionalism is portrayed as the ideal that every state strives to achieve. The term is often bandied about as a must for good governance and used alongside terms such as ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’. It is used by politicians – elected and unelected. But in an African context, it appears to remain elusive. This is due to the continuing corruption, mismanagement, inefficiency, concentration of resources in a few locations, the manipulation of ethnicity and the pathological fixation of raw power by politicians in Africa. There is in existence the politics of illusion and the arrogance of power, killing of innocent lives, and trivialization of the rights of the people. In fact, it is only the continuing courage and determination of civil society groups and human rights activists that has prevented the so-called leaders from going overboard. To buy legitimacy for the governance process, African leaders have tried to use a new approach to constitution making to redesign, redefine, repackage and reallocate power. Regretfully, in many parts of Africa, the constitution - which is supposed to play a key role in guiding the various actions, reactions, and pro-action of the various political cleavages, is slowly losing its authority as a “map or diagram purporting to outline the fundamental nature of the state as it exists and operates. This Article discussed recent developments in constitution making in several African nations to uncover lessons learned, where African constitutionalism is headed, and what we might expect in the future.