Good Governance: The Panacea For Africa’s Development In The 21st Century

Abstract

Africa’s crises of development up until the 21st century have been worsened by the dearth of good governance. Despite the abundant human and natural resources that abound in several parts of Africa, the continent has continued to wallow in abject poverty, malnutrition, bad governance, corruption, diseases and various forms of human degradation. Several development pathways to Africa’s development have been crippled by a wide range of factors. Hence, over five decades after the political independence of most African states, the people have little or nothing to celebrate. Good governance ensures that those that carry out the objectives of the state do so in line with the established principles. The quality of governance therefore determines the level of socio-economic transformation of a state. Development is usually used to describe a holistic improvement and transformation of every segment of society irrespective of class, tribe, sex, religion and status. The paper adopted a descriptive and analytical methodology with a focus on good governance: a panacea for African’s development in the 21st century. The modernization theoretical framework shall be applied in the analysis. The study reveals that good governance which is a sine qua non for development has remained illusive in several parts of Africa. The paper argues that much of the developmental strategies designed by the leadership in Africa have remained ill-conceived, elitist and unfocused. The paper recommends a paradigm shift and fundamental change in leadership orientation to make room for grassroots governance and proper harnessing of the vast resources found in Africa.