Beyond appearance: The challenges of rethinking governance in post-independence Africa

Abstract

Governance in post-colonial Africa has been challenging. Most of the nationalists and political elites that emerged as leaders of post-colonial African states appeared unready for governance when independence was granted, leaving most of the emergent states in the hand of unprepared leaders who grope in an unfamiliar jungle of Western-styled politics and governance. The consequences of this adventure for the development of post-independence Africa have been grave. Adopting a historical approach and using content analysis, this paper examines the source of problematic governance in post-independence Africa and the challenges to rethinking it. It interrogates measures for liberating African states from the difficulty of reengineering governance. It observes that some common factors mostly celebrated as positively impacting African states, in no small way, serve as limitations to rethinking governance in the continent and concluded that rethinking governance in Africa is not impossible. Some of the encumbrances to rethinking governance are transitory, which would change once the supporting dynamics change.