Major political parties in Africa late Friday launched an initiative in the Ghanaian capital of Accra to foster multiparty consensus building to strengthen governance for Africa’s development.
The African Political Parties Initiative (APPI), an initiative of the African Governance Center, an Accra-based policy advocacy and research think tank dedicated to strengthening governance systems across Africa, aims at strengthening democratic governance as a tool for Africa’s development.
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said during the launching that the initiative could not have come at a better time than now, when countries around the world are wrestling with uncertainties and challenges that arise from conflict, pandemics, populism, and unilateralism.
Mahama said the initiative is in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 that espouses a politically united Africa.
It is a direct response to the urgent need for political parties across Africa to become stronger institutions that prioritize national development, democratic stability, and the economic transformation of our countries, said the Ghanaian president.
Mahama lamented that due to the non-consensual partisan politics practiced across the continent, democratic systems have become fragile, vulnerable to manipulation, and increasingly disconnected from the aspirations of the people.
He lauded APPI for its vision of a non-partisan and non-ideological inter-party dialogue with a truly Pan-African approach to how political parties reflect on and address the challenges of development.
“Indeed, this is a groundbreaking initiative that provides a rare opportunity to break cultures of mistrust and deep divisions across political parties that undermine our capacity to confront challenges that require a collective response,” Mahama stated.
Mahama emphasized, “We have to chart a new course for Africa, one that moves beyond instability, economic stagnation, and political breaks, and we as political leaders must be the first to change and recognize that our duty is not to partisan victory alone, but to the advancement of our nations.”
In a solidarity message, Américo d’Oliveira dos Ramos, Prime Minister for Sao Tome and Principe, declared his support for APPI, urging all African countries and their leading political parties to take advantage of the initiative to develop their electoral systems.
Jeff Radebe, a former South African energy minister and chairman of the governing council of the Africa Governance Center, said Africa has come to a point where it must embrace consensus building across political divides.
Radebe said South Africa’s recent experience of forming a coalition government with parties of differing ideological persuasions shows that it is possible to form alliances to prosecute the agenda of development.