By Sulaiman Aruna Sesay
The concept of good governance has become one of the most determinants for evaluating the performance of governance in the modern era. The failure of a country to meet up to the qualifying criteria of good governance results is a judgement that there is poor governance. The presence of widespread systemic corruption and large scale insecurity of lives, poverty and deprivation is an indication of week and underperforming governance.
The failure of governance in Sierra Leone manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, financial fraud, massive abuse of drugs, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges. In contrast with the current system in which leadership is attained through bribery, intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs an epistocratic system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of its political leaders and the education of its voters.
Sierra Leone needs a new model of governance in which political leadership is based on the knowledge and competence of both political leaders and the electorate. One solution is to establish what Brennan refers to as epistocracy, which is a system of governance in which the votes of politically informed citizens should count more than the less informed.
The rule of law and constitutionalism are among the key principles and core mandates of many regional organizations. The Charter of the African Union reaffirms that freedom, equality; justice and dignity are essential objectives for the achievement of the aspirations of the African peoples. The European Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Unconstitutional changes of government are firmly rejected, for example, by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Charter of Democracy and the Inter-American Democratic Charter. In practice regional organizations play a critical role in the formulation of normative frameworks, in supporting their Member States to strengthen democratic and accountable institutions, and in facilitating rules-based cooperation and peaceful settlement of disputes between Member States. In short, they strengthen the rule of law at national and international levels. In so doing, they contribute to the implementation of Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations: maintenance of peace and security in their regions. In turn, this provides the conditions conducive to sustainable development and the promotion and protection of human rights for all.
The rule of law and constitution building are two concepts at the heart of sustainable democracy. Broadly speaking, the rule of law requires that everyone, including governmental bodies and officials, as well as citizens, is bound by and treated equally under the law. Constitutions, meanwhile, form the central repository and ultimate safeguard of the rule of law at a national level, providing a blueprint for a functioning system of rule of law and protecting and empowering the institutions that implement and enforce this system.
The protection and promotion of human and peoples’ rights is central to advancing respect for constitutionalism and the rule of law. Constitutionalism denotes not only the rule of (and by) the law but also, importantly, respect for the fundamental freedoms of individuals and groups, which today are codified in all AU member states’ bills of rights. While all AU member states have written constitutions, critics argue that not all of them practise constitutional democracy based on respect for the rule of law and the protection of human and peoples’ rights. Several AU resolutions have called on member states to uphold their own constitutions and protect the human and peoples’ rights of their people as provided for in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which has been ratified by 53 of the 54 AU member states.
