AU Assembly directs 3rd Africa Governance Report to focus on undemocratic power shifts

The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union has directed the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA) Platform to remodel the third edition of the biannual Africa Governance Report (AGR 23) to reflect issues related to unconstitutional changes of government on the continent.

By Muhammad Usman

The AGR is an AU flagship report promoting good governance in Africa which provides a basis for tracking governance by analyzing trends across five key thematic areas, namely: transformative leadership; constitutionalism and the rule of law; peace, security and governance; the nexus of development and governance; as well as the role of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in African governance.

This decision was taken by the AU Assembly Saturday during its 16th Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. A statement by the APRM Secretariat said President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and Chairperson of the African Peer Review Forum of Heads of State and Government (APR Forum) led the summit’s discussions on the theme: “Unconstitutional Changes of Government – Consolidated Actions to Strengthen Constitutionalism and Democracy.”

The Summit assessed the persistent threats posed by undemocratic power shifts and terrorism, evaluated existing response mechanisms to the challenges and discussed actionable measures necessary to stem their upsurge on the continent. Accordingly, the Summit adopted the Malabo Declaration and Decisions on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government, reaffirming APRM’s role as a diagnostic tool for early warning for conflict prevention on the continent.

The APRM is an autonomous entity of the AU, an African-owned and African-led platform for self-assessment, peer-learning, and experience-sharing in democracy and good governance. The primary purpose of the Mechanism is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practices.

Article 6 (1) of the APRM Statute adopted by the AU Assembly at its 33rd Ordinary Session held in February 2020, amongst others, mandates the Mechanism to contribute to early warning for conflict prevention within the continent, in harmony and synergy with AGA and the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) as well as promote democracy and good governance on the continent.