Dépêches

Plus de la moitié des Africains affirment que leurs gouvernements échouent en ce qui concerne l'une de leurs plus grandes priorités, à savoir la fourniture de l’eau potable et des services d'assainissement, selon une nouvelle analyse d'Afrobarometer.

A decade-long civil war (1991-2002) and a 2014 Ebola outbreak left Sierra Leone’s health- care system in a poor state, including inadequate infrastructure and staff (Ministry of Health and Sanitation, 2017). With 1,165 deaths per 100,000 live births recorded in 2017, Sierra Leone has one of the world’s highest rates of maternal and infant mortality (United Nations Population Fund, 2017).

Sierra Leone dropped by 18 places on the Global Peace Index between 2018 and 2019, ranking now at No. 52 out of 163 countries, and is listed among the five sub-Saharan countries recording the worst deterioration due to political and economic instability (Institute for Economics & Peace, 2019; Sesay, 2020).

After an unstable political history of autocratic rule, coups and counter-coups, and a destructive decade-long civil war, Sierra Leoneans want to live in a democracy with elections and multiparty competition, according to findings from the most recent Afrobarometer survey.

They are divided, however, on the question of whether people holding dual citizenship should be allowed to participate by voting, and a majority would deny them the right to stand for office.

Une écrasante majorité des Africains pratiq

In December 2017, the National Assembly of the Gambia established a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) to draft the country’s third Constitution (Freedom Newspaper, 2018).

Botswana is the oldest multiparty democracy in sub-Saharan Africa, boasting 11 successful national elections since independence in 1966. The country’s Constitution provides for a parliamentary system with two chambers: Parliament, which makes laws, and the House of Chiefs (Ntlo ya Dikgosi), which serves in an advisory capacity on matters of tradition and customs. Except for a few sub-districts where chiefs are elected, chieftainship is a hereditary institution based on tribal lineage.

La Tunisie est, depuis sa révolution en 2011, un modèle de transition démocratique réussie dans le monde arabe (Caryl, 2019). Alors que la Libye, le Yémen, et la Syrie ont sombré dans la guerre civile, et que l'Égypte et le Bahreïn sont tombés dans la répression et l'autoritarisme, la Tunisie est le seul pays du Printemps arabe où la démocratie a survécu (Chulov, 2018).

L'obligation de rendre compte constitue un pilier central de la gouvernance démocratique. Si la tenue d'élections libres et transparentes contribue à promouvoir le gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple, et pour le peuple, les événements qui se déroulent entre deux élections peuvent être tout aussi importants. Le respect de l'état de droit et des autres instances gouvernementales est aussi essentiel à la gestion quotidienne des affaires publiques qu'à la tenue d'élections de qualité.

En raison de son importance incontestée dans presque tous les aspects du développement – de la santé a l’éducation en passant par la croissance économique et la réduction de la pauvreté – l'accès à l'électricité pourrait avoir acquis le statut de droit humain fondamental (Hughes, 2018).

Fighting corruption was one of the main campaign planks of Ghana’s current government. During his inauguration speech in 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo cited the war on graft as his top priority, pledging to protect the public purse and rejecting the idea that the public service is an avenue for making money (BBC, 2017; Forson, 2017).

Ghana’s banking sector is the second-largest in the West African Monetary Zone (Frankfurt School, 2015) and recorded a 33.9% increase in total assets between June 2016 (GHS 66.29 billion) and June 2018 (GHS 100.35 billion) (Bank of Ghana, 20188. But during the past two years, the country’s financial industry has seen a massive shake-up, resulting in the revocation of licenses of nine universal banks, 347 microfinance companies, 39 microcredit companies/money lenders, 15 savings and loan companies, eight finance house companies, and two non-bank financial institutions (Ghanaweb, 2019a).

Tax revenues play an essential role in financing government expenditures, which can benefit citizens through effective public services, infrastructure, and development (Bird, 2010). This requires that citizens pay their taxes and that the government administer taxes effectively and efficiently – requirements that represent significant challenges in many countries (Saad, 2014).

For the sixth time since independence, Namibians are going to the polls to choose a president and members of the National Assembly – in free and fair elections whose outcome has never varied.

Although Namibia uses a closed party-list system with “largest remainders” provisions that optimize parliamentary inclusion even for very small parties, the ruling SWAPO Party has managed to increase its share of votes and parliamentary seats consistently since the founding elections of 1989.

En Guinée, les élections ont rarement été une sinécure. Retards, conflits, et violence ont marqué beaucoup d'élections alors que de nombreuses formations politiques s'affrontaient et que les forces de sécurité s’opposaient aux manifestants dans la rue.

During the first weekend of October, the Mauritian prime minister dissolved Parliament and called a general election for November 7 – a surprise announcement that left both the electoral commission and political parties scrambling (Weekly, 2019).

« Assurer l’accès de tous à une éducation de qualité, sur un pied d’égalité » fait partie du quatrième Objectif de Développement Durable et demeure l’un des besoins fondamentaux de la jeunesse. Pour promouvoir une meilleure éducation, le Togo pour sa part, a élaboré des stratégies gouvernementales définies dans le Plan Sectoriel de l’Education (2014-2025) (Partenariat Mondiale pour l’Education, 2019).

Since May, for the first time in its history, half of South Africa’s Cabinet ministers are women (World Economic Forum, 2019). And assessing women’s economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment, the Global Gender Gap Index ranks South Africa 19th out of 149 countries (World Economic Forum, 2018).

In search of economic growth, employment, and tax revenue, some governments have looked to one of the world’s oldest and most lucrative – but often illegal – cash crops: cannabis (Gardner, 2019; Meyer, 2019). Known to most people for its recreational use as marijuana, cannabis also has non-intoxicating forms (known as hemp) that are fast-growing and water-wise and can be used to make fabrics, ropes, papers, and oils, among other uses.

Efficient and effective public service delivery is a necessity for citizens’ well-being (Armah- Attoh, 2015). However, in Africa, access to quality public services remains a challenge. According to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation )2018), “the average African public service displays a lack of capacity, … with higher costs than in other regions and large country disparities.” In the Gambia, prominent human-rights activist Madi Jobarteh (2017) has criticized public service delivery as “incredibly inefficient.”

« Malgré les améliorations, force est de reconnaître que des insuffisances majeures persistent relativement à: (i) la qualité des routes, (ii) la faible couverture du pays en route et (iii) la surcharge sur les routes ». Cet extrait du Plan de Développement Economique et Social 2017-2021 du gouvernement du Niger en dit long sur les défis à relever (République du Niger, 2017).

O Cabo Verde destaca-se no continente Africano como um paradigma de tolerância e respeito pelos direitos humanos e liberdades fundamentais. O país ratificou todas as principais convenções internacionais de direitos humanos; suas leis garantem liberdades democráticas; e seu governo é geralmente considerado eficaz no respeito e proteção desses direitos (Comissão Europeia, 2018; Departamento de Estados dos EUA, 2016).

Cabo Verde stands out on the African continent as a paradigm of tolerance and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The country has ratified all major international human-rights conventions; its laws guarantee democratic freedoms; and its government is generally considered effective in respecting and protecting these rights (European Commission, 2018; U.S. Department of State, 2016).

The political, economic, and social inequality of women in Africa has been part of international discourse since the 1950s, when the United Nations began interrogating the effects of harmful traditional norms and practices on women across the continent. Human-rights groups have worked with and challenged African governments to promote women’s access to education, health care, economic opportunities, and participation in governance and politics (Murungu, 2017). While progress has been made, persistent gaps are the focus of Sustainable Development Goal No.