African Traditional Values and the Quest for Good Governance in Contemporary Africa: A Critical Investigation

Abstract

What is known today as African states were created in 1885 during the Berlin Conference where the geographical location known today as Africa was demarcated and divided amongst the colonizing European countries. After independence, Africa maintained the states as bequeathed by the colonialists. Also, the African states maintained and preserved the inherited colonial structures of governance. Unfortunately, Africa's quest for good governance from independence till date has not been a successful one. This paper employed the method of critical analysis in interrogating governance in contemporary Africa. The paper finds out that the root cause of bad governance in Africa is crisis of values occasioned by the fact that the values inherent in the inherited colonial structures of governance are presented as different from and in opposition to the vestige of traditional African values in Contemporary Africa even though there is a place for customary court and laws in the constitution. The paper argues that the quest for good governance in Africa can be realized through the policy integration of African traditional values into the core structures of governance in Africa from two perspectives: Traditional Oath-taking for public office holders and the role of traditional institutions in checkmating corruption in the polity. The objective of this integration is to bring back those eroding values for which Africa was known. These values, such as religious values, moral values, political and economic values - aesthetic values and humanistic values - helped in bringing about good governance in traditional Africa and will also boost good governance in Contemporary Africa when they are integrated into the core structure of governance.