Bad governance: Trigger of violent conflicts in Africa :: Mmegi Online

Professor Okodima Nnoli posits that the African continent has always being engulfed in political bushfires and economic maladies. Nnoli is right in his sentiments because all the sub-regions of Africa are replete with conflicts of different kinds.

The SADC region is facing challenges of insurgency in Mozambique and the recent Eswatini uprisings, the Great Lakes region especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo is another conflict prone region, the al Shabaab terror group is a security nightmare in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel region is another case in point where extremist groups totally destabilised the region and Central African Republic has been engulfed in violent conflict since 2013.

Many people have attributed the causes of these violent conflicts to many factors such as foreign powers meddling in the internal affairs of African states, ethnic differences, competition for resources and a host of others. However not much emphasis have been put on how governance deficit, which is so rampant in the continent, has contributed to the escalation of violent conflict in Africa. Many scholars of Security Studies share the same views that poor governance from many of Africa’s leaders is a driver to violent conflict in many parts of the continent.