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Entrenched and often autocratic one-man rule is causing a “democracy deficit” and impeding political development in many African countries, Christopher Fomunyoh, senior associate and regional director for Central and West Africa at NDI, said in congressional testimony April 18. But, speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, Fomunyoh said that significant political change has occurred in Africa in the last two decades through better elections and peaceful transfers of power. He was joined at the hearing, "U.S. policy response to entrenched African leadership," by Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs; Earl Gast, assistant administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development; and Mo Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
“Denying leadership opportunities to a whole generation of African youth and emerging leaders deprives Africa and the rest of the world of the tremendous talent, exuberance and energy that the continent is capable of contributing to a better world in the 21st century," Fomunyoh said. While optimistic about the democratic process in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Fomunyoh warned that backsliding through constitutional change or restricting civil society must be closely guarded against. Using recent elections in Senegal and Cameroon as examples of both extremes, Fomunyoh explained how a vibrant civil society can protect electoral processes and hold leadership accountable. In Senegal, "thanks in large measure to effective grassroots mobilization by Senegalese civil society, the media, youth movements and political parties, the electoral process was safeguarded and the country experienced a credible transition of power," he said.
