Browsing by Author "Bekele, Adane"

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    The Challeges of Good Governance in Africa: The Case of Kenya
    (Addis Ababa University, 2013-06) Bekele, Adane; Hassen, Rania(PhD)
    Good governance is more in action where it can overcome all discriminations; based on wealthy, ethnic group, sex, region or political views; and also where all citizens equally benefited from countries resources. Good governance thus depends on interaction between stakeholders – leaders, political parties, bureaucracy, parliament, judiciary, private sector, civil society, media – and their interests; on capacity – human, technical, financial – of stakeholders to perform their role. Good governance requires fair legal frame works that are enforced impartially. It also requires full protection of human rights, particularly those of minorities. In a good governance the rules and regulations that is implied should be clear and friendly enough to general public and should also motivate the nation to follow the implied law’s of the country. This paper examines the challenges of good governance in Africa with special emphasis on Kenya. In order to assess the challenges of good governance, qualitative method was used. Data was collected from secondary and primary sources and analyzed in order to recommend possible solutions. Over the years, African governments and their institutions lacked the courage and will to enforce the law, procedures, and policies to enhance good governance. As a result in Africa, governance is characterized by poor institutional performance, inadequate parliament, lack of the independence of the judiciary system, corrupt police force, political instability, abuse and misuse of political offices, insufficient budgetary accountability, lack of respect for the rule of law and human rights, and bureaucratic bottleneck and above all corruption. The findings of this study revealed that there are manifold problems that contribute to lack of good governance in Kenya. In the history of Kenya, all the first three presidents since independence have been habitually surrounding themselves with individuals whom they consult as they make decisions affecting the nation. They relied on their ethnic groups and relatives to sustain their power rather than good policies and strategies which benefit the majority of the country. Good governance in Kenya is rare in practice because both the public and private officials are not accountable and decision-making process is not transparent. In Kenya, bad governance has, over the decades, been manifested, among other things, in inequitable distribution of national wealth, abuse of human rights, lack of constitutionalism, lack rule of law, lack of separation of power, centralization of power, lack of visionary leadership and other misde