Mahama launches African Political Parties Initiative

President John Dramani Mahama on Friday March 7, 2025 launched the African Political Parties Initiative in Accra.

The event, which was held at the Accra International Conference Centre, saw patronage from distinguished political leaders across the African Continent.

The Initiative was launched ahead of the upcoming African Political Parties Summit which is slated for July later this year.

Delivering the keynote address at the event, President Mahama described the initiative as an opportunity for Ghana to restate its Pan-African appeal to reflect on the possibilities of an “An Integrated, Prosperous and Peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens, representing a dynamic force in the international arena.”

He commended the Africa Governance Centre for the vision and intimated that the organization’s endeavour to build cross-party engagement and capacity building motivated by a desire to find common ground based on a meaningful adherence to the collective call to position politics as a driver for positive transformation was refreshing.

Endorsing the initiative, President Mahama stated, “It is my pleasure to also voice support for the APPI, and congratulate the team of the Africa Governance Centre for this great initiative.”

The President further noted that the initiative could not have come at a more opportune moment in view of the fact that countries around the world are wrestling with uncertainties and challenges arising from warfare, pandemic, self-absorbing populism, climate change, and dispersion in new technologies and digital spaces that call for a serious rethink of the extant models and values that underpin the ways government and politics work.

He emphasized that “The African Political Parties Initiative’s vision of a non-partisan and non-ideological inter-party dialogue and a truly Pan-African approach to how political parties reflect on and address the challenges of development will be an invaluable component of how Africa embrace its present challenges and consider them as opportunities for growth.

Indeed, this is a rightly groundbreaking initiative, which provides a rare opportunity to break cultures of mistrust and deep divisions across political parties that undermines our capacity to confront challenges that require a collective response.”

He called on political parties on the continent to recognize that their duty is not to partisan victory alone, but to the advancement of their respective nations. Hence, the need to reject the kind of politics that thrives on polarization, misinformation, and the deliberate obstruction of progress simply because it does not originate from one’s own party.

Also, speaking at the event, the Chair of the Advisory Board of the Africa Governance Centre also noted that the African Political Parties Initiative reflects a deep commitment to cast the spotlight on capacity building and meaningful interactions among political parties across the African continent.

The Chairman stressed that “amidst the multiple onslaughts of the current geopolitical turmoil, increasing economic marginalization of youth and women, and the failure of governments to grapple with the full consequences of the planetary crisis induced by climate change, Africa stands on the precipice and can provide the world a refreshing lens to escape from this deep impasse and find imaginative ways of securing meaningful inclusive growth.”

He iterated the need for governance must be rooted in cooperation and not conflict, if Africa is to realize its full economic potential.

Taking her turn to address the distinguished gathering, the Chairperson of the Executive Council of the Africa Governance Centre, Ms Benedicta Lasi presented the vision and direction of the African Political Parties Initiative.

She touched on the expanse of work done so far by the Centre regarding the Initiative as well as what lies ahead to be done in advancing democracy in Africa.

She noted that the Africa Governance Centre was a strategic platform for advancing democratic governance, economic transformation, political cooperation, institutional development and regulatory development o the African continent.

Ms Lasi, highlighted on other key strategies of the Africa Governance Centre including Capacity Building and leadership development, policy research, advocacy and knowledge sharing, communication, outreach and public engagement as well as monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment.

Although, not physically present at the event, the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye also participated in the historic event by addressing the audience virtually.

He highlighted the gains made by African political parties towards the advancement of democracy as evidenced in the growing rate if democratic elections and peaceful transfers of power across the continent. In his words, “we (The Africa Union) consider the year 2024 a super year for elections.

Fifteen member states held presidential and parliamentary elections seventeen times. That is indeed a record, and in many of our electoral processes, we continue to see huge great leaps forward in terms of improvement in electoral practices.” Ambassador Bankole Adeoye encouraged not only continental but global support for the African Political Parties Initiative to consolidate these gains.

In her final remarks to close the event, Former Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs of Sao Tome and Principe who currently serves as Executive Secretary of the upcoming African Political Parties Summit H.E. Edite Ten Jua reiterated the need for continued co-operation among political parties on the continent in order to realize maximum levels of development for the people of Africa.

Madam Edite also extended gratitude on behalf of the Africa Governance Centre to all attendees, especially the President of the Republic of Ghana as well as other high ranking personalities.

She encouraged all political players to ensure to be part of the main African Political Parties Summit scheduled to hold in July 2025, which promises to converge all political parties in Africa and the Caribbean to chart a progressive path toward development, good governance and economic transformation.

The Africa Governance Centre is a policy, advocacy, and research think tank dedicated to strengthening governance systems across Africa and are the conveners of the Initiative. The African Political Parties Initiative is a flagship program of the Africa Governance Centre (AGC) aimed at strengthening democratic governance, political leadership, and party systems across the African continent.

Although the paramount event of the Initiative is the annual Africa Political Parties Summit which is slated for July this year, it also boasts of other governance-focused activities and events such as the Youth in Politics Forum, Women Political Leadership Summit, Political Leadership Academy, Political Parties Governance Index, and the Diaspora Political Parties Exchange.

Source: Joy Online < https://www.myjoyonline.com/mahama-launches-african-political-parties-initiative/ >