Scholar warns of rising autocracy in Africa

________________

Day Two of the inaugural Africa Regional Conference on Parliament and Legislation (AFRIPAL) at Hotel Africana in Kampala city ended with stark warnings about the continent’s deepening slide into autocracy.

“When you go to most of the countries in Africa, I have refrained from giving examples, because you have them. You will find that Presidents or leaders there are personal rulers,” Kyambogo University senior lecturer Dr Robert Ojambo says.

Delivering a keynote on Thursday, June 19, 2025, Ojambo, also the university's head of department of History and Political Science, argued that many African leaders entrench their autocratic rule by cloaking themselves in prophetic authority.

Oftentimes, he said these present themselves as if they are God sent. Consequently, they are feared, revered and almost untouchable. Adding that, this perception fosters submission among citizens who mistakenly believe they are being helped.

According to Ojambo, this style of leadership draws power not from institutions but from patronage networks and personality cults.

“The two leadership typologies share the common features of patronage, clientelism, functionalism and succession crisis,” he explained.

In such systems, Ojambo stated that institutions like parliament are largely symbolic, with limited power to check the executive.

“If you listen to the clients who work for these presidents, once he coaches them on something, they become like parrots and start singing ‘the President has said’ and the country is handed over to the President,” he illustrated.

“The system enables the ruler to use the state resources for political legitimisation by buying favours through bribes. He does not use his wealth. He uses state resources, and people start thanking him or her for giving them something. And they dance around him. He becomes like the provider, and, in most cases, he is equivalent to God. Some of them refer to themselves as God,” Ojambo said.

Institutionalised corruption

In such scenarios, Ojambo said corruption becomes the software that runs most Governments on the continent. With the August House serving as the arena where the vice thrives.

Consequently, parliamentary ideals are reduced to high-sounding statements with no real impact.

“If you stopped corruption in Africa, governments will collapse, because you will have removed the software from the hardware,” he said.

East African cases

Fast forward to the present, Ojambo contended that most African leaders have weaponised parliament to entrench patronage, clientelism, and authoritarian rule.

He noted that over the past decade, most parliaments across the continent have grown significantly weaker.

While the Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) of the late 20th century ushered in a brief era of democratic checks, today’s parliaments, Ojambo said, have largely become singing halls where MPs sing in chorus.

To illustrate his point, he cited the Tanzanian parliament, which in recent times has been mired in a series of political challenges.

“Tanzania is where a member of parliament (Tundu Lissu) was leaving a session and he was shot…” Ojambo retorted. 

“That same man has continued to receive an ordeal that is very funny. To an extent that he is the leader of the opposition but for just saying that without any reforms, no election, the man has been charged with treason and if he is convicted, he is going to die,” he added. 

He pointed to Kenya as a second example, arguing that the country lacks genuine political parties. Instead, he said, what exists are vehicles of convenience, hastily formed around each election cycle.

To make matters worse, the broad-based political arrangements have blurred the lines between government and the Opposition, leaving the country without a clear governing or dissenting force.

“Kenya has also learnt that they can kidnap, disappear people and very recently, a Member of Parliament was killed as he was driving on the streets of Nairobi. It's like nothing happened and it is because this MP was speaking against broad-based eating. As we speak, a Governor in the senate has been complaining about broad-based eating and has now been called to the senate to answer cases of corruption,” he summed.

This, he said, makes him wonder why people face no consequences when they remain silent, but the moment they speak out, charges start raining down.

Reactions

However, Sarah Adong, the Democratic Party Women’s Wing leader and Zombo District Woman MP aspirant, called for a solution-oriented discourse.

“What would be a solution to this? As a scholar, I would suggest we go more practical rather than being too theoretical,” Adong said.

Dr Sebastiano Rwengabo said: “What is it about African politicians that makes them detest functioning institutions and fear checks on their own power?”