1 Barak, A Purposive Interpretation in Law (2005, Princeton University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 236.

2 Franck, T “The emerging right to democratic governance” (1992) 86 American Journal of International Law 46CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 55; Summer, J Peoples and International Law: How Nationalism and Self-Determination Shape a Contemporary Law of Nations (2007, Martinus Nijhoff)Google Scholar at 163–64, 244–45 and 258–59; and generally, Udombana, N “Articulating the right to democratic governance in Africa” (2002) 24 Michigan Journal of International Law 1209Google Scholar.

3 See eg Angolan Constitution 2010, Preamble.

4 Gaudusson, J de “Introduction” in de Gaudusson, J et al (eds) Les Constitutions Africaines Publiées en Langue Française (1998) 9Google Scholar at 9.

5 Algerian Constitution 1996 (as amended), Preamble; cf Kenyan Constitution 2010, Preamble.

6 Dorsen, N et al Comparative Constitutionalism: Cases and Materials (2003, Thomson West)Google Scholar at 10.

7 See Nwabueze, B Crisis of Governance in Nigeria (2018, John Archers)Google Scholar at 14.

8 Eg Mbondenyi, M and Ojienda, T (eds) Constitutionalism and Democratic Governance in Africa: Contemporary Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa (2013, Pretoria University Law Press);Google Scholar Fombad, C and Murray, C (eds) Fostering Constitutionalism in Africa (2010, Pretoria University Law Press)Google Scholar; Oloka-Onyango, J (ed) Constitutionalism in Africa: Creating Opportunities, Facing Challenges (2001, Fountain Publishers)Google Scholar; Hatchard, J, Ndulo, M and Slinn, P Comparative Constitutionalism and Governance in the Commonwealth (2004, Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar; Nwabueze, BO Constitutionalism in the Emergent States (1973, C Hurst and Co)Google Scholar at 12.

9 M Mbondenyi and T Ojienda “Introduction to and overview of constitutionalism and democratic governance in Africa” in Mbondenyi and Ojienda Constitutionalism, above at note 8 at 3.

10 Laski, H A Grammar of Politics (2005, Anamika Publishers)Google Scholar at 41.

11 Ibid.

12 Plato Metaphysics at 1076a4 (quoting Homer Iliad at 2.204).

13 FA Hayek The Constitution of Liberty (1960, University of Chicago Press) at 182.

14 D Alighieri Monarchia Book 1, para 11, extracted in O O'Donovan and J Lockwood O'Donovan (eds) From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook of Christian Political Thought 100–1625 (1999, Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co) at 417.

15 Plato The Laws (trans RG Bury, 1926, Loeb Classical Library) Book IV, 713C.

16 Nwabueze Constitutionalism, above at note 8 at 1.

17 Hayek Constitution, above at note 13 at 181.

18 J Locke Two Treatises of Government (1690) at 433.

19 Nwabueze Constitutionalism, above at note 8 at 1.

20 Eg Benin Constitution 1990, Preamble.

21 F Otubanjo “Themes in African traditional political thought” in JA Ayoade and AA Agbaje (eds) African Traditional Political Thought and Institutions (1989, Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization) 3 at 6.

22 See id at 9.

23 Quoted in C Achebe Arrow of God (1974, Heinemann) at 27.

24 Angolan Constitution, sec 3(1); Malawian Constitution 1994 (as amended), sec 1(1); Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), sec 14(2)(a); Ghanaian Constitution 1992 (as amended), Preamble and sec 1; Namibian Constitution 2014 (as amended), sec 1(2).

25 Algerian Constitution, sec 7.

26 See Kenyan Constitution, sec 2(1–2); Ethiopian Constitution 1995, sec 9(3); Nigerian Constitution, sec 1(2).

27 BO Nwabueze Presidentialism in Commonwealth Africa (1974, C Hurst and Co) at 392.

28 Ibid.

29 Barak Purposive Interpretation, above at note 1 at 236–37.

30 Njoya and Others v Attorney-General and Others [2004] 1 EA 194 (KeHC) (2004) AHRLR 157, para 29.

31 Ibid.

32 See generally RA Dahl On Democracy (1998, Yale University Press).

33 Kenyan Constitution, sec 1(3); Namibian Constitution, sec 1(2).

34 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.147(VIII) (2007), art 2(3) (ACDEG).

35 Rwandan Constitution 2003 (as amended), sec 1.

36 B Spinoza Political Works (trans AG Wernham, 1959, Oxford University Press) at 136.

37 Angolan Constitution, sec 3(1); Algerian Constitution, sec 11; Malawian Constitution, sec 6.

38 South African Constitution 1996, sec 19(3).

39 Ocansey and Another v Electoral Commission and Another, writ no JI/5/2008, judgment of 23 March 2010 [2010] AHRLR 165, para 38.

40 Barak Purposive Interpretation, above at note 1 at 239.

41 Cf Malawian Constitution, Preamble.

42 C Sunstein Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do (2001, Oxford University Press) at 7.

43 R Dworkin Is Democracy Possible Here? Principles for a New Political Debate (2006, Princeton University Press) at 156.

44 Id at 239.

45 Algerian Constitution, sec 15.

46 Sunstein Designing Democracy, above at note 42 at 240.

47 C Ake Democracy and Development in Africa (1996, Brookings Institution Press) at 132.

48 BO Nwabueze Further Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution and Polity (2019, John Archers) at 164 (emphasis original).

49 Cf McGinty v Western Australia [1996] 186 CLR 140 [HC Australia].

50 JS Mill Utilitarianism, Liberty, and Representative Government (ed Ernest Rhys, 1910, Dent) at 207.

51 Nigerian Constitution, sec 14(2)(c); Ethiopian Constitution, sec 8(3).

52 OAU doc CAB/LEG/23.15 (2000).

53 Id, Preamble.

54 AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.26(II) (July 2003), art 3(i); cf Protocol to the African Charter … on the Rights of Women in Africa, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.19(II) (2003), art 9(1) (Protocol on Women's Rights).

55 ACDEG, above at note 34, art 2(10).

56 Id, art 31(1).

57 AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.337(XVI) (2011), art 5(4).

58 ECOWAS doc A/SP1/12/01 (2001), art 1(d).

59 See eg South African Constitution, Preamble; Ethiopian Constitution, sec 12(2); Algerian Constitution, sec 12.

60 O Awolowo Thoughts on Nigerian Constitution (1966, Oxford University Press) at 146–47.

61 T Carothers “Promoting the rule of law abroad” (January 2003) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace at 3, available at: <https://carnegieendowment.org/2003/01/28/promoting-rule-of-law-abroad-problem-of-knowledge-pub-1169> (last accessed 14 December 2023).

62 J Finnis Natural Law and Natural Rights (1980, Oxford University Press) at 270.

63 F Fukuyama The Origins of Political Order (2012, Profile Books) at 245.

64 Id at 246.

65 See AV Dicey An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1985, Macmillan).

66 T Bingham The Rule of Law (2010, Penguin) at 3; and generally BZ Tamanaha On the Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory (2004, Cambridge University Press) at 127.

67 Hyperides In Defence of Euxenippus (ed JO Burti, Loeb Classic Library, II 468) at sec xxi, para 5, available at: <https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hyperides-defence_euxenippus/1954/pb_LCL395.463.xml> (last accessed 23 January 2024).

68 Aristotle Politics (trans W Ellis, 1931, Everyman) at 1287a.

69 Eg Angolan Constitution, sec 2; Ethiopian Constitution, sec 8(2); Nigerian Constitution, sec 1(1); Kenyan Constitution, sec 2(1).

70 Ethiopian Constitution, sec 9(1); South African Constitution, sec 2; Ocansey, above at note 39, para 35.

71 Kenyan Constitution, secs 2(3) and 3(2).

72 Eg Ghanaian Constitution, sec 3(3)–(4).

73 Nigerian Constitution, secs 35(1) and 45(1).

74 Lustration case PL US 1/92 (Sb), extracted in Dorsen Comparative Constitutionalism, above at note 6 at 1272–73.

75 See C Sampford Retrospectivity and the Rule of Law (2006, Oxford University Press) at 40.

76 Ibid.

77 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN doc A/Res/810 at 71 (1948), Preamble.

78 Ocansey, above at note 39, para 61.

79 Hayek Constitution, above at note 13 at 182.

80 Council of Europe “Democracy” in Compass: Manual for Human Rights Education with Young People, available at: <www.coe.int/en/web/compass/democracy> (last accessed 14 December 2023).

81 Dworkin Is Democracy, above at note 43 at 35.

82 See generally A Chaskalson “Human dignity as a foundational value of our constitutional order” (2000) 16 South African Journal of Human Rights 193; A Gewirth “Human dignity as the basis of rights” in M Meyer and W Parent (eds) The Constitution of Rights (1992, Cornell University Press) at 10.

83 C West “A grand tradition of struggle” (2020) The English Journal 39 at 41.

84 S Weil Waiting on God (1950, William Collins and Sons) at 114.

85 RH Barrow The Romans (1949, Penguin) at 13.

86 S Weil Gateway to God (1974, William Collins and Sons) at 39.

87 Id at 40.

88 R Dworkin Justice for Hedgehogs (2011, Belknap Press) at 423.

89 Purohit and Moore v Gambia [2003] African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) comm no 241/2001, para 57.

90 I Kant Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (ed CM Korsgaard, 2012, Cambridge University Press), para 394.

91 I Kant The Doctrine of Virtue (trans MJ Gregor, 1964, Harper Torchbooks) at 116, para 38.

92 UN Charter, Preamble.

93 UDHR, above at note 77, art 21.

94 999 UNTS 171 (1976), art 25 (ICCPR).

95 Nigerian Constitution, cap 4; Ethiopian Constitution, secs 14–40; Kenyan Constitution, sec 10(2)(b).

96 Nigerian Constitution, secs 37 and 41–43.

97 Malawian Constitution, sec 17; Ethiopian Constitution, secs 41–42. See generally N Udombana Social and Economic Rights in Africa: International and Public Law Perspectives (2023, Routledge).

98 South African Constitution, cap 2.

99 See eg id, sec 29(1)(b).

100 Senegalese Constitution 2001, sec 8.

101 Id, sec 9.

102 Ethiopian Constitution, sec 43(4).

103 Gill v Registrar of Political Parties Civil Appeal 1 of 2011, 30 March 2011 [2011] AHRLR 225, para 35 (Seychelles Supreme Court).

104 Nigerian Constitution, sec 24; cf Algerian Constitution, secs 74–83; South African Constitution, sec 3(2).

105 Nigerian Constitution, sec 30(2)(b).

106 See eg Algerian Constitution, secs 32 and 34.

107 South African Constitution, sec 3(2).

108 Eg ICCPR, above at note 94, art 26; ACDEG, above at note 34, art 10(3).

109 Holy Bible, Galatians 3:28.

110 See S Adejumobi “Citizenship, rights, and the problem of conflicts and civil wars in Africa” (2001) 23 Human Rights Quarterly 148 at 148.

111 Gill, above at note 103, para 35.

112 See generally B Manby Citizenship Law in Africa: A Comparative Study (2016, Open Society).

113 Anudo v Tanzania, ACtHPR app no 012/2015, judgment of 22 March 2018 [2018] 2 AfCLR 248, paras 88 and 78.

114 Id, para 79, referencing Report of the Secretary General, Human Rights Council, 25th session, 19 December 2013.

115 New Partnership for Africa's Development Framework Document, OAU doc NEPAD/01 (October 2001), para 7.

116 See Mo Ibrahim Foundation Agendas 2063 and 2030: Is Africa on Track? (2019) at 47, available at: <https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/sites/default/files/2020-02/African_Governance_Report_2019.pdf> (last accessed 23 January 2024).

117 Decision on Democratic Transition in Tunisia, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.568(XXIV) (January 2015), para 1.

118 Decision on the Fifth Report of the PSC of the AU on the Implementation of the AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps for Silencing the Guns in Africa by the Year 2020, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.755(XXXIII) (February 2020), para 6.

119 AU “The Africa governance report 2019”, available at: <https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/36418-doc-eng-_the_africa_governance_report_2019_final-1.pdf> (last accessed 30 November 2022); Decision on the Revitalization of the African Peer Review Mechanism, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.631(XXVIII) (January 2017); Decision on the State of Governance in Africa, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.720(XXXII) (February 2019), para 5.

120 AU “Africa governance report”, id, para 8.

121 AU “The Africa governance report 2021” at 59, available at: <https://au.int/en/documents/20220328/africa-governance-report-2021-africas-governance-futures-africa-we-want> (last accessed 16 May 2023).

122 Mo Ibrahim Foundation Is Africa on Track?, above at note 116 at 47.

123 HWO Okoth-Ogendo “Constitutions without constitutionalism: Reflections on African political paradox” in D Greenberg et al (eds) Constitutionalism and Democracy: Transitions in the Contemporary World (1993, Oxford University Press) 65.

124 See JE Alvarez International Organizations as Law-Makers (2005, Oxford University Press) at 101.

125 National Human Rights Commission “An independent review of evidence of gross violations of the rights to participate in government, to public service, and to fair trial through the election petition process in Nigeria 2007 and 2011, Phase I: Final report” (2015, National Human Rights Commission) at 7.

126 EU Election Observation Mission “Nigeria 2023: Final report” (June 2023) at 6, available at: <https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eom-nigeria-2023/european-union-election-observation-mission-nigeria-2023-final-report_en> (last accessed 30 July 2023).

127 D Walsh and A Dahir “Why is Ethiopia at war with itself?” (16 March 2022) New York Times, available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/article/ethiopia-tigray-conflict-explained.html#link-5149fd7f> (last accessed 30 November 2022).

128 Statement by the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee of 13 January 2022 on the situation in Ethiopia (13 January 2022), available at: <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2019/statement/> (last accessed 30 November 2022).

129 C Klobucista “Africa's ‘leaders for life’”, (30 June 2021) Foreign Affairs, available at: <https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/africas-leaders-life> (last accessed 1 December 2022).

130 N Onishi and J Moyo “Robert Mugabe resigns as Zimbabwe's president, ending 37-year rule” (21 November 2017) New York Times, available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/world/africa/zimbabwe-mugabe-mnangagwa.html> (last accessed 25 November 2022).

131 See M Weber Economy and Society (vol 1, 1978, University of California Press) at 212 ff. Charisma in Greek means “touched by God”.

132 See G Arnold Africa: A Modern History (2005, Atlantic Books) at 921.

133 “Senegalese President Macky Sall says he won't seek a third term in 2024 elections after protests” (3 July 2023) Le Monde, available at: <https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/07/03> (last accessed 5 July 2023).

134 Lustration case, in Dorsen Comparative Constitutionalism, above at note 6 at 1271.

135 See generally SB Agang, C Jones and P Pillay (eds) A Multidimensional Perspective on Corruption in Africa: Wealth, Power, Religion and Democracy (2019, Cambridge Scholars Publishing).

136 Mo Ibrahim Foundation “President Mahamadou Issoufou wins 2020 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership” (8 March 2021), available at: <https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/news/2021> (last accessed 25 November 2022).

137 The names of previous prize winners and criteria for the awards are available at <https://mo.ibrahim.foundation> (last accessed 23 January 2024).

138 Eg K Short “Zambian police arrest former president's son and his wife on corruption charges” (27 June 2023) VOA, available at: <https://www.voanews.com/a/zambian-police-arrest-former-president-s-son-and-his-wife-on-corruption-charges-/7154942.html> (last accessed 6 July 2023).

139 CM Fombad “Corruption and the crisis of constitutionalism in Africa” in CM Fombad and N Steytler (eds) Corruption and Constitutionalism in Africa: Revisiting Control Measures and Strategies (2020, Oxford University Press) 15 at 15.

140 AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.27(II) (2003), Preamble.

141 “Lack of medical personnel, corruption prevalent in Abuja PHCs – Report” (3 July 2023) Premium Times, available at: <https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/607800> (last accessed 6 July 2023).

142 See Sudan Human Rights Organization and Another v Sudan, ACHPR comm no 279/03 [2009] AHRLR 153, para 146; Asare and Others v GA West District Assembly and Another, suit AP 36/2007, judgment of 2 May 2008 [2009] AHRLR 343, paras 13–14 (Supreme Court of Ghana).

143 B Hassan The Law of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights (2007, Trafford Publishing) at 189.

144 Cf Handyside v UK [1976] 58 ILR 423, para 49, relating to freedom of expression.

145 Lingens v Austria, case no 9815/82, 8 July 1986, para 28.

146 Decision 36/1994 (VI.24) AB hat (Hungarian Constitutional Court).

147 Kenneth Good v Botswana, ACHPR comm no 313/05 [2010] AHRLR 43; Attorney-General v Roy Clarke, Appeal no 96A/2004, 27 March 2007 [2008] AHRLR 259 (ZaSC), which held that the deportation of the applicant was disproportionate and extreme.

148 See Holy Bible, Genesis 47:19–21.

149 HEP Kagame “The imperative to strengthen our union: Report on the proposed recommendations for the institutional reform of the African Union” (27 January 2017) at 4, available at: <https://static.pmg.org.za/Kagame_Report.pdf> (last accessed 15 December 2023).

150 UN “UN experts urge more action to ensure dignity, equity and justice for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers of African descent” (30 August 2022), available at: <https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/08/un-experts-urge-more-action-ensure-dignity-equity-and-justice-migrants-refugees> (last accessed 15 November 2022).

151 Yew, LK From Third World to First. The Singapore Story: 1965–2000 (2000, HarperCollins Publishers)Google Scholar at 353.

152 Arnold Africa, above at note 132 at 921.

153 Id at 922.

154 Jacobsohn, GJ Apple of Gold: Constitutionalism in Israel and the United States (1993, Princeton University Press)Google Scholar at 118.

155 UDHR, above at note 77, Preamble.

156 See AU “Declaration on unconstitutional changes of government in Africa” (17 March 2022), para 3, available at: <https://www.peaceau.org/en/article/declaration-on-unconstitutional-changes-of-government-in-africa> (last accessed 22 November 2022).

157 “Master roadmap of practical steps to silence the guns in Africa by year 2020”, adopted by the Peace and Security Council in Lusaka in 2016 at 8, available at: <https://dppa.un.org/sites/default/files/170201_au_silencing_the_guns_roadmap.pdf> (last accessed 23 January 2024).

158 C West Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight against Imperialism (2004, Penguin) at 15.

159 Laski Grammar, above at note 10 at 55.

160 Ibid.

161 AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.121(VII) (2006), art 10(3)(d).

162 AU “Declaration”, above at note 156, para 5.

163 Nigerian Constitution, sec 14(2)(b); South African Constitution, Preamble.

164 AU Non-Aggression and Common Defense Pact, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.71(IV) (2005), art 1(k).

165 Id.

166 See generally N Cheeseman Democracy in Africa: Success, Failures and the Struggle for Political Reform (2015, Cambridge University Press).

167 Cf Cairo Declaration, OAU doc AHG/Decl.1(XXIX) (June 1993), para 14.

168 AU Non-Aggression Pact, above at note 164, art 3(c).

169 Conference on Security, Stability and Cooperation in Africa, Solemn Declaration, OAU doc AHG/Decl.4(XXXVI) (July 2000), para 10(b).

170 Declaration on Employment, Poverty Eradication, Inclusive Development in Africa, AU doc Assembly/AU/Decl.6(XXIII) (January 2015), para 4.

171 See International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, UN doc A/Res/45/158 (18 December 1990), establishing basic principles concerning the treatment of migrant workers and members of their families.

172 Cf Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights “State obligations under the [ICESCR] in the context of business activities”, General Comment no 24, UN doc E/C.12/GC/24 (10 August 2017), para 8.

173 Koraou v Niger, suit no ECW/CCJ/App/08/08, judgment of 8 October 2008, para 79.

174 Holmes, OW Jr The Common Law (2009, Harvard University Press)Google Scholar at 3.

175 Cf Protocol on the Peace and Security Council, AU doc Assembly/AU/Dec.4(I) (2002), Preamble.