Discuss the role of African political parties

Role of African Political Parties
African political parties did not have trained officials or elites. These parties depended on the traditional chiefs such as Obas of Yoruba and Akan chiefs of Ghana. In Somali Republic, the old tribal chiefs were elevated to political parties. Pan-Somali nationalism was based on clan interests.
In Nigeria, the chiefs made use of the political parties e.g. the Sardauna of Sokoto and the Muslim emirs (chiefs) occupied the posts of the Northern People Congress in North Nigeria.
In Ghana there was competition for political supremacy in 1957 between the Ashanti traditional authority and the central government in Accra. The Ashanti chiefs reluctantly accepted to be integrated into the unitary state of Ghana. The constitution had to make some concessions to this traditional political force e.g. there is a House of chiefs in each of the six regions which make up the republic.
In Cameroon, president Ahidjo established himself in power with the support of the great Islam chiefs in the north of the country.
To become a political leader in Africa a politician must be in part be considered as sacrosanct (holy) even if he had no such background e.g. Dr. Nkrumah of Ghana created Nkrumahism which was an extreme case of personality cult and semi-divine character as the head of state. He used to make his broadcast very early in the morning at 5 o’clock to return to the great tradition of his ancestors.
In some cases, secret societies lent support to political parties e.g. Mau Mau supported Kenya African Union (KAU) was later linked to Mzee Kenyatta.
Political parties were formed around leaders from dominant or dynamic ethnic groups. Political power then became personalized on strong individuals.
Only a leader whose authority was sovereign could mobilize the masses and gather round him the support of public opinion. The president is the party leader, exercises complete power, all those surrounding him such as ministers and civil servants work at his pleasure under his authority. The authority of this political leader is in strict conformity with the ancestral tradition and leader can be established as a leader when he is accepted to this rank by his subjects. As long as power belongs to the person to the person exercising it, there must unanimity round the person of the chief. In most of traditional Africa, the leader of the people is the holder of the regalia or royal attributes.
After independence, the political leaders looked for new targets of criticism e.g. the Democratic Party of Guinea took the intellectuals as their target (similar to KANU) stressing the need to transcend the division between people and intellectuals and stating that the degree and commitment to the party was much more important than the possession of a degree. In Ghana and guinea, the elected leaders, Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure, were the representatives of the whole people at the national level. As the spokesman for a political doctrine and the guardian of that doctrine, he has to carry through the programme of the party, safeguarding cohesion and unity and the validity of communal decisions. He has to be the servant of the party at all times. In Ghana, the executive commission of the party played an important party in elaborating of the party (CCP) policies.
There was rapid evolution, after independence, towards one party system through - the fusion or integration of the parties opposed to the government party - the dissolution or outstanding or some or all opposition parties - the arrest and trial of leading politicians and various charges such as anti-national plot or individual politicians could spontaneously join the ruling party e.g. in Kenya all parties were dissolved to join K.A.N.U. while the Dahomey, various parties joined the Dahomey Party of Unity (P.D.U.). In Chad president Francious Tombalbaye created a single party named Union for the Progress of Chad.
Since independence, there has been constant evolution in the field of methods, means and doctrines of the political parties. The parties began as anti-colonialists, later their themes and slogans and manifestos concentrated on national reconstruction, economic development, gender empowerment, some became dictatorships but they certainly set the ground for the doctrine of government to begin in Africa.

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jerop5614 answered the question on January 15, 2019 at 06:41