By Cheikh Fall, Third Path Africa
Editor’s Note: This reflection was prompted by the September 21, 2025 referendum in Guinea—a vote that may pave the way for a military-led transition into civilian rule. While the specifics of Guinea’s political moment are unique, the underlying dynamics echo across the continent. This op-ed offers a regional lens on Africa’s democratic regression and calls for principled reform.
Across the continent, from the Sahel to the Great Lakes, from the Horn to Southern Africa, a troubling pattern is emerging: constitutional manipulation, dynastic succession, and militarized governance are eroding the democratic foundations our nations fought to build.
• In parts of North Africa, regimes born of revolution now suppress the very freedoms they once promised. Constitutions are suspended, elections are choreographed, and civil society is tightly surveilled.
• In Central Africa, presidential tenures stretch across generations. Succession debates are not held in parliament but within ruling families, where rivalries paralyze governance and institutional decay deepens.
• In the Great Lakes region, opposition leaders are routinely imprisoned or exiled. Electoral commissions lack independence, and political pluralism is treated as a threat to national security.
• In West Africa, military juntas have rebranded coups as transitions. Referenda are used to legitimize power grabs, while dissent is criminalized and civic space shrinks under the guise of stability.
• In Southern Africa, liberation movements have hardened into ruling parties that treat the state as inheritance. Electoral processes are hollowed out, and democratic rituals mask authoritarian control.
This is not the Africa our liberation heroes envisioned. It is not the Africa our youth deserve.
At Third Path Africa, we believe sovereignty must be rooted in ethical development, transparent institutions, and treaty-based frameworks that protect the dignity of every citizen. We reject the normalization of impunity—whether it wears a uniform or a tailored suit.
We call on regional bodies, donors, and civil society to:
• Reinforce democratic safeguards through conditional engagement
• Support treaty-based resource governance to prevent elite capture
• Invest in generational leadership that reflects Africa’s demographic reality
Africa is not poor. It is plundered. Africa is not unstable. It is destabilized. And Africa is not leaderless. It is led by those who refuse to leave.
We must reclaim our narrative—not through slogans, but through systems. Not through outrage, but through architecture. The time for principled reform is now.