The People Shall Govern (AU Edition)

“The People Shall Govern." These iconic words, declared seventy years ago in the South African Freedom Charter of 1955, reverberate with both revolutionary promise and contemporary disappointment. As we commemorate this foundational demand for democracy, we must ask: has this principle found expression across the African continent? Is governance in Africa truly by, for, and with the people? Or has African integration evolved into a top-down, elite-driven process where the masses are spectators rather than participants?

The African Union (AU), with its bold vision of continental unity, development, and peace, is central to these questions. But increasingly, the AU’s democratic deficit has become glaring. While leaders meet in Addis Ababa and pledge solidarity, citizen voice remains conspicuously absent from the AU’s decision-making structures. The irony is painful, an institution born in the spirit of Pan-Africanism now risks becoming a technocratic bureaucracy, disconnected from the very people it claims to represent.

Agenda 2063, the AU’s master plan for “The Africa We Want,” places people at the heart of continental development. Aspiration 6 boldly declares: “An Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth.” Yet the lived experience of African citizens suggests a different reality.

The 2nd Continental Progress Report on Agenda 2063 (2022) highlights a sobering gap between ambition and implementation. While notable progress is acknowledged in areas like infrastructure and trade, the report concedes: “Citizen participation remains limited across governance structures of the African Union and its organs, particularly in the processes of accountability and follow-up.” Even ECOSOCC, the AU’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council, meant to be the civil society gateway into AU processes, has suffered from “limited visibility, resourcing challenges, and unclear linkages to policy-making.”

Worse still, these shortcomings are occurring in a broader political environment of democratic backsliding. The V-Dem Democracy Report 2025 paints a bleak picture: “The share of African countries classified as electoral autocracies has risen, with civil liberties under strain and participatory spaces shrinking.” In countries like Mali, what has passed for democracy is often elite capture, a mere rotation of power among a handful of political families. In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has ruled since 1986; in Cameroon, Paul Biya, at 92 years old, remains in power since 1982. These are not anomalies; they are symptoms of a deeper structural exclusion of citizen voice from governance.

Drawing inspiration from the European Union, while fully anchoring reforms in Africa’s history, diversity, and Pan-Africanist ideals, there are several strategic reforms the AU must consider to close its participation and legitimacy gap:

1. Establishing Pan-African Citizens’ Assemblies
Rather than relying solely on elite dialogues and civil society representation, the AU should institutionalize Pan-African Citizens’ Assemblies. These would be annual, deliberative gatherings of randomly selected citizens from all five regions. Their mandate would be to deliberate on pressing continental matters, such as climate resilience, migration, peace and security, and submit formal recommendations to AU organs. They will get to determine what becomes a priority on the AU Commission’s agenda. Unlike ad hoc consultations, these assemblies would be embedded into AU processes, with structured feedback loops and implementation tracking.

2. Revitalizing ECOSOCC with Real Mandate and Access
While ECOSOCC exists, it remains marginal. A revitalized ECOSOCC must be independent, well-funded, and regionally present. It should have statutory consultative rights with key AU bodies such as the Peace and Security Council and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The appointment process should be reformed to ensure legitimacy, diversity, and independence from state control. Civil society’s role must be upgraded from symbolic observers to institutional partners in continental governance.

3. Participatory Budgeting and a Public Accountability Portal
To promote transparency and citizen co-ownership of continental development, the AU should introduce participatory budgeting mechanisms, starting with select thematic areas like youth empowerment, peace initiatives, or health. A complementary digital public dashboard should be launched to allow citizens and youth movements to track AU spending, monitor implementation of Agenda 2063 targets, and submit community-based reports on service delivery and gaps.

4. Reforming and Democratizing the Pan-African Parliament
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) must be fundamentally reimagined. Currently composed of delegates nominated by national parliaments, it lacks democratic legitimacy and legislative power. To give it true meaning, the PAP should be directly elected by African citizens, with voting procedures tailored to regional contexts. It must be empowered to co-decide on key continental matters, including oversight of the AU Commission, budget allocations, and accountability mechanisms. A democratic PAP, mandated by the people and rooted in Pan-African values, could become the true legislative voice of Africa’s citizens.

5. Creating Regional Youth Citizens’ Councils
Rather than duplicating structures like the African Youth Charter or the AU Youth Envoy Office, the AU should facilitate the formation of Regional Youth Citizens’ Councils. These would be semi-autonomous, representative bodies elected or drawn from national youth assemblies and movements. Their task would, of course, include channelling youth priorities directly into regional decision-making platforms, monitoring youth-related commitments under Agenda 2063, and liaising with continental structures like ECOSOCC and the PAP.

Reforming the AU’s participatory structures is not just a technical issue, it is political. And here lies the real roadblock, the absence of political will. The 2nd Progress Report openly states that the AU’s success depends on “transformational leadership and accountable institutions.” But these are precisely what have been lacking.

National interests frequently override continental ones. Countries approach the AU with a defensive posture, more concerned with preserving sovereignty than achieving unity. The institutional fragmentation within the AU, between NEPAD, ECOSOCC, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), and others, reflects a broader crisis of coordination. Instead of fostering Pan-African solidarity, the AU too often becomes a talk shop of competing nationalisms, where agreements are reached on paper but abandoned in practice.

The failure to coherently respond to conflicts in the DRC, Sudan, Cameroon, or Mali further illustrates the AU’s declining influence. Without a connected citizenry and grassroots legitimacy, the AU’s capacity to mediate or implement any democratic vision will remain weak.

In the face of this paralysis, it is African youth who are stepping up. Across the continent, we are witnessing a rise in citizen-led democracy initiatives. In South Africa, initiatives like Project Vote SA are fostering civic awareness and voter education among young people, while leadership development programs such as Futurelect’s Southern Africa Public Leadership Programme are equipping emerging leaders, youth and beyond, with the tools to shape accountable, ethical governance. In Kenya, digital platforms such as Mzalendo track legislative activity and promote accountability. Initiatives like Amplifying Youth Voices (AYV) NPO in the Eastern Cape are creating platforms such as Democracy Cafés that foster grassroots civic engagement, while also nurturing youth-led assemblies that reflect a growing, bottom-up desire to reimagine participation in democratic processes.

These are not fringe experiments. They are signs of a continental undercurrent of democratic renewal—led not by heads of state, but by students, community leaders, and youth organizers. Yet, these movements often operate in silos, unsupported and unprotected by national or continental structures.

What is needed is an institutional embrace of this energy. African youth must not be asked to wait for the old guard to make space, we must demand that space be created now, and on our terms. As the V-Dem report reminds us, “deliberative democracy remains a protective factor in resisting autocratization.” Youth-led participatory structures can and must be the frontlines of this resistance.

As we reflect on 70 years since the Freedom Charter declared that “The People Shall Govern,” we are faced with a choice. Will the African Union remain an elite project, managing integration from above, insulated from the lived realities of Africans? Or will it become a truly people-powered union, rooted in democratic practices that reflect Africa’s rich traditions of dialogue, consensus, and communal leadership?

Europe’s democratic tools, citizens’ initiatives, participatory budgeting, digital consultations, offer useful inspiration. But they must be Africanized, rooted in our own political culture and historical experiences. Pan-Africanism is not merely an ideology, it is a methodology of inclusion, dignity, and shared futures.

The AU has the frameworks. It has aspirations. What it lacks is courage. Courage to open the doors. Courage to trust its people. Courage to redefine democracy beyond elections and elite consensus.

If the African Union is to have any moral authority or strategic relevance in the coming decades, it must begin with this fundamental reform, and that is making space for citizen voice, not as charity, not as ritual, but as power.

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Simamkele Fatuse is the Founder and Executive Director of Amplifying Youth Voices (AYV) NPO. He is a weltwärts volunteer with Democracy International e.V. in Germany, where he is serving as the European Programme Aide until March 2026.