Guest Editors’ Introduction: Accountability for Development in Africa

In this article I set out the relationship between freedom of expression, including transparency, and accountability; offer an overview of the current state of these issues in Africa; and identify the implications for stronger accountability. I present the profound and real changes that took place in Africa, specifically in the areas of press freedom and free speech, particularly in the 1990s, but I also argue that there remain much unfinished business and many unfulfilled promises, including stalled legal reform, limited media pluralism, and a lack of political will to move from the rhetoric of transparency to its reality. It is in this context that a global human rights recession has struck. I show that the observed global human rights setback applies with equal force to Africa. The setback has not necessarily been greater in Africa than elsewhere, but neither has it been less visible or less marked. In fact, in an environment characterized by weak political institutions and a nascent, and thus fragile democratization process, it is probable that this setback will take longer to reverse.