Queston: Rule of law establishes restrictions on both the governors and the

government. Have you ever observed the break down of rule of law by the governors or
the governed, use examples to make your point.
Answer:
BREAKDOWN OF RULE OF LAW
There is no single agreed definition of the rule of law. However there is a core definition
that has near universal acceptance. Most of the content of the rule of law can be
summed up in two points:
(1) that the people (including, one should add, the government) should be ruled by the
law and obey it and
(2) that the law should be such that people will be able (and, one should add, willing) to
be guided by it.
.
- All persons are presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a Court. At its most basic
level the rule of law is the concept that both the government and citizens know the law
and obey it. However the rule of law is also much larger than this.
Why is the Rule of Law important for Society?
A country that adheres to the rule of law ensures that
- All persons and organisations including the government are subject to and
accountable to the law.
- The law is clear, known. and enforced.
- The Court system is independent and resolves disputes in a fair and public manner
- No person shall be arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned. or deprived of their property.
- Punishment must be determined by a Court and be proportionate to the offence.
As a result it can be said that the rule of law is more than simply the government and
citizens knowing and obeying the law. The rule of law involves other concepts, such as
checks and balances on the use of government power. the independence of the
judiciary, the presumption of innocence, access to justice. and the right to a fair trial.
Rule of Law Pyramid
The concept of the Rule of Law can be diagrammatically represented in the form of a
pyramid as shown below.
The breakdown of rule of law implies the existence of unlimited power and the
ignorance of the people to the law. this can put citizens in great dangers. Absence of
rule of law is characterized by anarchy, loss of peace, non obeying of law by citizens,
arbitrary rule, unlimited governance or authoritarianism. Examples of breakdown of rule
of law have been widely and constantly being observed in recent years in countries like
Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and also in Ethiopia. These breakdowns of the rule of law
are manifested as:

 civil wars.
 humanitarian crises.
 the flow of refugees,
 repression of civilian populations and minorities in particular.
 serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, 0
overthrow of a democratically elected government,
 economic strife.
 terrorist acts and
 impunity for serious violations of international humanitarian law.
 Increasing crime rates
 Corruption
 Violence e.t.c
These break downs of rule of law is witnessed most of the time.
Question: what was the relevance of the transformation of OAU to AU.

Answer:

The organization of the African union had existed for about 21 years before the African
union was formed. and the replacement of the organization of African union by the
African union had much more benefits than merely the change of name. since its
formation, the African union has been trying to tackle some problems that the OAU
didn’t solve. some of the benefits of the transformation of OAU to AU will be listed
below.

-The African union achieved political as well as economic integration of its member
states which the organization of African union didn’t. some of the AU formed
organizations contributing to economic integration include

-ECOWAS

-COMESA

-AFRICAN CENTRAL BANK

-AFRICAN MONETARY FUND

these organizations contribute to both the regional and whole integration of Africa.

so economic and political integration have their own advantages including increasing
some form of unity between African states and also bringing about economic
opportunities and advantages to the people.

-Economically Africa was left behind by the rest of the world. but the organization of
African union couldn’t or failed to address the problem. and this brought a big
disadvantage to both Africa and its people. so, the formation of the African union was
beneficial because it at least tries to address this problem.

-The organization of African union had a principle of noninterference. which is a

principle that obligated it not to interfere with the internal affairs of African states.

one of the down sides of this was that the abuse of human rights concerned with
internal affairs was left with no solution.so the formation of the African union was
beneficial to African people because it takes some measures concerned with preventing
the abuse of human rights whether it requires interference or not. And in addition to this
it tries to bring peace to nations.

one example of this can be the intervention the African union has done in the military
coup of Burkina Faso.

a coup on blaise compaore (the president of Burkina Faso) was planned and executed
by a group of presidential guards in Burkina Faso. the African union threatened to
impose sanctions on the coup leaders if they didn’t release political prisoners and return
back to a civilian rule.so this interference shows that AU at least tries to interfere for the
common good and that it forbids unconstitional transition of government.

an example for peace keeping and democratization includes the intervention of the
African union in the presidential elections held in ivory coast in 2010.

in this election laurent gbago (former leader) and the former opposition leader alassane
outattra (the incumbent by then were running for the president of ivory coast. After the
election both claimed to be the winner.

having seen this the African union took actions. with the support of the international
community the African union supported outarra because it was almost universally
acknowledged thatouttata defeated gbagbo at the ballot box. so, this result was affirmed
by the national electoral commission.
the African union peace keeping troops have contributed a lot on peace keeping and
have participated in the most difficult conflicts of the continent. for example, the African
union was involved in peace keeping by combating terrorists like al-Shabab. With the
help of Ethiopia, Kenya, dhoti and Uganda with 4395, 3664, 2000, 6223 troops. it is
combating al-Shabab in Somalia, highly contributing to peace in the country.

and thus, we can see that the African union is contributes more to peacekeeping and at
least tries to support democracy at times. And this can make African people benefit a lot
from peace, democracy and democratic governments since most of the African
problems arise from political problems and not having peace in the first place.

-The organization of the African union was also characterized by only protecting the
interests of African leaders not giving as much attention to the ordinary as much it did
the leaders.

what mattered the most were the leaders and not the followers or people. The African
union has tried to address these kinds of problems

-The African union is now also taking steps to adopt an African union convention on
cyber security and personal data protection an protocol merging the African court of
justice and human rights. in addition, with having criminal jurisdiction over international
crimes.

the organization of African union failed to integrate and failed to participate women and
the youth in the structures and operations it had and performed. so, this is one of the
problems addressed and reasons for the arrival of the African union.

-One of the main aims of the organization of the African union by the time it was
created, was the liberation of the African states from European colonialization. but by
the end of the 20th century this was no longer a problem. All the African states were
liberated and sovereign. and attention was needed to be given to other problems of
Africa.

so, the arrival of the African union was beneficial to address other problems for the
benefit of Africa.

-There were no means or mechanisms for the civil society to be involved in OAUs
operations. and this one of the reasons for the alienation of the organization of African
union from the ordinary African.

-The Sirte declaration of 1999 is a declaration where the structure of the African unions
was proposed. this brought nations to consider and work more closely and integrate
than ever before. this improved coordination has a positive all over effect on Africa and
its peoples.
-The African union is also concerned with the prevention and addressing nonpolitical
problems like HIV/AIDS, poverty and climate change.