SOME PERSPECTIVES ON THE PROSPECTS FOR JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN POST-1990 AFRICAN CONSTITUTIONS

Constitutional reforms have dominated all political discourse in Africa since the current transition from authoritarian to democratic rule started in the early 1990s. This so-called “third wave”1 of democratisation has provoked African politicians and their constitutional engineers to design and introduce new or substantially modified constitutions. In spite of this frantic remodelling of constitutions, Africa’s record on constitutionalism has not been a particularly good one. Most post-independence constitutions were quickly abrogated or easily subverted, suspended or brazenly ignored at the whims of African leaders