"Electoral Victory Gives Authority": Asiedu Nketiah Urges African Parties to Build Governing Capacity Before Winning Power

Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the newly elected inaugural Chairman of the African Political Parties Initiative (APPI), has challenged political parties across the continent to abandon their fixation on election cycles and build the institutional depth, policy expertise, and leadership cadres required to govern effectively—warning that Africa's demographic and economic future demands far more than electoral machinery.

Accepting the role on November 7 at the close of the African Political Parties Summit in Addis Ababa, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) chairman told delegates that the quality of governance on the continent is directly tied to the internal strength of its political parties .

"A political party is not merely an organisation for winning elections. It is one of the places in which future government is formed," Nketiah said. "Long before a minister takes an oath, people have already learnt how power is exercised, whether evidence matters, whether competence is respected and whether institutions are taken seriously. What happens inside political parties eventually enters the state" .

The Demographic and Economic Imperative

Nketiah anchored his argument in the scale of the transformation confronting Africa. The continent's population has surpassed 1.5 billion and is projected to approach 2.5 billion by 2050, with between 10 and 12 million young Africans entering the labour market annually against only about 3 million formal jobs created . He noted that hundreds of millions still lack access to electricity, and Africa accounts for only about 2 per cent of global manufacturing value added .

"African politics cannot prepare for that world with assumptions inherited from another age," he warned. "Numbers alone do not create power. Resources alone do not create prosperity. A large market does not create industry merely because it exists. Countries become stronger when they acquire the capability to produce, to finance, to innovate, to organise and to sustain national purpose over time" .

He called on parties to develop specialist knowledge in industry, agriculture, trade, energy, technology, and public finance, and to establish policy institutions capable of retaining institutional memory beyond the tenure of individual leaders .

A Warning Against Institutional Amnesia

The APPI chair also delivered a pointed critique of the cycle of policy abandonment that has plagued many African democracies, where incoming administrations discard functioning institutions and accumulated expertise along with the policies they campaigned against.

"Development takes longer than political terms," Nketiah said. "New governments have every right to change policies they believe have failed, but countries pay a heavy price when each political transition also disperses useful expertise, weakens functioning institutions or abandons investments that continue to serve the national interest" .

"Political maturity includes the ability to know what must change and what must be preserved. There is no virtue in wasting what works" .

From Accra to Addis: The APPI Mandate

The Second African Political Parties Summit, held under the theme "Governing for Growth: Political Parties as Architects of Africa's Economic Future," concluded with the adoption of the Addis Ababa Declaration and the APPI Charter, establishing the initiative's governing framework under the Africa Governance Centre . The summit also approved the inaugural APPI Bureau leadership for a three-year term .

Nketiah succeeds in leading an initiative explicitly designed to transform parties from election-focused organisations into sustainable institutions contributing to national and continental development . The APPI's strategic pillars include a Political Academy for Transformative Leadership, thematic working groups on policy, and a dedicated taskforce on political engagement for the African Continental Free Trade Area .

The summit further agreed to launch a continental consultation process to draft "APPI Agenda 2040," a shared political vision aligned with the African Union's Agenda 2063, and to establish the Council of African Political Party Schools and Institutes (CAPPSI) and the Political Academy for Transformational Leadership (PATL) . Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to support the development of the leadership academy and make Ethiopia's training opportunities accessible to parties across the continent .

A Veteran's Continental Turn

Nketiah's election marks a significant elevation for a figure whose political career spans more than three decades in Ghana. Born in 1956 in Seikwa in the Bono Region, he trained as a teacher before earning a business degree from the University of Ghana and later a master's in defence and international politics from the Ghana Armed Forces Command College . He served as a member of parliament from 1993 to 2005 and as deputy minister of food and agriculture under Jerry Rawlings, before becoming the NDC's longest-serving general secretary from 2005 to 2022, when he was elevated to national chairman .

His reputation for sharp political combat—earned the nickname "General Mosquito" by opponents—now gives way to a continental brief that demands consensus-building across parties with vastly different ideologies and national contexts .

"We come to this responsibility with a clear understanding that the Africa our political parties will govern over the next fifteen years will be very different from the Africa in which many of our present political institutions were formed," Nketiah said. "Electoral victory gives authority. The ability to govern well has to be built before victory comes" .

Key Points:

· APPI role: Nketiah elected inaugural chairman for a three-year term at the Addis Ababa summit

· Core message: Parties must invest in policy research, specialist expertise, and institutional memory before assuming office

· Continental context: Africa's population approaching 2.5 billion by 2050; 10–12 million youth entering labour market annually vs 3 million formal jobs

· Institutional warning: Political transitions must preserve what works; "no virtue in wasting what works"

· Forward agenda: APPI Agenda 2040 to align with AU Agenda 2063; new party schools and leadership academy planned.