In the dynamic of the mission as a commitment to justice, the challenge for a transparent electoral policy occupies a very important role in the public activity of the African Bishops’ Conferences. “To tell the truth, we will not be silent.” This is the approach followed by the African Bishops in reference to the electoral context of their respective countries, according to Fides News Agency.
From Congo Kinshasa to Cameroon, passing through Togo and Burundi, the Bishops’ Conferences of these countries have expressed themselves to demonstrate all the fragility of the electoral processes taking place throughout the continent. The many efforts made over time to achieve a policy of authentic democracy have served little purpose. Bishops have always been committed to encouraging the population to build electoral processes based on the fundamental principles of credibility, justice, transparency, truth, and fairness.
“The hope of a better Africa can be realized through reliable, real, and authentic electoral processes. Only in this way can we establish democracies, give guarantees of stability and be bearers of authentic and holistic development,” said Father Donald Zagore, an Ivorian missionary and theologian of the Society for African Missions working in Togo.
“This is a logic that our Bishops’ Conferences have clearly identified, but will not be able to carry out on their own. In fact,” he said, “to face this challenge and achieve the goal of truly democratic elections, a relationship of mutual responsibility must be created between African Bishops and political leaders. Today in Africa, in many countries, there are rather hostile relations between these two leaderships and the current situation still heralds difficult days for this long and thorny struggle in which African Bishops’ Conferences are engaged, to build a continent free from corruption and poverty, and walk on the path of justice and peace.”
