Misappropriated Development: Exploring Accountability as the Rate-determining Step to the Realisation of the Right to Development in Select African Countries

The right to development seeks to provide the enabling environment for the participation, contribution and well-being of persons in their freedom to enjoy their socio-economic development. The realisation of the right to development, therefore, imposes a duty on the state to ensure that the basic needs of the people are met without any impairment. The challenge in promoting the quality of life of the people as envisaged in the right to development often falls on a strong public service where accountability is a core component. Misappropriation of allocated funds, especially in the public sector, results in misgovernance of the institutions of state. Africa also struggles with the misappropriation of public funds, which hinders the provision of basic goods and quality services for the well-being of the population. Accountability, therefore, is the rate-determining step to the social, economic, political and cultural development of the people. In this article, the concept of the rate-determining step seeks to eliminate the challenges to the process of development to engender social transformation, with specific reference to Nigeria and South Africa. Rampant corruption and misgovernance in many provinces, especially the Free State, undermine South Africa’s strength in fulfilling its development plans. Nigeria is an oil-rich country, yet the region where the oil is produced remains impoverished. This article focuses on accountability as the essential element in curbing misgovernance and misappropriation and examines the development agenda of these regions and the rate-determining step to the realisation of these development objectives, with a view to advancing a development model that puts the individual at the core of its development programmes and processes.