By Patrick Ofoe Nudzi, GNA
Accra, June 29, GNA – African scholars have called on African leaders to build interdependence and interconnectedness at all levels of governance to tackle conflicts, structural violence and promote development.
They say though African leaders have invested significantly in ensuring security, peace and conflict management over the years, there are still issues of structural violence in different form undermining the continent’s progress.
Delivering the keynote address at the Merian Institute for Advance Studies in Africa (MIASA) Conference in Accra, themed: “Transitions – Past, Present and Future of Sustainable Governance in Africa,” Prof Thomas Kwesi Tieku, a Scholar in Politics and International Relations, said, the struggle before Africa had been more than violence – using arms and guns.
He said structural violence including extreme hunger, poverty, discrimination and marginalisation which had lingered on for decades within the local, national, regional, continental levels on the African continent had been Africa’s bane, adding that African peace deficit had largely been a sustainable governance challenge.
“Structural violence in the form of extreme poverty, hardship, inequality and marginalisation remain a daily reality for millions in Africa. Symbolic violence manifested in the normalization of domination, discrimination and unequal social relations has become an accepted way of life in too many African societies,” he said.
Speaking on the theme of his keynote address, “Beyond firefighting: Towards a sustainable peace framework for Africa,” he said, countries at the local level must Institute sustainable governance that requireslocal legitimacy and community ownership.
At the national level, Prof Tieku said the countries must provide public goods and state capacity and must have regional approach effectively to manage collective action problems at the regional level.
“At the continental level, they must put in a gear that offers shared goals, ambitions, positions and norms where they connect African to the rest of the world at the global level,” he said.
Mr Sivine Jansen, Deputy German Ambassador to Ghana and Guest of Honour, said over more than three decades, Ghana has demonstrated tremendous change, critical debate and economic excellence with the University of Ghana shaping public discourse at levels of governance.
He commended MIASA-University of Ghana collaboration, adding that it had become more than a resetting space for scholars from across Africa and had fostered dialogue across disciplines, generations and countries.
Madam Grace Diabah, MIASA Director, Ghana, said, in the last eight years, MIASA had institutes a competitive fellowship programme that focused on sustainable governance with thematic areas including conflict management and sustainable peace, sustainable democracy and sustainable transformation.
She said the MIASA programme had been in three phases with the just ended conference being part of the final phase, adding that their aim was to highlight the relevance of African thinking in the global academic world whilst provide time and space for discussing new approaches.
The Merian Institute for Advance Studies in Africa (MIASA), was established in 2018 at the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana. MIASA is based on a collaboration between the University of Ghana and four German partners: the University of Freiburg, Goethe University Frankfurt, German Institute for Global and Area Studies and German Historical Institute Paris.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Email: [email protected]
29 June, 2026