Is the Commonwealth still relevant to Africa?

The Commonwealth of Nations is as old as its official head, King Charles III. This union of sovereign states has existed in its current form for 75 years. For many young people, however, the community that once emerged from the remnants of the British Empire has little political significance today. Of the 56 member states, 21 are in Africa. However, unlike in some members like Canada and Australia, the British monarch is not head of state in any of the African countries that are part of the Commonwealth.

There are those who wish that Africa was even less involved with the global organization, especially in Ghana. Eyram Yorgbe, an administrative employee in Accra, believes that the Commonwealth needs to become more relevant and effective, and provide more opportunities especially for its African member states. “African countries are just in the Commonwealth because of our historical ties to the monarchy. It is high time we rethought our strategies with them,” the 34-year-old Ghanian told DW.

Others agree: “At a political level, (the Commonwealth) remains irrelevant,” says Khalil Ibrahim, a 32-year-old activist in Accra, while admitting that organization does “offer scholarships, internships for young professionals from Commonwealth countries, and free online courses.” Currently, the Commonwealth has a population of 2.5 billion people, with more than 60% under the age of 30. It’s mostly young people, who question the purpose of the organization. Most of its citizens live in the Global South and come from former British colonies.

Philip Murphy, Director of History and Politics at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London, told DW that “the diplomatic network of the Commonwealth is important enough to prevent members from leaving the organization or winding it up.” But the Commonwealth as an international organization is very weak, he further explained. “(It) is not empowered to make policy, and there are too many countries to form a clear consensus around the major policies of the day — be that the war in Ukraine or even climate change.” Per Murphy, there has never been a sufficiently strong enforcement mechanism to even oblige the sovereign member states to adhere to basic human rights or the rule of law either.

In fact, much of the current criticism of the Commonwealth is often aimed at the fact that human rights violations in individual member states such as repressive, homophobic laws like in Uganda are not denounced emphatically enough by the organization. Others meanwhile regard such standards as too Western and imperialistic, and don’t want the Commonwealth to comment on such social issues. That doesn’t mean that the Commonwealth is completely spineless; it showed successful commitment during the decolonization of the white settler colonies in what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, says Murphy. It also played an essential role in ensuring a peaceful transition of power in South Africa in the 1990s.

It has focused more on nation-building at the ballot box, observing elections in several member countries; in its recent report, for example, the Commonwealth Observer Group identified significant shortcomings that impaired the credibility and transparency of the 2023 elections in Nigeria. Still, there is interest in the Commonwealth, proven by non-British former colonies like Mozambique (1995) and Rwanda (2009) joining the organization.

This article was provided by Deutsche Welle