Public Participation in African Indigenous Governance Systems: Evidence from Pre-colonial Rwanda

Pre-colonial Rwanda was governed through a monarchy system with the king and the queen mother at the helm. Contrary to the colonial view of African indigenous governance systems as backward and undemocratic, the pre-colonial Rwandan governance system was rationally organised and decentralised through chiefs of varying amount of power from the central to the nucleus family levels of society. Apart from the King who cumulated all powers, the chiefs held separate powers according to their domain namely the military, livestock, and agriculture. The system included mechanisms to ensure the voice of the common people is taken into consideration in the exercise of power and a justice system was in place to ensure respect of individual rights. Local organisation systems such as Abatware, and centralised advisory units such as Abiru, and the King’s court are some of the indigenous administrative units whose processes involved the public at both grassroot and central levels, which clearly show that democratic citizen participation was not alien to pre-colonial African governance systems. This study suggests that an inward-looking model of democracy based on traditional values could be more effectively adapted to most African socio-political contexts.