Philosophical reflections on social justice and social order in postcolonial Africa

Many countries in Africa continually face the problem of creating societies where justice will be a reality for all, most especially the teeming vulnerable and marginal peoples of the continent. Currently, the situation has deteriorated into spectral and “pervasive corruption, ineptness, authoritarianism, cavalier abuse of human rights, proclivity towards tribalistic exclusiveness” (Samatar and Samatar 2002:4) which have ensured the erosion of justice and security, and also vitiated the establishment of authentic social institutions for justice. The problem as we understand it is that the endemic susceptibility of African social and political life to injustices and perversions, is due to the absence of a proper idea of justice that can under-write the internal consistency and wider social political consequences of the institutional developmental processes in much of Africa. Evidently, there is a compelling need to disengage from the hitherto existing idea of justice in Africa that currently, “is often a function of who you know or how much you can pay”(Harrison 2000:300). Thus, we must seek a more systematic and holistic way of creating and institutionalizing the principles and values that can ensure enduring and viable social justice that can in turn positively affect the redirection of African social order and development towards security, morality, peace and well-being.