Legislative effectiveness under COVID-19 in Africa: striving against executive branch overreach and underreach during pandemics

Legislatures across the world fulfil core functions of representation, law-making, and oversight. Thus, governance goals of participation, transparency and accountability are directly related to these three functions. However, the COVID-19 crisis which started in China in late 2019 and spread to other countries in the world in 2020 disrupted these core functions by forcing the shut-down of parliaments out of concern for the safety of their members and the public in most countries in the world. As experienced in most countries during the COVID-19 crisis, legislatures in some instances were bypassed as presidents and prime ministers prioritise a rapid response. Further, there were conflicts in the manner in which responses were made to address the pandemic between the central government and sub-national governments, especially in federal states. Invariably, legislatures in most countries were marginalised, with greater power concentrated in the hands of the executive, especially at the central level of government. Paradoxically, even where a situation is so urgent that normal checks and balances must be suspended in favour of efficient decision-making, it is still crucial that parliaments play the roles of oversight that make democratic systems ultimately more durable, more effective and more just than any of the alternatives. The purpose of this work, therefore, is to examine how parliaments in Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia performed their core functions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers what parliaments under federal and parliamentary systems can do in order to prepare them to function effectively during an emergency. While it is to be hoped that a similar global crisis will not emerge in the near future or ever, the paper intends preparing legislatures in Africa to be more proactive and effective in dealing with diverse future challenges.