Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has identified effective leadership succession and the continuity of national development priorities beyond electoral cycles as essential to overcoming political challenges and sustaining Africa’s development momentum.
Addressing the Second African Political Parties Summit in Addis Ababa, the Prime Minister put forward two concrete commitments for inclusion in the Addis Ababa Declaration. Both underscore the duty of political parties to protect long-term national interests while preparing the next generation of leaders.
On development continuity, Abiy proposed that governing and opposition parties jointly agree on a limited set of long-term national priorities, backed by clear milestones against which the public can measure progress. While parties may differ in policy and compete for support, he stressed that critical national development efforts must not be discarded with every change of government.
Under this framework, opposition parties would back the agreed national goals while rigorously scrutinizing implementation plans, costs, feasibility and delivery. Governments, in turn, would be expected to engage with that scrutiny and use it to improve outcomes.
The second commitment centres on leadership succession. Abiy warned that countries risk losing development momentum when capable leaders fail to prepare their successors. He urged political parties to entrust younger members with greater responsibilities and to promote those who demonstrate sound judgment and integrity, making leadership renewal a core element of political and institutional growth.
As Ethiopia’s contribution, he announced that the African Leadership Excellence Academy would open its training programmes to political parties across the continent.
Together, the two proposals place clear responsibility on African political parties not merely to compete for power, but to build institutions that can sustain national priorities and cultivate future leaders. Abiy further suggested that participants report, at their next meeting, one concrete change they have implemented as a result of lessons drawn from the summit.
