PHILOSOPHIA POLITICA

Actions and inactions of our political leaders, like every other member of our society, is subject to moral consideration since what they do or fail to do affects governance and our quest for social good. However, the morality or otherwise of their actions are not judged outside our moral intuitions if we must be fair to them. As Africans, is our ethical framework best captured and defined in terms of impartiality or partiality? In this work, I defend the idea that African ethics is defined in terms of partiality. AdoptingMolefe's defense of partiality as characterizing African ethics but going beyond his characterization of it, I argue that African ethics defined in terms of partiality rests fundamentally on human nature/personal identity. Given that partiality is what defines our ethical framework, and given that our public office holders involved in governance are members of our society, then it is only natural to expect them to live and operate within this ethical framework. Be that as it may, on the particular concerns raised concerning the administration of Covid-19 palliative regime in Nigeria, I argue that strong partialism defeats our quest for a just society, encourages disunity and separation and above all hampers development because of its proclivity to moral myopism and parochialism. Based on the African maxim of ‘charity begins at home', I argue thatthe administrators can act from the foundational premise of partiality and arrive at impartial conclusions for society's well-being based on the principle of permeable boundaries.

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