Ecuador’s Lesson for Africa: When Government Serves Citizens, Not Political Elites

By Abdiqani Haji Abdi

The contrast between Ecuador and Somalia raises a question that is uncomfortable but increasingly unavoidable: What happens when political power is treated as a public trust and what happens when government becomes an avenue for political patronage, weak accountability and private enrichment?

The question has acquired new urgency following the extraordinary case of former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno, who was convicted by an Ecuadorian court on August 28, 2026, in a major bribery case linked to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric project, Coca Codo Sinclair.

Moreno, who served as Ecuador’s president from 2017 to 2021 and previously served as vice president from 2007 to 2013, was sentenced to five years in prison and permanently barred from holding public office. His wife, daughter, two brothers and a sister-in-law were also convicted as accomplices.