Statutory good faith as a governance tool: reforming infrastructure delivery and curbing corruption in Africa.

Abstract

Corruption in Africa’s construction and energy sectors raises project costs, delays delivery and weakens trust in public institutions and financiers. These governance failures constrain the continent’s ability to close its infrastructure delivery gap and meet climate and development goals. This study examines whether a statutory duty of good faith, embedded within collaborative legal frameworks, can operate as a governance instrument to reduce adversarial behaviour, curb corruption and strengthen infrastructure delivery in African construction and energy sectors. The study adopts an interpretivist qualitative design, combining a literature review with fourteen semi-structured interviews with construction, infrastructure and energy professionals. The sample includes practitioners with experience of African project delivery and others working in governance environments comparable to those found across the continent. Data were thematically analysed using an evaluative framework developed inductively from the data and subsequently structured to categorise levels of support. Practitioners view good faith as a practical governance tool. Interviewees linked a statutory duty of good faith to clearer expectations regarding transparency, payment discipline, procurement integrity, dispute resolution and alignment with multilateral development bank (MDB) and development finance institution (DFI) safeguard standards. Seven collaborative legal measures are identified that translate good faith into an actionable reform agenda. Codifying good faith, supported by harmonised legal frameworks, streamlined procurement, improved transparency, fair payment protections and stronger regulatory oversight, could reduce governance risk and make African infrastructure sectors more attractive to concessional and private capital. Realising these benefits will require phased and context-specific implementation and sustained investment in institutional capacity.