Africa Check, an independent fact-checking organisation launched in 2012, says it wants to build a promise tracker; the African Election Promise Tracker that will help citizens hold their presidents and prime ministers accountable to their promises.

According to the Executive Director, Africa Check Cunliffe -Jones, “If politicians see they have to keep the promises they made to get elected and it will transform the world we all live in. Schools, roads and hospitals will be built in bricks and mortar, and not remain as paper promises. That is why we want to track promises made by leaders elected in four key countries: South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal”.

The African Election Promise Tracker will take the form of a website that allows users to log election promises made by their presidents or prime ministers during their campaigns. Africa Check will track these promises, reporting back to the public on whether these promises have been kept or broken.

In order to make the African Election Promise Tracker a reality, Africa Check is running a crowd funding campaign through the Given Gain platform, until 30 November 2017. We’ve set a target of R260, 000 or $20,000 which will allow us to build this tool.

Everyone who contributes to the campaign will be among the first to view and the promise tracker tool, which is scheduled to be launched in early 2018.

“We are asking supporters to donate and share the campaign with their networks. Help Africa Check contribute towards improving transparency and accountability in Africa – holding up to scrutiny the election promises that have been made by the continent’s leaders.” said Cunliffe-Jones