January 20, (THEWILL) – Democracy offers citizens the choice to make political decisions by majority rule freely. It was defined by Abraham Lincoln as the government of the people by the people and for the people.
This concept of representative government has been positioned as the best and globally accepted. Where democracy works, it is people-centered.
Citizens wield absolute powers to choose who leads in every tier of government. To this end, people are
at liberty to vote for any candidate without let or hindrance.
The United States of America, Britain, and most European countries practice this form of government and have been at the forefront of ensuring that this ideology takes over global governments.
However, some countries have no regard for the Western kind of democracy. They have developed a homegrown system of government peculiar to their needs, and aspirations and it serves their purpose better. From available development indices and statistics, those countries are making tremendous progress even though democracy has nothing to do with their system.
China has confounded the world and demystified the notion that democracy is the best form of government. For Africa to function optimally, it needs its peculiar form of homegrown democracy.
The proponents of democracy as the best form of government based their argument on the following principles governing the practice: First, the sovereignty of the people. The people wield absolute power to determine who occupies any elective position and govern themselves through their votes.
Second, equality before the law. People are equally protected by the law regardless of their status in the society.
The law treats everybody –young, old, male and female, rich or poor the same. Third, majority rule. This is a democratic principle that gives the power to make decisions for the group with the highest numbers in the
community.
It is a social choice rule that permits that when comparing two options, the one preferred by more than half should be considered. Fourth, upholding minority rights. It upholds legal provisions in democracy intended to recognise and accommodate the distinctive needs of non-dominant ethnic or racial groups.
Fifth, guarantee of basic human rights. Democracy makes the protection of the fundamental freedoms and rights of all people paramount – this includes the right to life; freedom from slavery, and torture, and freedom of expression.
Sixth, free, fair, and credible elections. Democratic practice ideally offers an election comparatively devoid of coercion and manipulation. No rigging, snatching of ballot boxes, shutting down the iREV portal, or killing.
Seven, rule of the law. It is a state where citizens elect their leaders and the government itself is bound by the law while also helping to ensure that the law is respected among citizens of the state.
Eighth, constitutional limits on government. These are democratic legal and institutional restrictions on the power of the government. They are intended to protect the rights of individuals and minorities.
However, the pitfall of African democracy is evident in the manipulation of the electoral system and the crooked leadership recruitment process. This has led to an abysmal level of development in all sectors across the continent.
The imposed version of democracy obtainable in Africa runs short of truly representative government. It is a colonial legacy nailed to the necks of African countries.
Suffice it to say that, the challenges confronting Africa are erected on the weak pillars of her democracy driven by external forces of neo-colonialism. Many Africans have realised that what is obtainable is akin to voodoo practice tailored to satisfy more of the interest of colonial masters than that of the citizens.
This common African democratic system offers the neo-colonialists opportunities to rule by proxy through their anointed rich and powerful puppets who represent their overall interests.
Many African leaders who fit into the above description were/are largely made up of leadership charlatans without character or integrity.
They are ready to negotiate away their countries for any amount. Despite the above shortcomings, the colonial powers who cannot tolerate such misgivings in their countries continue to romance and sustain such leaders.
The reigns of such leaders only end with military interventions as seen recently or when their people rise and disgrace many of them out of office.
While, the early African democratic processes were beset with naivety, fraud, corruption, and electoral irregularities leading to military interventions; the trend has remained the same over the years.
The colonial masters pretend to nurture democracy in Africa but they simply manipulate the process to suit their whims. This has led to failure to produce the rightful winners through transparent electoral choices and processes.
Who could boldly assert that what is obtainable in Africa and nay Nigeria is ideal democracy?
The electoral processes are marred by obvious state or externally sponsored irregularities to favour certain candidates.
They are blatantly flawed and manipulated. With the connivance of some developed countries what is seen as democracy is a selective appointment of their favourites to political offices in the name of election.
Nigeria and nay almost all African nations have people with leadership qualities to transform their countries but they are frustrated. The corrupt electoral system gives them no chance. At every electoral recruitment process, they are either rigged out using the electoral umpires, security agencies, and even the judiciary.
This disappointedly threw up unpopular figures as leaders who are often forced down the throats of citizens. No time in Nigeria’s political history was the best elected into office. It was deliberately orchestrated to perpetually make Nigeria non-functional.
Early in the life of the country, the so-called owners of Nigeria were quite aware that Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe were both better leaders than Shehu Shagari but they lost eventually in a keenly contested
election to a neophyte through a manipulated process.
One wonders why election observers from the West and Europe always spend time and money to monitor and ensure supposedly free and fair elections when they sit on the fence in the face of obvious electoral irregularities whenever they release their reports.
No matter how beautiful democracy is burnished, it represents nothing more than scrap-colonial-legacies, a transition of old feudal and oligarchical systems indirectly imposed on the people as the best form of government.
Time has proven that good leadership does not necessarily evolve from democracy. The resounding ovation the President of Burkina Faso – Ibrahim Traore received in Ghana as he attended the inauguration of President John Mahama was a pointer to the fact that what people desire are service, patriotic, and committed leaders who proffer solutions through developmental strides for the common good. ‘
All African leaders who are products of democracy in attendance were jolted at the acceptance and warm reception of a man who is not in their ideological league. This should serve as a lesson and a moment of sober reflection for African leaders who think every election cycle they will rig to win or sit tight is more important and a reflection of democracy or good governance.
*** written by Sunday Onyemaechi Eze, a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication and Head of Internationalisation and Partnership, Coal City University, Enugu State.
