Gibson Nyikadzino
ELECTIONS in Africa since 2016 have continued to give further indications that democracy is showing cracks in the continent as new leaders and those established 'authoritarianly' are gaining strength.
In that year, Djibouti, Chad and The Gambia held elections whose results came largely as expected. In Djibouti the incumbent Ismail Guelleh won a fourth term and in Chad Idriss Dèby. In The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh (the incumbent) lost to challenger Adama Barrow who today is keen to be a sit-tight leader breaking democratic promises he made before the elections in 2016.
At his inauguration in early 2017, he promised to stay in office for only three years. He has since changed his mind, much to the disgust of his former allies.
Questions continue to be asked whether continental democracy is dying?
This appears to be the problem of what analysts say “third-termism” where leaders extend their presidential terms beyond constitutionally reasonable limits.
This has been visible in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where Joseph Kabila, instead of leaving the presidency in 2016 after serving his two five year terms, held on to office for two more years. Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose mandate is set to expire in 2028 after serving a maximum two five year terms, is working on amending the constitution after signaling in 2019 that “in 2030 I will still be around.” A similar development occurred in Burundi in 2015 when the late Pierre Nkurunziza amended the constitution and stay in office for more years led to civil disturbances. In Rwanda, Paul Kagame is set to be at the helm until 2034, since 1994.
Leaders who had been arrested during their strong campaigns for freedom, liberty, access to health and all other democratic elements turned their back on such once they got in office. Last year Guinea’s Alpha Conde became a “third termist” after soiling the sanctity of the constitution.
How did the continent, so promising in youth, become a comfortable bed for undemocratic exercises?
During the industrial revolution, European powers colonized ninety percent of Africa and had local politicians who acted as proxies to keep pressure on the population, exploiting human and natural resources on behalf of the colonizers. This created an authoritarian top-down approach and birthed the idea that the only way to rule was by force.
Decolonisation, though spoken glossly today, has not helped building democracy in Africa, but has blocked efforts to have a sustainable democracy.
Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has ruled Africa’s richest country per capita since 1979 amid persistent accusations of corruption, nepotism and electoral fraud. His son is the country’s vice-president and has all governing power.
Although colonialism is gone, it has had a negative bearing on the continent.
After Ghana attaining independence in 1957, Guinea was the sole French West Africa colony in 1958 to opt for complete independence rather than membership in the French community. Soon after Guinea’s declaration for complete independence, France withdrew all aid to the new republic and dismantled all government structures, destroyed all paper-work and left the new government with no structural record of government operation.
The issue of an uneducated and illiterate population comes to mind.
When the DRC (then Zaire) got independence from Belgium in 1960, it only had sixteen college graduates in a population of a little over fifteen million. From the dawn of Africa’s independence, an uneducated leadership and population proved a hurdle to democracy. It is said democracy is a horrible form of government if the people are not educated.
The biggest worry the continent faces today is sliding back to colonial authoritarianism in post-colonial Africa. Democracy is in reverse. Today there is an unprecedented pressure applied on ‘free media’, free speech, independent judiciary, legislature and electoral commissions.
Recent developments in Uganda’s election reveal that the continent’s mark on democracy is off tangent. Incumbent Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner for a sixth term.
These leaders were only interested in power. Zimbabwe’s (late) Robert Mugabe, a teacher by profession, came to power without administrative experience came to power in 1980 and ruled the nation for nearly four decades. Uganda’s Museveni, a rebel army commander whose noted ‘profession’ has been involvement in rebellions that toppled Idi Amin and Milton Obote’s governments before he captured power.
While many African “liberators” claimed democracy is “one man, one vote,” evidence seen today points that Africa was not ready for democracy coming through all elements. When European and American countries became democracies and/constitutional monarchies, they too had a large uneducated population. They promoted citizen education and political involvement, unlike bordering on “literacy.”
Winston Churchill’s said: “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” This is one against democracy in Africa, too.
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