Democracy in the African Continents can
be said to be in the intensive care. Various reasons such as that there is abuse of power, rule by law instead of
rule of law, amendment of constitutions to suit personal interests, existence
of constitutions but without constitutionalism, no freedom of expression and
one party states point to this view point. This paper will demonstrate how democracy is in the intensive
care unit by looking at the systems and methods of governance of African
states. However, it will be naive to
generalise that democracy is in the intensive care unit in Africa as a whole
because in other countries within Africa, democracy is thriving. Therefore
this essay seeks to show how some parts of Africa are in the intensive care
unit. This paper will give a working definition of democracy and scrutinise the tenets of democracy and use these parameters
as a yardstick to measure the extent African states comply with it.
Democracy has been defined by different
scholars throughout history and among the many definitions some of them are
these, Dahl, (2000) has outlined several procedural minimal conditions that
enable modern representative democratic government. These are the following
“elected officials, free, fair, and frequent elections, freedom of expression,
alternative sources of information, associational autonomy and inclusive
citizenship” (Dahl, 2000:85, Schmitter and Karl, 1996:55). Sorensen (1993)
defined democracy as rule by the people through periodic elections of their
highest leaders in which nearly all adults can participate for which offices
they are eligible and under the rule of law. He also posits that for democracy
to exist newspapers and other communication media are free to criticise
government policies and leaders and also open competition is allowed for
political office. ‘The government of the people, by the people and
for the people by Lincoln (nd.) thus democracy in simpler terms is
inclusivity, participation, respect of human rights and putting people’s
interest first. The working definition for this essay will be democracy is a form of government in
which all people have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.
Ideally, this includes equal (and more or less direct) participation in the
proposal, development and passage of legislation into law (William, 2011).
Lack of
constitutionalism in Africa is another reason why democracy has been said to be
in the intensive care unit. One of the
mistakes generally made by some politicians, and even by some intellectuals,
has been to indulge in the confusion between constitutionalism and written
constitutions. Many African leaders were eager to adopt new “constitutions”, to
amend, abrogate or replace the old ones with the new ones in order to
consolidate their personal powers, with countries such as the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) beating the world-record of one “constitution per
year” in its 46 years of independence, the actual situation has been painted by
Okoth-Ogendo (1996) as one of “constitutions without constitutionalism”.
Instead of limiting the powers of the government, establishing the rule of law,
protecting human and people’s rights and fostering democracy, most
constitutions were enacted to rather remove any checks on governmental power,
to limit the power of the sovereign people, to subject them to the will of the
president and adopted in such a way. Thus democracy is said to be in the
intensive care unit.
The way
elections are carried out in other African countries has contributed to
democracy being in the intensive care unit. To borrow from Okoth-Ogendo’s
(1996) metaphor of “constitutions without constitutionalism”, there have been
elections without democracy in many African countries and confusing the two is
rather a fallacy, the electoralist one. The anti-thesis of the electoralist
fallacy is what Seligson and Booth (1995) have termed the “anti-electoralist
fallacy”. The latter assumes that elections never matter for democratisation.
There is no democracy in our modern times without elections. Nevertheless, for
elections to be democratic, some criteria should be met before, during and
after the proclamation of the results. Democracy
is a competitive system with free, fair and regular elections and universal
suffrage where citizens are guaranteed their main freedom rights (Bobbio,
2008). Thus democracy is in the intensive care unit. In
democratic elections, there must be no way of knowing for which political party
or for which particular candidate a citizen has voted. They are then secrete, when each citizen can
put his ballot in an envelope, without having been either watched over or
influenced, in the secrecy of the polling booth. An example of a country without elections which is
against the tenets of democracy is Somalia. Elections in Somalia were last held during the tenure of Somalia's socialist administration in the 1980s. Popular
elections were planned for the parliament in 2012, but were not held. The
provisional constitution of the country however does provides for an electoral
system, (CIA Factbook, 2009). The Kingdom of Egypt was granted nominal independence by the United Kingdom on 28
February 1922. Between the Declaration
of 1922 and the Revolution of 1952, ten general elections were held in 1924, 1925,
1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1950, (Caldwell, 1966).
The availability
of one party states has contributed to Africa’s democracy being in the
intensive care unit. Heywood (2002: 259–60) has made the point that ‘one-party
system’ is a contradiction in terms, since ‘system’ implies interaction among a
number of entities.Some countries became de jure single-party states,that is,
they changed their constitutions so that only one political party was allowed
in the country. Such parties are subject to strict ideological discipline, in
accordance with the tenets of Marxism-Leninism, and they have highly structured
internal organizations in line with the principles of democratic centralism’
(Heywood 2002: 258–66). These are cadre parties in the sense that membership is
restricted on political and ideological grounds. Examples of de jure one-party
states were Ethiopia with the Ethiopian Workers Party (WPE) and Somalia between
1976 to 1991 with Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP). Since there is
only one party in this system, there is no freedom of expression and democracy
is eroded and dictatorship emerges. There is no regard for the views of
different classes and interests. Government becomes absolute and the
administration becomes irresponsible. The dictators make enormous military
preparations for maintaining their honour and position and they adopt the
policy of war and victory which is quite harmful for the country.Thus putting
democracy in the intensive care unit.
African leaders
amend constitutions to suit personal interests thus putting democracy in the
intensive care unit. Those in power
tend to amend constitutions so they suit their personal interests. In Burundi,
President Pierre Nkurunziza announced in April 2015 that he would seek a third
term in office, they amended the constitution to allow for a third term and he
won the next election which results were announced on the 24 of July 2015 and
he went back for a third term, (Reuters, 2015). Rwandan President, Paul Kagame,
according to their constitution could only serve two seven year terms but he
went to referendum to change the constitution, he will run for president in the
2017 elections. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had presidential term limits
removed in 2005, Reuters, (2005) so he could run for office in 2006. Thus
clearly pointing out that democracy is in the intensive care unit.
Africa’s
democracy has been said to be in the intensive care unit because ordinary
citizens have been denied freedom of expression. Resorting to military force to
maintain power by suppressing political opponents and disgruntled civilians
impinges on the effective upholding of human rights. Bingu WaMutharika (1995)
argues that even in a democracy, “…the masses can still be oppressed by the
system or excluded from the decision-making processes by the same system that
they will have installed and that human rights abuses can still take place even
under plural democracy. Political harassment can be initiated by an elected
government so as to protect its interests though at the expense of the masses.
According to Makuni (2008) a political leader in power might see the violation
of human rights as a necessary evil which enables that leader to stay in power.
For example Ken
Saro-Wiwa, an activist from Nigeria was executed by a former military regime in
Nigeria for fighting for the rights of the Ogoni, (Adiama, nd.). Thus one can argue that greed and hunger for power by
African leaders which leads them to violating human rights is a factor impinging
the effective upholding of human rights and democracy in Africa. Thus democracy
is in the intensive care unit.
The era of the colonial
rule contributed to Africa’s democracy being in the intensive care unit. The lingering effects of colonialism
undermined efforts to build stable, democratic economies and states and this
could be seen throughout Africa during the colonial period and post-colonial
years, (Kodyo, 1976). When the Europeans established colonial boundaries, they
ignored existing ethnic or cultural divisions. New borders divided peoples of
the same background or threw different—often rival—groups together. Because of
this, a sense of national identity was difficult to develop. After
independence, the old colonial boundaries became the borders of the newly
independent states. As a result, ethnic and cultural conflicts remained and
African nations with unbalanced economies and a small middle class. Such economic
problems lessened chances of creating democratic stability. During that time
there was no majority rule which is against democracy tenets. They only served
the minority, thus putting democracy on life support machines.
The liberal
notion of democracy has put democracy in Africa, in the intensive care unit. This
liberal notion of democracy has been criticised in certain circles as being too
elitist, stressing that aspects of participation are neglected (Pateman 1970; Chambers
1996). These other debates about more substantive democracy therefore put much
more emphasis on inclusionary, deliberative, and participatory processes. As
John Gaventa (2006) has put it, the ‘deepening democracy’ strand of the democracy
debate ‘focuses on the political project of developing and sustaining more substantive
and empowered citizen participation in
the political process than what is normally found in liberal
representative democracy alone. Though
far from perfect, the constitutions of both post-authoritarian Brazil and
post-apartheid South Africa offer examples of deliberate attempts at more substantive
and participatory democratic governance (including provisions for participatory
budgeting, for instance).
However, it will
be naïve to rule out African democracy as that it is in the intensive care unit
entirely because in some parts of the African continent it has had its
successes. When evaluated by democracy’s minimum
definition and procedural conditions (as outlined by Bobbio, 2008; Dahl, 2000,Schmitter
and Karl, 1996) - as a system with free, fair and frequent elections, universal
suffrage and that guarantees certain freedoms and rights to its citizens –Botswana
and South Africa democracy is striving. Given South Africa’s particular context
as a country with many languages, cultures, religions and social structures
with tensions between them, an evaluation of democracy as an instrument for
conflict prevention and resolution is a must. In this respect, democracy, as a
system of rights that protects, incorporates and respects minorities, allows
expression and is responsive to citizen’s demands, is effectively instrumental,
and thus successful, for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Zuma was
recently brought before the High Court, News24, (2016) (rule of law) in that
country for the Nkandla Security Structures case where he used state funds and
he had to answer for that. There has not been any mention of violence or
harassment during elections and people can demonstrate whichever way they
please and opposition parties can directly attack the President in Parliament. Thus
democracy is not only in the intensive care unit but is striving in other
countries.
In a nutshell, it is valid to conclude
basing on the evidence above that democracy in the African continent is in the
intensive care unit to a greater extent. Some scholars however, argue that although it is in the intensive care
unit democracy is striving in other countries in the same continent. With this
it is crucial to note that democracy is not an event, it is a process.
References
Bobbio, N. (2008) El
futuro de la democracia,México:Fondo de CulturaEconómica.
Leiden: Brill. p.29. (Retrieved2010-07-21).
Chambers, S.
(1996) Reasonable Democracy. Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press.
Gaventa, J.
(2006) ‘Triumph, Deficit or Contestation? Deepening the “Deepening Democracy,”
. Debate,” In Goetz, A. M. and Jenkins, R. (2005) Reinventing Accountability: Making
Democracy Work for Human Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Heywood, A.
(2002) Politics, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Lincoln, A. (nd)
“The government of the people, by the
people and for the people.”
Makuni,
M. (2008) Africa most popular haven for
ex-dictators In The Financial Gazette, (11
December) p.7.
Mutharika,
B.W.T. (1995). One Africa, One Destiny:
Towards Democracy, Good
Governance, and Development,
Harare: SAPES Books.
“Nkurunziza wins third term as Burundi
President:Electoral Commission,” 24 July 2015.
Okoth-Ogendo, H.
W. O. (1996) “Constitutions without Constitutionalism: Reflections on an
African Paradox”, In Zoethout, C.M. et al (eds.)
Constitutionalism
in Africa.A quest for autochthonous principles, Gouda: Quint
Deventer, pp 3-25.
Pateman,
C. (1970) Participation and Democratic
Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Schmitter,
P. and Karl, T. L. (1996) 'What Democracy is... And Is Not', In Diamond, Larry
and
Plattner,
M (eds.). Global Resurgence of Democracy, Baltimore: John Hopkins
University. pp.29-62.
Seligson, M. A.
and Booth, J. A. (Eds.) (1995) Elections
and Democracy in Central America –
Revisited, ChapellHill:The University of North Carolina Press.
Sorensen, G. (1993). Democracy and Democratization,
USA:Westview Press.
“Yoweri Museveni wins third term as Ugandan
President:Electoral Commission,”
March 2005.
Williams,
J. A. (2011) Man and His Government,
Lagos: Kay & Kay Publishers.
Internet Sources
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.