The Undemocratic Democracy Of Africa: The Uprising Of Leaderless Gen Zs By Mbang Confidence, Esq.

Introduction

All around the world, and from time immemorial, governance of man has been a major issue regarding co-existence. Then, there came a system of governance which is people-centric, people-centered and people-oriented. This system of government is called Democracy. It is a system of government that is made to balance the two-way interest in view of the doctrine of social contract. Democracy is the most populous model of governance in this modern era. According to the 2023 Democracy Index published by the Economist Group, there are over 167 countries and territories, of which 166 are sovereign states and 164 are UN member states practicing democracy. However, recent events in African nations do not represent the popularity of this model of governance. The events do not represent the description of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America in his November 19, 1863 Gettysburg Declaration. In Africa, many nations are simply observing civilian government under the guise of democracy – a system – more draconian than military interregnums. What we have can best be described as “authoritarian governments in democratic disguise.” The level of poverty, bad governance, oppression, sit-tightism, draconian policies in governance has led to spates of military coups and civil unrest in many African nations, thus declining the popularity of democracy. Therefore, it is time for African leaders to reflect back on the journey thus far, and decide on the pathway to follow ahead.

Species of Democracy

There are majorly four species of democracy according to the Economist Group: the full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.

1. Full Democracy: Full democracy is practiced in nations where civil liberties and fundamental political freedoms are observed, upheld and adopted as a norm in leadership. The various arms of government are independent, and check and balances observed without fear or favour.

2. Flawed Democracy: these are democracies where civil liberties and political freedoms are observed and upheld but with certain infringement or violations. These may be media suppression, ethnic/tribal considerations, oppressions, crisis, etc.

3. Hybrid Regimes: these are nations with democracies plagued with electoral fraud and vices. In this kind of democracy, the judiciary is not independent, oppositions are always shut, high corruption, bad economy, zero human rights tolerance, low political participation, amongst others.

4. Authoritarian Regimes: is a government where the elementary ingredients of democracy are absent with the presence of limited conventional democratic institutions. This system is more common to absolute monarchs or dictators. In other words, it is just cock for the few.

The 3E’s of Democracy

A critical understanding of democracy would readily lead to the submission that it is the best model of governance. Democracy is people centered, and its three (3) enemies are; changes in political performance, increasing levels of corruption, and failure to promote the rule of law. For purposes of scholarship, I take the liberty to blaze the trail accordingly;

1. Changes in Political Performance: no doubts, since democracy is people’s centered, the beauty of its governance is based on the impacts on the citizens and its general affairs. Democracy is government for the people, so where the system is anti-people, the people are bound to renege. In Africa, change of political performance goes to the root of democracy. A readily made example is the ongoing protest in Kenya as a result of the contentious Finance Bill, 2024. The people were fed up of so many policies and decided to express their disgust against the system. This is moreso as the President has met almost all their demands, but the people seem not to be satisfied. What they simply need is a change of political performance. In essence, the democracy practiced in kenya was not democratic.

2. Increase level of Corruption: corruption is a bane to democratic governance. High level of corruption can cause civil unrest in a system. When the people discover that corrupt officials are being speared and allowed to loot the wealth of the nation, they become hopeless and idle, this often leads to breakdown of the system. According to the United States Institute of Peace, the current Kenyan protest is caused by “severe corruption” which has occasioned poverty, unemployment, inequality, unsustainable foreign debts, amongst others.

3. Failure to promote the rule of law: the rule of law is quite a broad subject matter in legal jurisprudence. It encompasses the doing or undoing of an act in line with the tenets of law. It entails the supremacy of the law in the society. Electoral processes, democratic institutions and general administrative quarters must conform with the rule of law in the course of rendering services to the nation. Where there is no rule of law, anarchy is bound to ensue.

Coups, Protest, Successions, etc

The murky waters of African governance have been greeted with coups, protest, succession agitations, demonstrations, amongst others. These events simply register the displeasure of the people over the state of governance. In other words, the interest of the people has not been protected or given due consideration.

For instance, coups. In this modern era of governance and constitutionalism, it may be safe to classify coups as military or constitutional. Military coups being the most popular should be distinguished from constitutional coups which involve the use of legal electoral processes and institutions to hijack the government and install choice-candidates by any means whatsoever.

Within the last three years, Africa recorded 7 coups across nations. On July 26, 2023, the Niger military announced that they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum, General Abdourahamane Tiani became the new strongman of the country. On January 24, 2022, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was ousted from power by the Burkina Faso military, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was inaugurated president in February.

On September 30th, Captain Ibrahim Traore took power. On 25th October, 2021 soldiers chased out transitional civilian leadership in Sudan. On September 5, 2021, President Alpha Condé was overthrown by a Guinea military coup, on October 1, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya became president. On August 18, 2020, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was overthrown by the Mali military, a transitional government was formed in October. One common feature of coups is the promise of return to civilian rule by the military rulers. While some keep to their promises, many have reneged or have been mutinied out of power. This was the situation in Nigeria from 1966 through the interregnums till 1999. Aside from the above recent statistics, Africa holds the highest record of successful military coups in the world, having successfully observed 106 out of 242.

Constitutional coup on the other hand is when officials use power and influence to either constitutionally win or retain victory in an election, and also when term limits are increased or decreased, or term and age limit are completely removed. For instance, Presidents Gnassingbe of Togo, Museveni of Uganda, Deby of Chad, Biya of Cameroon, Kagame of Rwanda, the late Nkurunziza of Burundi, and el-Sisi of Egypt, just to mention a few.

Political influence can be used to rig elections, and many times, even if redress is sought in Court, the ruling party or incumbent always emerges victorious unless the Tribunal is fair. Rigging of election, and securing victory in Courts through constitutional accepted means qualifies as coups. These coups are however constitutional and brandished legal. These, to my mind, are the scary aspects of constitutional democracies. In Africa from 2002 to 2023, there have been 24 attempts to amend constitutions to extend political power, of which, 19 were successful. This amounts to one attempt a year over the last two decades of African Union (AU) existence, with an approximate success rate of 78%. Meanwhile, Article 23 (5) of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance refers to ‘any amendment or revision of the constitution or legal instruments’ infringing on democratic change of government principles. According to this Article, this constitutes ‘illegal means of accessing or maintaining power’ and, therefore, ‘an unconstitutional change of government and shall draw appropriate sanctions by the Union.’ But if I may, has any nation been sanctioned for any of the illegalities? Definitely, your answer is as good as mine.

Civil disobedience like protest is another viable tool by the masses to ensure the expression of grievances in a democratic dispensation. Where the interest of the people is not protected, the people may resort to protest as a means of registering their displeasure with the government. Recently, Activists led by young Gen-Z Kenyans launched peaceful rallies a month ago against deeply unpopular tax hikes but they descended into deadly violence last month, prompting Ruto to drop the planned increases. Although street protests have eased since dozens of people were killed and parliament stormed in late June, activists are still demanding the president’s resignation, with new rallies called, using the hashtag “RutoMustGo”. Permit to assume, but not concede that this may soon be the fate of many African nations.

The lack of good governance due to the wrong practice of democracy has led to groups clamoring for succession. A group of persons would never want to be part of an entity where they are being treated inferior or with disdain. They may rather choose to bear allegiance to another quarters, or better still, exist on their own as a sovereign entity. This is the situation in many African nations including Nigeria. Therefore, the need for a democracy to reflect its core tenets and values cannot be over emphasized. African nations must sit up to the challenge of providing good governance to the people to avoid these events.

Is Democracy dying in Africa?

The recent events that took place across Africa had sent a negative signal on the progress of Democracy in Africa. According to reports, this year, over 23 nations were scheduled to conduct general elections, with over 5 scheduled to hold within this last quarter. We have experienced over 5 coups within the last 5 years, and protest against governments across the continent. This clearly reveals the decline in satisfaction of democratic governance in Africa. Recall the 3E’s of democracy above, when any is present, the people are bound to lose hope and trust in government.

According to Afrobarometer, Africa’s democratic project faces challenging times, overshadowing ruling-party transitions, the ouster of long-sitting presidents, and other democratic advances, and fueling warnings that democracy is losing ground on the continent. Their 25 years of documenting Africa’s democratic aspiration and experience cannot be swept under the carpet. They carried out a representative survey in 39 countries and submitted in a nutshell that Africans need or support more democracy, but nurturing the same would demand local government integrity and accountability.

Some of the key highlights from Afrobarometer are as follows:

• 66% of Africans prefers democracy against military rule, one man rule, or one party rule;
• Support for democracy reduce by 7 percent;
• Opposition to military rule dropped by 11 points;
• 53% of Africans ready to accept military rule if elected leaders abuse power and resources;
• Support of elections dropped by 8%, although it is still the most preferred means of electing leaders;
• Democracy has dropped by 8 – 11 percent among 30 countries during the past decades;
• Citizens of nations are no longer satisfied with the quality of elections, accountability of the executives, and impartiality of the Courts.

In the light of the above discovery, will it be safe to submit that Africa’s democracy is dying? I dare answer in the affirmative. The recent events in Africa clearly reveal the decline of democracy de die in diem. Democracy is people’s centered, where the political and economic interest of the people becomes jeopardized or compromised, they may have no choice than to renege on the contract. This is why many African nations are experiencing coups, radical protest, wars, successions, amongst others. African leaders must realize that the people are getting hardened day by day, and the events in sister nations serve as a moral lesson to others. A wise man once said, ‘’you can learn from the mistake of others.’’ In this modern era, Democracy is the best system of government but it ugly side is always daring and aggressive.

Recommendations

1. Political Considerations: governments of various African nations should consider political differences within the system and thrive to amend the same in the interest of all.

2. Economic Considerations: since democracy is people centric, the government must always ensure that the economy is fair to all and sundry. The government must not watch its economy plunder to the detriment of the poor masses.

3. Judicial Integrity: for a nation to be properly governed, the independent umpire must be neutral and impartial to all. The judiciary must assume the position of a father between two sons, and the judiciary itself must be checkmated.

4. Diversities: the government must be able to balance the diverse nature of the people considering the nation’s pluralism. Ethnic/tribal, religious and social diversities must be addressed.

5. Poverty and Hardship: if the government truly derives its power and authority from the people, then they owe a duty to provide for the people. A government should not watch the people wallow in abject poverty and hardship. It sends a bad signal to the people about the system. When this happens, democracy is put on the spotlight.

Conclusion

Nothing is totally perfect, even government, except the government of God. However, our leaders must not persevere in error to the detriment of the masses. At this critical stage, African leaders must brace for the reality of a fearless and leaderless generation. They must endeavor to make good the essence of governance and leadership. Africa’s democracy is on the decline, poverty and hardship is a respecter of no man. The new generation fondly called ‘’Gen-Zs’’ have woken to reality, they are fearless, faceless, leaderless and unapologetically unwavering in their pursuit for a better Africa. This is the current situation in Kenya, may it serve as a lesson to all other African nations. An empirical analysis of demographic evaluation shows the overwhelming capacity of the youths in every nation, therefore, the government must not take them for granted.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: ‘’The pursuit of wealth is not a bad thing in itself because without the food and comforts which wealth provides, life will be penurious and drab. But always remember that any wealth accumulated on a selfish basis, at the expense of the State in defiance of social justice helps to create a disorganized society in which everybody will eat everybody, and no one person can be safe.’’ Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

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