A close look at Southern Kaduna

These components of democracy in my view provide the horizon from which perspective the advanced social formations, where service has since been the cardinal high point of politics and governance is measured and made the principal determining factor of whether a representative or government is retained or removed at times of elections. That is why […]

These components of democracy in my view provide the horizon from which perspective the advanced social formations, where service has since been the cardinal high point of politics and governance is measured and made the principal determining factor of whether a representative or government is retained or removed at times of elections.

That is why the major contour between the capitalist democracy which is often referred to as western liberal model and the socialist democracy which is referred to either as dictatorship or authoritarianism is in the periodic election apart from the existence of multi parties among other things. The ability by people to measure and make a choice out of a range of alternatives is seemingly the attraction that the west has sold to the rest of the world on what its own type of democracy is and ought to be.

If we accept the simplistic understanding of democracy as basically the government of the people for the people and by the people, it is necessary in attempting to x-ray and grade the attainments of democracy to compartmentalize the broad meaning of the concept as a guarantee to underpinning the correct and contextual deliverables of democracy.

For the purpose of this dialogue, I would like to see democracy as made up of three broad components, i.e, political component, economic component and social component. Each of the three is very vital to democracy and the failure to achieve any, reduces the concept to below the proper meaning and what democracy ought to be.

Political dimension of democracy is defined by the existence of rooted political parties, periodic elections, strong institutions, free and fair elections, free press, and freedom of association among other things. Healthy political competition and rivalries as well as the respect for the rule of law.

The political dimension of democracy has taken a large space within the enterprise in this part of the world where the process of leadership ascendency and change has constituted tremendous problems. Where rule of law is weak, where strong institutions are still overshadowed by the mighty and will of strong men. Agreed that the political dimension is the most overt of the dimensions, the economic and social dimensions provide the framework that determines the efficacy of the political dimension.

The economic dimension perhaps is the most crucial of the dimensions. In Political Science, economics is seen as the major determinant of most political and social actions. In fact a dominant theory in the social sciences has it that it is the economic being of the individual which determines his being and not vice versa.

Accordingly therefore the economic dimension of democracy is determined by the ability of the citizens to achieve their economic potentials and live above the yoke of poverty and want. It talks of the manner and character of the allocation and distribution of societal wealth. What is the relationship between the citizenry and the basics of life? Answers to such critical questions define the extent of the realization of the economic dimension of democracy.

It is the economic component that defines the actual benevolence or otherwise of the actors in a democracy. Where the wealth of a nation is skewed in favor of a very few privileged in the society, where there is a yawning gap between poverty and affluence, it will be safe to conclude that democracy is in deficit.

Advanced capitalist nations especially use the economic indicator to determine the level of success or otherwise of any government that is in place and the measure of its successes or failures are equally hinged on how much the lives of the people are affected on either side of the pendulum.

My view is that any true assessment of the realization or otherwise of the dividends of democracy must be gauged on the basis of how far and how much the economic lives of the people is touched by the very system that is in place. In this case, can we say the lives of the peoples of the majority of people in Southern Kaduna State have improved arising from over eleven years of civil rule in the state and in the country?

Another crucial area is the social component of democracy. In any society where democracy is in place, there exists social issues that define the contours of life. Freedom of worship and association. Right to life, right to live and own property as well as the inalienable right to self determination.

People must live on the basis of the common laws of the land without prejudices of any kind. There must be social harmony and social justice which guarantees the sanctity of life and absence of any form of discrimination against citizens as enshrined in the constitution or laws governing behaviors in such societies.

Without the social dimension, democracy will be incomplete and therefore inaccessible to the people. It is not possible therefore to expect free and fair elections, the rise of strong institutions such as political parties or achieve equitable and just distribution of national or societal wealth in the absence of social privilege and peace as guaranteed by the laws of the land.

In a nutshell therefore, any attempt at understanding the nature, content and context of democracy and its derivable must be anchored on a holistic exegesis of the various components of democracy and the ability to achieve the intercourse of all the dimensions. It is on the basis of this assumption and others related that I seek to look at the issue of dividends of democracy in the southern part of Kaduna state.