Democracy without democrats in Africa

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly set aside 15th September of every year as the International Day of Democracy, to provide people everywhere with “an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world”. This year’s International Day of Democracy, which the UN dedicated for reflecting on the links between the Covid-19 crisis […]

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly set aside 15th September of every year as the International Day of Democracy, to provide people everywhere with “an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world”. This year’s International Day of Democracy, which the UN dedicated for reflecting on the links between the Covid-19 crisis and democracy around the world, passed last week Wednesday, without much notice in Nigeria.

The UN observes that around the world, many countries’ responses to the Covid-19 public health crisis have threatened democratic development. The imposition of lockdowns, necessary for dealing with the health crisis, has unfortunately also been associated with erosion of basic democratic rights and freedoms, clamp down on the rights of frontline health workers, aggressive surveillance and censorship of journalists and citizens on social media, and postponement of elections in many countries around the world.

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For African countries in particular, the world body could just as well have dedicated this year’s International Day of Democracy for stock-taking on three decades of democracy on the continent. In 1990, there was virtually no democracy in Africa, as the continent was littered with one or other forms of authoritarian systems, from single-party states to military dictatorships. Constitutional government was almost an aberration everywhere on the continent.

Twenty years later in 2010, more than two-thirds of African countries had transited to multiparty democracy of some kind, and were considered “free” or “partly free” by Freedom House, the Washington based think-tank which monitors and measures democratic development around the world. Moreover, democratic progress in Africa in the past decade also coincided with significant increase in economic growth and development, leading some observers to much talk about ‘Africa Rising’.

Today, however, democratic decline is actively underway in Africa. According to Freedom House in its 2021 report, only eight African countries are today considered ‘free’, half of them island countries with relatively small populations like Cape Verde, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe, and Seychelles. Countries like Malawi and Sudan, previously bastions of authoritarian rule, have also recorded recent democratic gains.

Beyond these, and a few others like Botswana, Ghana, and The Gambia, the bulk of African countries are stuck in what CNN’s Fareed Zakaria has derisively called “illiberal democracy”, where countries maintain a façade of democracy without the real changes in political rights and civil liberties. Elections are either deeply flawed or out-rightly rigged, often resulting in post-election violence. And in Burundi, Guinea, Chad, Rwanda, Republic of Congo, among several others, leaders with the sit-tight tendency of old successfully extended or modified their constitutional term limits to remain in power.

More worrisome still, some African countries are sliding back to authoritarian rule. According to the BBC, there have been 10 successful military coups in Africa since 2010, while a further nine attempts failed. In short, Africa is actively de-democratising. We are deeply concerned by these turn of events across the continent within just about ten years.

Many reasons have been adduced to explain the changing fortunes of democratic development in Africa. For one, analysts say, democratic elections, even where those have been free and fair, have not yielded much dividends for most Africans. Lacking effective economic power, African populations can only watch as leaders abuse democratic norms, processes, and practices, a trend that has been exacerbated by economic crisis in the wake of Covid-19.

Moreover, the institutional structures that help to sustain democracy are generally weak across many countries on the continent. Legislatures and the courts behave rather more like lap-dogs than watchdogs. Civil society organizations and the press, groaning under oppressive measures by the state or irresponsible internal practices, remain largely ineffective as checks on the encroaching powers of political leaders. Opposition parties and politicians, too, where they exist at all, offer no alternative vision of society to voters, and often cosy too close to those in power. All of these, in turn, have worsened insecurity and conflict, thereby, further undermining democracy.

But beyond weak economic and institutional structures, the most crucial factor in Africa’s backslide towards authoritarianism is the human dimension. There are simply too few democrats on the continent, in government or outside of it. The values that define and constitute democracy in both theory and practice—free expression and association, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and transparency and accountability—remain largely strange things among Africa’s political class.

Nigeria, sadly, is a case in point. Despite having successfully managed a transition from one party to another in 2015, Nigeria’s democracy continues to wobble. Political rights and fundamental civil liberties of Nigerians remain grossly undermined as society yet again becomes increasingly militarised. Bandits, terrorists and secessionists continue to impose their will on citizens, often at the cost of lives, while the government looks on helplessly, if it bothers to look at all. And while the ruling APC can only grapple with the challenges of democracy and development, or watch them worsen, the opposition parties offer almost no hope for a better tomorrow.

But history has shown that democratic development either moves forward or slides back to authoritarian rule. We reject this bleak prospect for Nigeria and call on all concerned to rise up to the challenge. Nigeria’s future must be that of a vibrant democracy. Nothing else.