OF DEMOCRACY

“For forms of government let fools contest, what is best administered is best”

I still remember this quote. It was a question which I had to answer in my second year political science exam in the University of Ghana. I remember I did not know how to go about answering this question and for 20 minutes I just sat still wondering what it meant, and how to answer it. The lecturer – who considered almost everybody a buffoon – had outmanoeuvered us all. The other lecturers could not come to terms with how to correctly answer the question. Well I made an “A” in that course so I guess I answered right.

The meaning of the sentence up there is not in doubt. The speaker meant simply that forms of government were not as important, good governance was (as in “…what is best administered is best”). So the question remains what good governance is or means. Is good governance necessarily democratic? It must be said that the western world has been particularly lucky (or is it blessed?). Going from monarchy to fiefdom to the signing of the Magna Carta to the constitution of parliaments etc., the Western world has had at least 300 years to practice and perfect the mode of governance now called democracy gradually building the sustainable institutions needed to make that system of governance work. This was however not without any challenges at all. Remember that democracy in ancient Athens excluded a whole class of “slaves” to the advantage of a class of “citizens” – those born of Athenian ancestry. Remember that in Europe and the US especially, it took time before women acquired electoral franchise whilst it took blacks even longer to do same. The bottom-line is that whereas Europe and the United States have had a long history (at least 200 years) perfecting democracy, Africa did not set out on this same path.

From history, Africa has known what I term “Patriarchal Monarchy”, i.e., government by Kings or Chiefs. The Chiefs and Kings were members of a royal clan who were chosen usually by kingmakers who happened to be heads of families in the royal clan, or heads of the other clans that make up the tribe. The king was all powerful, distributing power and favours as he liked. Of course the king had the Queenmother and gods to worry about. If he misruled the Queenmother could effect a destoolment or the gods could deal with him or the other chiefs in the state could come together to remove him.

A lot of us Africans love to console ourselves with the view that there was democracy at work in the African governance system. The African intellectual is striving so hard to let the world know that the African was democratic simply because family heads or Kingmakers came together to choose a Chief, as though democracy was all about elections. Assuming, without admitting, that the African was democratic, why are we so much seeking approval from the West overtly and covertly of our “democratic” standing? Is democracy only about elections? Who proffered that western democracy with all its freedoms and rights and responsibilities was the best form of governance to be practiced in Africa? Who said autocracy was an inherently evil or incompetent form of governance? Or is it because Russian Marxism went into crises and Russia eventually lost the Cold War, Marxism is a bad form of governance?

Why is Africa not growing, or why has Africa not been allowed to grow a system of government that suits its cultural, social, economic and political peculiarities? I’m always flabbergasted when I see Africans who are democratic zealots. Purveyors of democracy are as inconsistent as the ideology they are selling. Let me ask, why is the “Mother” of all democracies torturing people and imprisoning some without trial? Yet another world leader does this and he is evil?

The inherent problem with democracy is its brazen idealism. Democracy seems to fail to respond to reality, and when it does, it is under wraps because it has sold itself on idealism.


I am not saying democracy is bad, no. I’m simply saying that it does not suit Africa’s historical, social and economic peculiarities. We do not have the structures the US and Europe has built to support their democracy. Even where such structures have been built, they look awkward, like square pegs in round holes. I believe it is possible for Africa to develop, but we must develop on our own terms. What Africa needs isn't strong institutions, or even strong men. Africa needs its own form of governance so it can develop on its own terms. 

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