Saturday 22 November 2008

Why Multi party democracy still has a long way in Africa

The recent elections held in the United States of America and in Africa paint a contradictory picture of multiparty politics in Africa and the western world. Despite the fact that, democracy is now seen as a prerequisite for development, there is a profound sense of hope being frustrated by previous and current governments under multi party democracies, of stereotypes being reaffirmed-that Africans can not govern themselves or if we can, that we are still a long way from the fruits of multiparty democracy.

The African historical context is not a democratic one. Historically, chiefs and kings were not voted, they were appointed. Every African leader who has come in has taken himself or herself as a king. As such, anyone who defies or challenges them is deemed rebellious. That’s why in such contexts incumbent presidents do not have kind words for their opponents- the opposition and government see each other as enemies. The era has changed but the mindset of many African leaders has not.

Governments in Africa elected on a ‘democratic tickets’ have become corrupted by the conscious development of personality cults. In Uganda, UPC had this weakness where the Party president then the late Mr. Obote Milton built an occultic personality that UPC was Obote and Obote was UPC, the reason why UPC has not really been able to pick up without Obote. Today we have similar challenges with the NRM, where the President is synonymous with NRM and the NRM is the President. Further more, each party is a resemblance of the iconic person's ideology. The challenge is that there is no separation between party issues and personalities, if I criticise a party then I have criticised the person. There is also no longevity with the party ideologies compared to the Luther King or Malcom X Movements in the West. When Kwame Nkruma or Nyerere for example died, that was the end of their ideologies.

One of the major challenges of multi party democracy in Africa is hunger for power by current leaders and how this hunger for power can lead to the erosion of democratic values, electoral fraud, and the near breakdown of relatively well-functioning multiparty systems. Many leaders come to power with the wrong objective to get rich, enjoy pompous life of status and power at the expense of the poor masses. Often time, the leaders in the opposition are only struggling to get into power not ignite social transformation but also to only get power or a piece of the national cake.

Patriarchy is the major anchor of power hungry leaders. Evidence is there that shows, that in Africa we have raised majority of the most power hungry dictators in the world. Why? Dictators and power hungry leaders arise because of the way patriarchy reigns in our homes. In Ugandan homes for example, we have kingdoms and absolute monarchies where the power of a man is absolute and unquestionable. Even right now some parents are busy raising dictators in young boys who will grow up to become the future dictators.

Tribal politics has remained one of our major unfolding. Every party that is existing in Uganda right now is meddling in tribal politics. Africa is also familiar with the concept of military democracy. For as long as the gun is brought into politics then multi party politics can not be effective because the gun has more power than the vote- the power to finish off life.

Multi-party politics however, is the only way to true representative democracy in Africa yet true democracy must take into account the perspectives of all people, tribes and genders and issues of marginalised groups. The over all challenge is that it will take time for African political parties to build coalitions beyond the interests of one region or one ethnic group or gender and to build a party platform beyond the ambitions of a single leader or one interest group. This took time in the West, but it happened. It will happen in Africa too, and I believe that the time is now. Meanwhile, we must not succumb to the notion that Africans are less deserving of their freedom to express their political views than any other people on Earth.


The Writer is gender advocate and policy analyst