Transforming The Semi-Democratic State
By
Anthony Akinola
anthonyakinola@yahoo.co.uk
The semi-democratic state, in my own definition, is a state which upholds
democracy as an idea but falls short in the application of its
principles. The principles of freedom of speech and association, free and
fair elections as well as transparency in government constitute essential
attributes of the democratic state.
Most African states, including Nigeria, fall into the category of the
semi-democratic state. We have witnessed in recent months two national
elections on the African continent which attracted the attention of the
international community. The Kenyan election of December 2007 resulted in
violent protests in which more than a thousand people were reportedly
killed, while Robert Mugabe’s tactics or attempts to rig the Zimbabwean
presidential elections of March 2008 have kept the rest of the world
waiting.
Mr Mugabe is 84; even when he was no longer popular he relied on the
coercive institutions of state to sustain his rule. One characteristic of
the semi-democratic state is the role undemocratic institutions such as
the military and police are made to play in the democratic process. They
aid and abet the rigging of elections, and are more than willing agents in
the suppression of dissent. Mr Mugabe used the coercive institutions of
state to devastating effect; Condaleeza Rice, the American Secretary of
State described Mugabe as a “disgrace to Africa”. What a “befitting”
epithet to the political career of a leader who would not leave office
when the ovation was loudest!
The type of electoral misbehaviour recently highlighted in Kenya and
Mugabe’s Zimbabwe are common place in Africa and have more or less become
the tradition in Nigeria since independence in 1960. Nigeria’s most
recent presidential election of April 2007 was not in any way less
fraudulent than the chaotic Kenyan election of December. When the
Nigerian electoral game was tagged “operation do or die” by the then
incumbent president no one was left in any doubt as to what the intended
outcome would be. General Olusegun Obasanjo single-handedly determined
his own successor in office (as Mr Vladimir Putin would later do in the
semi-democratic state of Russia) in an election that was believed to have
been massively rigged in order to ensure his will prevailed. That
Nigerians did not take the law into their own hands like their
counterparts in Kenya should not suggest the former were more civilized.
Nigeria has shed more blood than most African nations since the inception
of partisan politics.
The suggestion has been made, especially by some Nigerian commentators,
that a bloody revolution is needed to sort thing out. Of course
revolutions have played a significant role in the history of democracy,
but such revolutions were directed at sources that made democracy
impossible in the first place. In Europe, for instance, revolutions have
resulted in the eradication of the monarchy or curtailment of its
influence. The history of revolt in some African nations has been a
history of one ethnic group taking up arms against another. In Nigeria,
for instance, a relatively minor religious disagreement has the capacity
to provoke greater resentment than the rigging of an election. This,
however, is not to say that a revolt of some sort cannot lead to positive
change.
The road to true democracy is continuity. Democracy has been interrupted
in Nigeria on several occasions since independence in 1960, while the
American political system, for instance, has endured more than two hundred
years of continuity. We may today admire the sophistication of the
Clintons, Obamas and McCains but the history of American presidential
contest has not always been that straightforward. George Washington’s
elections in 1789 and 1792 were in effect uncontested. In 1800, Thomas
Jefferson defeated Aaron Burr in “in an election in which no one had a
majority and the election was turned over to the House of Representatives
which deliberated and voted 36 times between 11 and 17 February 1801”.
The first time ever that a presidential candidate would go on a nationwide
campaign tour was 1860 and that candidate was Stephen Douglas who lost the
presidential election to Abraham Lincoln that year. A hundred years
later, in 1960, came the age of television and the first ever televised
presidential debate between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon. America’s
presidential elections have continued to improve in transparency from the
early days when the political mafia were said to have had a big say.
The citizenry and patriotic leadership must continue to emphasise the
reform of the political process. Reform of the constitution and the
electoral processes is essential to correcting the mistakes of the past.
Those who have successfully organised the electoral overthrow of “elected
dictators” must also learn not to behave like the tyrants they replaced.
Mr Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who has
persevered over the years in his campaign against the tyranny of Mr Robert
Mugabe has the historic task of launching Zimbabwe on the path of true
democracy and development if he becomes president. Mr Mugabe completed
his own historical task many years ago – he liberated his nation from the
clutches of imperialism – but greed and fear continued to propel him in
office. He remains an important historical figure in Zimbabwean politics
regardless.
The political party, it must be emphasised, is an important element in
the democratic arena and true democrats must be tolerant of competing
ideas. The political party may have been defined as an association of
like-minded individuals but this is not always the case. The political
party, in the Nigerian context, is an umbrellage of diverse ethnic,
religious and ideological interests. The political party itself must be
disciplined for it to be effective and successful in the organisation of
state and society. Nigeria’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is building
itself for the future; any political party that genuinely wants to
complete with the PDP must begin to widen its nets now. The political
party of the future must transcend the transient ambition of the
individual.
The transformation of
the semi-democratic state is largely about the economic and educational
transformation of society itself. The African continent, in spite of its
resources, is the poorest in the world. The quality of our democracy will
improve considerably once the economic and educational fortunes of our
people have also improved. Most Africans do not read, neither do they
have access to television. Pseudo-democrats who only fend for themselves
are quite happy with the status quo because all they ever want is to be
worshipped.
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