Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has faulted the practice of democracy in Africa, saying that what is obtainable is representative democracy where a few people will grab the common wealth.
The former president also noted that democracy has failed in Africa because of lack of African content and context.
Obasanjo, who spoke on Monday in Abuja at the 60th birthday colloquium of Emeka Ihedioha, former governor of Imo State, with the theme, ‘Is Democracy Failing in Africa?’ decried the current practice of democracy where leaders grab everything illegally and ask the oppressed people to go to court, when they know that justice will never be delivered in court.
He said, “When we talk of democracy we should remember that in Africa before the colonial era we had a forum of government which attended to the needs of our people and whatever we called it to mean, it is democracy.
“Abraham Lincoln described democracy as government of the people by the people and for the people. Democracy is meant to be a system of government that delivers to all the people, not just a section of the people not just a few. But what do we have today? “Democracy has now become representative democracy.
A representative democracy doesn’t take care of everybody. It’s a government of the people for the small number of people by a small number of powerful people over large numbers of people who are deprived of what they need to have life. It’s not a democracy that will endure.
If you talk of democracy failing in Africa, democracy in Africa has failed. Why has it failed? Because it failed in content and in context in all Africa. It doesn’t have any aspect of our culture, our way of life what it stands for, what we believe in, ‘I am because we are.’ It is ‘I am because I can grab.’ What sort of democracy brings you and you grab everything illegally and you say, go to court. When you know that even in the court, you cannot get justice. If democracy is failing, democracy is dying and if we are going to make democracy not to die, we have to look at democracy in the context and in the content of Africa. I hope that we can get to that stage so that democracy, which will deliver, will be the democracy that we will have in Africa.”
On his part, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, who was the keynote speaker, said that only the democratisation of development that can lead to development of democracy.
“If we decide to democratise development and not take every institution, university, medical school to your village and if all the roads don’t lead to your village you don’t fix them.
You should appreciate that the poor people living on the hills, living across the river they too don’t come to accompany you. So we must make efforts to democratise development in a bid to develop democracy”.
He urged the political leaders to constantly develop themselves intellectually so as to be able to deliver good governance.
He said, “You cannot be a president, you cannot be a senator, governor without constantly engaging in mental reflection about what is happening elsewhere.
The Sokoto Catholic Bishop also recommended five books that political leaders should read to help them to perform.
Among the five books is the one authored by Michael Pilsbury, titled One Hundred Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Super Power.
By Joy Anigbogu @Independent
