Is Africa becoming tired of democracy?

Written by Lawrence Uduak-Obong Bernard

31st of August 2023

Africa, woke up today (30th Wednesday 2023) to another coup d’état in Gabon. The country has fallen to the hands of another military junta. This brings the number of coup to seven that has taken place in the last 3 years.

The ousted President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba succeeded his father Omar Bongo in 2009 to become the third president in the history of Gabon from 2009 to 2023. His father, Omar Bongo, became a president in 1967 until his death in 2009. This means, his family has been in power for the last 56 years! haba! na only your una waka come? That’s how they have deprived the people of good governance and  economic innovations. This is one of the reasons Africa is not moving forward or rather, let me put it rhetorically, we are making progress backwardly.

One of the biggest problems in Africa is ‘sit-tightism ’.  Every leader wants to sit in power until they die, some even on wheel chair they don’t even care. The other day on a national television, the president of one of the African countries was receiving national salute and was seen excreting urine through his trousers. If it’s not greed then tell me what could be the reason leaders would want to sit in power even when they’re not fit? This and many more are reasons the military would want to leave the barracks and migrate to the presidential palace. 

One thing you will observe is that most of the coup countries were colonized by France. Do they want to make a statement?

We know there are plethora of  factors that are driving the rise in coups in  Africa. They are economic mismanagement, corruption, lack of governments willingness to invest in education, insurgency, poverty, violent extremism and the failure of governments to ensure social justice. 

Nigerian and African leaders  MUST wake up and smell the coffe. They must work hard to ensure this democracy improves the living conditions of the people in order to avoid what is happening in these coup countries. 

When leadership fails to address these challenges, the people will look forward to any alternatives.  Our leaders must know when to leave the stage especially when the ovation is loudest.

We may condemn all these coups but the truth still remains that our leaders MUST ensure the practice of true democracy which entails good governance, respect for rule of law and enthronement of accountability. 

Lastly, we must build strong institutions and not strong people!  Africa is not poor because we're blacks but because we slack. 

Everyone of us must continue to demand good governance from leaders at all tiers of government starting from our local government level. 

#larrywealth

#africa 

#nigeria 

#Africans

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