Democracy has failed in Africa-Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo claims that democracy in Africa has failed and is not benefiting the continent.

Obasanjo stated this in Abuja on Monday during a 60th birthday celebration for former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Emeka Ihedioha.

“If you’re talking about democracy collapsing in Africa, it’s already failed. And why did it fail? The failure can be due to the absence of African context and content. The former president informed the audience that it had nothing to do with our culture, way of life, values, or beliefs.

“Are we talking about democracy, or Western liberal democracy? Prior to colonial domination, Africa had a government that prioritised its people’s needs.And whatever you name it, I think it’s democracy.

What constitutes the essence of democracy? American President Abraham Lincoln characterised it as “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Obasanjo stated, “Democracy is meant to be a system of administration that gives to all people, not just a subset of the people, not just a few.

But what do we have now? I feel that democracy has evolved from Greek democracy, which brought everyone to the square and gave everyone a say in decisions that touched everyone, to representative democracy, and representative democracy has not taken care of everyone.”

According to Obasanjo, before colonial domination, Africa had its own governance structure, which he said benefited the people better.
He did, however, criticise the continent’s existing system, which he claims has allowed governments to “grab everything illegally and corruptly” and ask the people to “go to court”.