DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA

Democracy is not a rigid thing that is used to force people into submission because democracy by etymology and common sense neither subdues nor oppresses, but convinces.

Democracy convinces people to give their opinion and to participate in public issues of common interest.

Democracy is the only thing that is needed to initiate a social change that separates nations from any system that has tied them down and does not allow them to grow.

Many democratic republics of the world are good examples of societies that continue to search incessantly for the road to democracy, through historical phases that will in no way prevent the people from always deciding what is best for them at any given time.

The same is true of Africa, the paradise of democratic republics in search of democracy and in the midst of a process of democratic construction.

The decision to plunge people into eternal poverty is certainly the biggest problem of many African states, with situations that are created only to harm the population and that always benefit individual and corporate interests, and never patriotic or nationalistic ones.

This sad reality is the anti-democracy that is observed in African democracies and that politicians cannot mention because it is precisely their political work.

There are always exceptions, it is true, and there are many countries in Africa that are democratic today because yesterday they were created for democracy, but that is not the reality of another long list of countries.

That is why for Pan-Africanists, it is better not to be secessionist when analyzing democratic aspirations in Africa in the abstract.

Our countries, the richest in the world, are being impoverished by the ambition and greed of a few together with their Western collaborators, and that is an existential problem for intelligent people across the continent and in the diaspora, and for the international community.

We all pretend to fight against corruption and for democracy, but just as a racist cannot fight against racism, a corrupt person cannot fight against corruption, or at least, is the least suitable person.

But if we take in vain that the wealth and abundance of our countries is being lost in the ambitions and personal whims of a few, then we are collaborating with the political sarcasm and the assault on the public coffers that are preventing Africans from living up to their capacity and talent.

Thank you for reading these lines.

Javier Clemente Engonga,

09.07.2021