THE PARADOX OF DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA

THE PARADOX OF DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA

Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua

 

Liberal democracy is the rule by the people where a freely elected government respects individuals, minority rights, the law and independent institutions. Democracy does not reflect this reality if it shapes and changes this rule. Paradoxes arise because human beings are contextual creatures and make voting decisions based on the circumstances and the thinking of the people around them rather than reason. The paradox is whether those who get the mandate to form the government truly represent the will of the people. Some people vote into power candidates who make promises which all know will not be kept. The belief that every voter should be free and independent to vote without being affected by ideology can in times of political uncertainty lead to system-freezing. As political polarization increases, it leads to antagonistic exchanges not only between politicians and political parties but even among the electorates. People may be interested in providing arguments for buttressing their views, but neither side is genuinely interested in the arguments of the other. The real aim is to 'score points' with the objective of defeating the other side in a competitive activity. Political debate is not about 'arguing to learn' but 'arguing to win.' 

 

African politicians find it difficult to win elections based on delivering universal benefits.  Africa therefore needs a political leadership that has a vision of strengthening democracy and shaping a new reality, which is able to confront problems that the average African faces each sday. Out of emotional, partisan, economic, ethnic and religious sentiments, people who lack the art of political leadership are often given the opportunity to rule countries in Africa that had protected the Infant Jesus. “Out of Egypt have I called my son and my chosen ones” (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:13-23). Given that Africa was the most secure continent in the world, the Holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph went to Egypt (Africa) to escape the terrorism of Herod against Jesus and the holy innocent children. Africa does not lack good leaders even in the present dispensation. The problem is that people of integrity are not allowed to come up in an expensive democratic system. It is as if bandits have conquered the political space with heavily armed security agents to defend them and crush their genuine opposition as perceived enemies. 

 

To elucidate this point, we need to know that Africa has historical records of men and women who have made sacrifice for their various empires, kingdoms and nations. Shaka the Zuluof kwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Wangari Maathai of Kenya, Chinua Achebe of Nigeria, Kofi Annan of Ghana, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Desmond Tutu of South Africa, John Garang De Mabior of South Sudan, Kingsley Holgate of South Africa, Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania and Josina Muthemba Machel, a Mozambican woman who joined the struggle for independence. At the age of twenty-four, she married Samora Michel who became the first president of Mozambique. Testimonies of African heroes are endless. This shows that what we lack is not people who could provide good leadership. Could it be an accident that Africa now producepolitical leaders who lack the skills of governance but could have done better in the areas of their actual discipline? That politics is lucrative has made some people taken their real vocation and profession has unfulfilling mission that should be left in the trash. This is indeed a paradox and irony that contradict existential contentment. Governance is a divine vocation to service just like every other profession that aims to add value to human dignity. Even in the African traditional context, the heir apparent to the throne is trained in the art of leadership just as Prophet Elisha was trained by Prophet Elijah. 

African leaders were not known for selling African people and storing the traditional treasury in foreign nations except for art exhibition to promote the wealth of the land. Ahmed Sekou Touré (1922-1984), the first president of Guinea refused to sell the wealth of Guinea to France. In 1958, Guinea rejected the constitution of the French President Charles de Gaulle and called for independence. Touré insisted that “it is better to be poor and free, than to live in opulence and be a slave." Yaa Asantewaa (1840-1921) was compared to Saint Joan of Arcbecause of her patriotism. She was a great woman, a politician, war strategist, and political activist. In 1900, she led a rebellion against the British to defend the Golden Stool, the symbol of the Ashanti nation. The rebellion was eventually quelled by British forces who forced her into exile in the Seychelles, but she remained a symbol of courage and strength in the face of oppression. Sedick Isaacs was one of the heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle until his arrest in 1964 and sentenced to twelve years in prison on Robbin Island (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moremi_Ajasoro). 

The Oloori Mọ́remí Àjàsorò, Princess of the Yoruba lived in the 12th century. She hailed from Offa and was married to Oranmiyan, the heir to the King of Ife and Founding Father of the Yoruba tribe, Oduduwa. She was a very brave and beautiful woman who, in order to deal with the problem facing her people, offered her only son in sacrifice to the Spirit of the river Esimirin so that she could discover the strength of her nation's enemies. She was taken as a slave by the Ugbo and, due to her beauty, married their ruler as his anointed queen. After familiarizing herself with the secrets of her new husband's army, she escaped to Ile-Ife and revealed this to the Yorubas who were able to subsequently defeat them in battle (Oyeronke Olajubu (2003). Women in the Yoruba Religious Sphere (McGill Studies in the History of Religions); (SUNY Press. p. 29). For a woman to sacrifice her only son to save her people calls for deep reflection on the failure of the African nations. Nigeria must never forget great women like Amina of Zaria. Even now, there are honest and credible Africans who can selflessly transform the different countries in Africa if they resolve that whatconcerns all takes priority over any selfish ego. 

 

Africa can set the pace and standard for the world if Africans are aware of their individual potentials to survive the international politics that has kept the nations aground. Europe and America are fully aware that civilization started from Africa. The potentials of Africans are not hidden anywhere in the world. The time has come for us to put our house in order. Nigeria for instance can remain the giant of Africa, if Nigerians can remember her history and her role in the Pan African struggle. Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki once visited Nigeria before becoming President of South Africa. In the face of the coup in São Tomé and Príncipe in 2003, Nigeria restored the elected President back to power. The ancient Benin kingdom had street lights fueled by palm oil before Europe. Benin art works started over five hundred years ago and this abounds in European Museums. The first television station in Africa was NTA Ibadan (1960) long before Ireland had their RTE station.

Africa need to stand and gird her loins with the truth that this world is not our eternal home. Let us wake up and put on the breastplate of righteousness and shod our feet with the equipment of the message of peace. It is time to take the shield of faith, with which we can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. Let us take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Let us begin to pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:14-18). I believe that when merit and efficiency are allowed to reign in justice, the light of progress would beam on the dark politics that have clouded the nations. Let us source for the true light in order not to walk in darkness. May God give us the light of life (John 8:12). Africa, arise and unite! Begin to shine and proclaim that nothing is difficult for a willing heart!

Rev. Fr. Cornelius Omonokhua is the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) (nirec.ng@gmail.com)

JOHN CARDINAL ONAIYEKAN RfP

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE: 10TH WORLD ASSEMBLY

Lindau – Germany: August 19th – 23rd, 2019

Welcome Address by Co-Moderator, +John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja – Nigeria..

 

Introduction:

The theme of this assembly has been very carefully chosen and formulated, after an extensive consultation among the Religions for Peace (RfP) family, and deep reflection by the Assembly Preparatory Committee. The main theme is:

Caring for our Common Future – Advancing Shared Well-being. 

For the purposes of the working of this assembly, this general theme has been broken into FIVE specific tasks, that will be addressed in five relevant commissions. In this brief “Welcome Address”, in my position as a co-Moderator of RfP, at this formal opening ceremony, I would like to draw our attention to the general theme of the assembly, as mentioned above.

 

1. Events and developments around us in the last decade or so have shown that our human community is at a critical cross road. Our future can no longer be taken for granted. Our theme makes the serious point that this future would depend on how we address the shared well-being of all and of everyone.

 

2. We have good reasons to welcome the fact that humanity has made great progress in science and technology, putting tremendousknowledge and power in human hands, more than ever before in remembered human history. The great decision is how we deploy this great power. Shall we use it to achieve our shared well-being, or to destroy ourselves, putting an end to human civilization as we now know it? We cannot postpone for too long the decision to either live in peace and thrive, or allow the logic of war and selfish domination to consume us all. This calls for radical change of conviction and attitudes on many fronts.

 

3. First, on the political front, the ambitions of great nations and empires must give way to a global community of shared well-being of the human family. It is pertinent to note that even today, the history of many nations is still eulogizing war mongers and violent “terrorists” of the past, praised as national heroes and accorded the title “Great”. Can we imagine what this is saying to the younger generation, dreaming of a peaceful future? But this is not just a matter of past history. Even today, are we not still measuring the greatness of nations by military prowess, which often translates into economic domination and exploitation of others?

 

4. In this necessary change of heart, all other stake-holders must be involved: civil society, the business community, the industrial world, professions and the academia, everyone must play its respective role. In this assembly, we are focusing on the role of the religious communities.

 

5. In this assembly, we have a convocation of a large number of participants of men, women and youth of almost all faith communities in the world. They validly represent the over 85 % of the human race that claim to be religious. It is significant that among those gathered here are also authoritative leaders of many important faith communities on the planet earth. But perhaps even more significant is the fact that we all share a strong conviction that religion must always be for peace, never be allowed to be used to justify conflict, violence and killing. That is what has brought us here together: Religions for Peace.

 

6. We in the RfP family believe firmly that religion has great potentials to build peace, resolve and transform conflicts. We pursue this, armed with our strongly held and commonly shared spiritual values of faith in the God of Peace, sincere commitment tojustice and solidarity among men and women, and care and concern for the weak,the voiceless and the helpless, wherever they may be.

 

7. But we are also awfully aware that we can effectively achieve this noble objective if weare:

a. faithful to our ideals, as mentioned above,

and b. seek peace and harmony within the diversities of expressions of faith in the same God, and thus become a model of a reconciled humanity. This stresses the importance of both interfaith and intra-faith mutual understanding and good relations.

8. This has been the focus and objective of RfPin its 50 years of existence and steady growth. It is also the major focus of this 10thassembly.

 

9. At this assembly, we see a good opportunity to reach out to other stake-holders with whom we share deep concern for the future of humanity: “Caring for our common future”. In particular, we hope to focus on civil authorities at all levels, whose policiesand actions often determine what happens to our world. We hope to continue to seek ever better channels of communication and more effective strategies for collaboration at national, regional and global levels.  We need joint action to address the challenges facing us all. The generous partnership and assistance of the German government in the hosting of this assembly is an eloquent example of such a collaboration. For this, we are indeed very grateful.

 

Conclusion:

In a world so riddled with bad news, this gathering of religions for peace is a good news that the media must not fail to highlight. We need to sustain the hope that peace is not only desirable and necessary for the survival of our human family, but also possible and achievable, with sincere good will among men and women, and with the grace and assistance of God, the Almighty Father and Lord of Peace.

 

JOHN CARDINAL ONAIYEKAN RfP

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE: 10TH WORLD ASSEMBLY

Lindau – Germany: August 19th – 23rd, 2019

Welcome Address by Co-Moderator, +John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja – Nigeria..

 

Introduction:

The theme of this assembly has been very carefully chosen and formulated, after an extensive consultation among the Religions for Peace (RfP) family, and deep reflection by the Assembly Preparatory Committee. The main theme is:

Caring for our Common Future – Advancing Shared Well-being. 

For the purposes of the working of this assembly, this general theme has been broken into FIVE specific tasks, that will be addressed in five relevant commissions. In this brief “Welcome Address”, in my position as a co-Moderator of RfP, at this formal opening ceremony, I would like to draw our attention to the general theme of the assembly, as mentioned above.

 

1. Events and developments around us in the last decade or so have shown that our human community is at a critical cross road. Our future can no longer be taken for granted. Our theme makes the serious point that this future would depend on how we address the shared well-being of all and of everyone.

 

2. We have good reasons to welcome the fact that humanity has made great progress in science and technology, putting tremendousknowledge and power in human hands, more than ever before in remembered human history. The great decision is how we deploy this great power. Shall we use it to achieve our shared well-being, or to destroy ourselves, putting an end to human civilization as we now know it? We cannot postpone for too long the decision to either live in peace and thrive, or allow the logic of war and selfish domination to consume us all. This calls for radical change of conviction and attitudes on many fronts.

 

3. First, on the political front, the ambitions of great nations and empires must give way to a global community of shared well-being of the human family. It is pertinent to note that even today, the history of many nations is still eulogizing war mongers and violent “terrorists” of the past, praised as national heroes and accorded the title “Great”. Can we imagine what this is saying to the younger generation, dreaming of a peaceful future? But this is not just a matter of past history. Even today, are we not still measuring the greatness of nations by military prowess, which often translates into economic domination and exploitation of others?

 

4. In this necessary change of heart, all other stake-holders must be involved: civil society, the business community, the industrial world, professions and the academia, everyone must play its respective role. In this assembly, we are focusing on the role of the religious communities.

 

5. In this assembly, we have a convocation of a large number of participants of men, women and youth of almost all faith communities in the world. They validly represent the over 85 % of the human race that claim to be religious. It is significant that among those gathered here are also authoritative leaders of many important faith communities on the planet earth. But perhaps even more significant is the fact that we all share a strong conviction that religion must always be for peace, never be allowed to be used to justify conflict, violence and killing. That is what has brought us here together: Religions for Peace.

 

6. We in the RfP family believe firmly that religion has great potentials to build peace, resolve and transform conflicts. We pursue this, armed with our strongly held and commonly shared spiritual values of faith in the God of Peace, sincere commitment tojustice and solidarity among men and women, and care and concern for the weak,the voiceless and the helpless, wherever they may be.

 

7. But we are also awfully aware that we can effectively achieve this noble objective if weare:

a. faithful to our ideals, as mentioned above,

and b. seek peace and harmony within the diversities of expressions of faith in the same God, and thus become a model of a reconciled humanity. This stresses the importance of both interfaith and intra-faith mutual understanding and good relations.

8. This has been the focus and objective of RfPin its 50 years of existence and steady growth. It is also the major focus of this 10thassembly.

 

9. At this assembly, we see a good opportunity to reach out to other stake-holders with whom we share deep concern for the future of humanity: “Caring for our common future”. In particular, we hope to focus on civil authorities at all levels, whose policiesand actions often determine what happens to our world. We hope to continue to seek ever better channels of communication and more effective strategies for collaboration at national, regional and global levels.  We need joint action to address the challenges facing us all. The generous partnership and assistance of the German government in the hosting of this assembly is an eloquent example of such a collaboration. For this, we are indeed very grateful.

 

Conclusion:

In a world so riddled with bad news, this gathering of religions for peace is a good news that the media must not fail to highlight. We need to sustain the hope that peace is not only desirable and necessary for the survival of our human family, but also possible and achievable, with sincere good will among men and women, and with the grace and assistance of God, the Almighty Father and Lord of Peace.