The Reversal Of African Democracy¹

Hermann-Habib Kibangou²

Official Photo of Nelson Mandela voting the first time in his life in the general elections held in South Africa on April 27, 1994. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The numerous disputes over the outcome of the elections in Africa and the ensuing conflicts about the rejection of the results by one of the candidates of the presidential elections, call into question the sincerity of the proponents of power to work for the development of their respective peoples. Will Africa have its own version of democracy? By this term we mean a type of democracy that opposes the general interest to the partisan and ethnic interest of African citizens, a democracy that ignores Human Rights, etc. ​

Following the recent post-electoral socio-political situation in Gambia, there is a constant debate over African democracy, about how some leaders would end up. If they knew they would either be chased from power like Mobutu from former Zaïre (now Democratic Republic of Congo),³  killed like Samuel Doe of Liberia, or Mouammar Khadafi of Libya, many African Presidents would give up. Better, if one said that politics in Africa makes someone crazy, makes someone lose his head and therefore the capacity to reason, no doubt very few would venture there.

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