Africa at the end of the 20th century consumed its energy in the struggle for the emancipation of peoples and in the self-determination of their destiny. Having fixed the issue, the continent today needs to concentrate discussions on the present problems, in order to remove the necrological predictions addressed to it.
In fifty years of independence, the democratic map of the continent is bleak. The countries whose systems are referenced, on the continent or in the West, are counted on the fingers of the hands, as a mirror from which the most consolidated examples shine.
Democracy, corruption of the elites and investment in education should be at the center of the political debate today, leaving aside the glories achieved during the liberation struggle and the responsibilities of potential colonialists for the current situation.
It is taken for granted that the first part of Article 3 of the Charter that constitutes the African Union is already passed. No one doubts, for example, that African countries are independent and supportive, and this solidarity can vary in intensity, according to their own and natural affinities, the explanation of which can be found in the geographical, ethnic or linguistic approach.
The challenge for today is the second part of this article. In fact, it is there that the justification for the change is based, not only on the designation of the largest organization on the continent, from OUA to AU, but also on its purposes. Looking at the second part of this article, the continent proposes to promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance; protect human and peoples ‘rights, in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and other relevant instruments relating to human rights. And promoting sustainable development in the economic, social and cultural spheres.
These, and not others, are the themes of today. In summary, the concern is about democracies, corruption and investment in human capital. Some African theorists, sponsored by their respective governments, argue that countries on the continent should adopt their own democracy, looking at the cultural context.
French historian Alain Touraine, in his work “What is democracy”, says that democracy is best defined by the desire to combine rational thought, personal freedom and cultural identity. He explains that “an individual is a subject if the desire for freedom, the fact of belonging to a culture and the appeal to reason are associated in their behavior”.
He adds, to complement the notion of democracy, that “a democratic society combines the freedom of individuals and respect for differences with the rational organization of collective life through the techniques and democratic laws of public and private administration”. By that definition, African democracy is not or should not be contrary to so-called Western democracy. At the center, there is always man and his rights.
Description
Guinea-Bissau or its crisis may be the best picture of African democracies. Umaro Sissoco, winner of the second round of elections in the country, took office even before the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice was known, following the appeal of the former Prime Minister and defeated candidate, Domingos Simões Pereira.
Umaro Sissoco appointed a Prime Minister, Nuno Gomes Nabian, usurping someone else’s competence, that of the party with the parliamentary majority. Not satisfied, he decided to create a commission for the revision of the Constitution of the Country, another competence of others, in the case of Parliament.
Guinea-Bissau has experienced four coups d’état since independence, with deaths in the mix. Umaro Sissoco is not a pioneer in this expedient of making the constitution in his own way. This is, moreover, one of the main signs characteristic of African democracies, alongside electoral fraud and the formal consecration of the separation of powers.
According to the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), this year, twenty-two African countries have scheduled electoral elections, between legislative, presidential and local elections. In some countries, it is not yet certain whether they will take place, such as Mali, Sudan or Cotê d´Ivoire, whose outgoing president, Alassane Quattara, is eager to do his third term. To this end, Ouattara needs Parliament to limit the age to 75 years, a situation that would put out his direct opponents, such as Laurent Gbagbo (75 years old) and the tireless Henri Konan Bédié (85 years old). Outtara had already promoted the amendment of the Constitution in 2016, assimilated the habit and wants to repeat it.
On the other hand, in Burundi, the climate is already tense these days, after the election. In the country, citizens do not have access to social networks, with the exception of users of virtual private networks (VPN). Pierre Nkurunziza accepted him to “rest”, three terms later, but he wants to continue to have his fingerprints in the direction of the country, through Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Nkurunziza’s third term was achieved at the cost of another thousand deaths and four hundred exiles. In 2015, the people took to the streets to contest the President’s claim, but not only were they incapable, but many lost their lives. Changing the constitution to extend the mandates, to reduce or increase the age, according to the convenience, to reduce the powers of other sovereign bodies, the power to condition the action of the organs of justice, among others, is the panorama of democracies to Africa.
Corruption: the second colonization
No other continent is news in the Western press because of the corruption of the dominant elites. A British journalist’s book from the Financial Times can summarize the portrait of the continent at this point: “The Plunder of Africa”. Tom Burgis searched the main and big businesses of the continent, compiled in a work of three hundred pages.
In this work, the journalists describe the big deals involving several Africans, whose figure, in just three years (from 2007 to 2010), resulted in the disappearance of 32 billion dollars, higher than the Gross Domestic Product of 43 countries in the continent . From this work, there is a notion of natural resource business in Democratic Congo or Nigeria, Angola or Niger.
A report by Transparency International, released in July last year by the Voice of Germany, estimates that Africa loses $ 60 million annually to corruption. The survey interviewed 47,000 citizens from 35 African countries, who consider their government incapable, or have done little in the fight against corruption.
The countries whose corruption flourishes most, according to the document, are Democratic Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, South Africa and Uganda. Paul Banoba, Transparency International’s regional consultant, says the fight against corruption must start with the government, who should be an example to the population. “Where the political will is clear, there is a greater improvement in the fight against corruption”.
Alain Touraine says that democracy is not born from the rule of law, but from the appeal to ethical principles, freedom, justice, in the name of the majority without power and against the dominant interests. It is also of the opinion that democracy is not reduced, because, never to procedures or institutions, it is the social and political force that strives to transform the rule of law in a sense that corresponds to the interests of the dominated, whereas formalism legal and political uses it in an opposite, oligarchic sense, barring the path of political power from the social demands that endanger the power of the leading groups.
Touraine adds that, when each party claims their share of their work, their talent, their usefulness or their needs, an economic image is introduced, the desirable correspondence of a contribution and retribution.
The perception of African elites has been contrary, leaving around 250 million of their fellow citizens hungry. That figure represents 20 percent of the population, thirteen of whom live in Sub-Saharan Africa (the region in which Angola is inserted), according to the latest report by the United Nations Food Agency (FAO).
