The history of democracy can be traced with former President of United States, Abraham Lincoln who gave the most acceptable definition of democracy, which is the most popular system of government in this modern day time.
Democracy is not synonymous with Africa, before the colonial time Africa, monarchical system is very dominant amongst African countries, with the king exercising absolute power over his subject and women are being relegated to the lowest position.
It is all about the kings and their orders, which their subjects most obey. The rules are strict, and kings are very polygamous in nature, they marry as many wives as they want, even the one they take forcefully from other men, who don’t have any social class in the community.
The arrival of colonial masters bring about many changes in their lives, they began to see the possibility of having the system of government with white people, but it was not properly taught by the white people something was left behind, the whole picture weren’t painted very well and that’s why democracy is crawling in Africa.
It is not something that grows with the people it was adopted, but never put to practice, democracy in Africa came with huge deceit and corruption, which has created a barricade between the leaders and the led.
What would made someone be in power for decades, is an act of selfishness not democracy, once there are periodic elections, it ought to rotate and allow people to decide who is going to represent them.
Election in Africa has been characterized with violence and fraud, it is not who has the popular votes that won, it is who has rigged the most. And people know about this very well, and now develop apathy towards all the political activities, giving the leaders more edge to continue their misrepresentation.
Political institutions in Africa are not attained by the level of your knowledge and experience, but by who do you know, and this has left democracy in Africa struggling all this while without any remedy to put an end to such system.
Democracy in Africa, leaders are underperforming with much talk and less actions, they get in touch with people only during election and it is draining the system, African leaders have contributed a lot to the downfall of democracy in Africa. Nelson Mandela served as a good example, but many diverted their attention, their gluttonous desire were their ultimate priority.
