The missing pieces of the puzzle

Teodoro Nguema of Equatorial Guinea

 I was scrolling through my newsfeed and came across a headline that struck me. It set in motion a train of thoughts that ended with a great concern for me. The headline read “ Equatorial Guinea’s 80-year-old president won by 94.9% to serve his sixth term” I got curious and decided to read the entire story. Where I found out the President’s son is also the Vice President. So I checked the comments section to read what other readers of the story had to say. The comments were not any different than I’d expected—a mixture of unrefined emotions from unpleasant experiences and clinical assessment with an in-depth grasp of issues. It was quite an interesting assortment of ideas and viewpoints from people with unrelated yet very similar experiences. Some comments, laced with hopelessness and /or sarcasm, did not foul any aspect of the news at all—they literally did not expect anything different. Others thought the election could not have been free and fair. Some comments made the president’s age an issue, questioning the motives of running for an election for a sixth term at age 80. I concurred with a particular comment that asked what an 80-year-old man seeks to achieve with a country that he couldn’t in the past five election cycles when he was younger and fitter. In it all, I tried to synthesize the comments and reconcile them with general African politics.

I realized moving the goalposts is par for the course among African politicians. Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea may have reached new depths by making his own son the Vice President but he is by no means the only power-drunk president in Africa. Most of the convulsions and strife that we have witnessed on the African continent are caused by political gridlock. So many countries shudder at the prospect of elections; elections that are bound to end with a predetermined winner or ones that sympathizers of the winner and the loser shove aside the ballot box and resort to violence.

 

Alassane Ouattara of Cote d'ivoire 

The West African regional bloc witnessed a grim trend of coup d’etats in the past few months. Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea Bissau toppled their respective governments in the span of twelve months. These coups however pale in comparison in terms of casualties to what we witnessed in Côte d’Ivoire in 2011. The bloody civil war that recorded over 3000 casualties resulted from a clash between forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, who had governed for 10 years and lost an election, and forces loyal to Alassane Ousttara who had won the election. The entire world rallied behind Mr. Ouattara and forced Gbagbo to relinquish power. He was later arrested and imprisoned. Sadly but not surprisingly, Ouattara manipulated the constitution to extend his tenure by 5 more years when he completed his second term in 2021. The exact same thing that Gbagbo attempted to do and it boomeranged. This maneuver had about the same chance of failing and plunging the country into a chaotic situation as it did in 2011. But Ouattara’s hunger for power trumped the impulses that would have urged him to avoid a very possible unsavory situation. It is atrocious logic to want to lock and hold power even if it would end in a massacre.

 

Yoweri Museveni of Uganda

The capacity to think up new ways to cling to power proves inexhaustible among corrupt politicians in Africa.  Cameroon’s Paul Biya has been in power since 1982. Dennis Sassou of Congo has been in power for 36 years. Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has been President for 34 years. And the list goes on. The concepts of Democracy, Rule of law, accountable governance, and Human Rights, as abstract as they may seem, wither and flourish with individual aspirations. The espousers of Democracy may be slightly overzealous about their perspectives of an ideal vibrant and functional democratic government. But democracy, with all of its shortfalls, has proven to be a very efficient form of government. When people freely exercise their rights and enjoy their freedoms without let or hindrance, it dramatically expands their opportunities to explore, set and pursue their aspirations. In the same way, unstable governments cripple and sap the vitality of individual initiatives and aspirations.

Paul Biya of Cameroun

It’s a lethal misconception to think democracy ends with the casting of a ballot.  Constitutionalism, the Rule of Law,  strong and transparent government institutions, and free and fair elections are some of the vital tenets of democracy. However, without the “free and fair” element, elections become vital tools for people to act out a beautiful charade of democracy with impunity. Does anyone think any free and fair elections will deliver an above 90% victory to a candidate? Just like a jigsaw puzzle, democracy without all of its ingredients is incomplete and cannot serve its purpose.