From: wsargeant@igc.apc.org (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Africa, struggling for democrary
Date: 28 Jul 92 17:17:12 GMT

/* Written 12:03 am  Jul 28, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "AFRICA: STRUGGLING FOR DEMOCRACY" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: AFRICA: STRUGGLING FOR DEMOCRACY


an inter press service feature

by obinna anyadike

harare, jul 24 (ips) -- the multiparty wave as it continues to
wash africa is throwing up fresh challenges to a growing crop of
new leaders.

after years of misrule, the promise of change is a powerful
alure. according to one african diplomat, ''there is something a
lot of us in africa don't appreciate, and that is the mood of
change for the sake of change''.

zambian president fredrick chiluba, before last november's
landslide election in which kenneth kaunda's 27-year rule was
brought to an ignominious end, repeatedly warned both his party
and the electorate of the ''crisis of expectation''.

a change of leadership, despite the fervant hopes of a hard
pressed citizenry, does not alone address the structural
problems of africa's under-development.

it is poverty which in the final analysis was the impetus for
popular demands for reform. it also limits new government's
ability to deliver to the people, makes political competition
over patronage and the benefits of rule so accute, and threatens
the longevity of the freshly minted democratic administrations.

democracy also entails more than just swapping one
urban-based set of rulers for another. it demands an ethos and a
political culture which goes beyond the ballot box.

with a return to participatory democracy, several african
countries are now politically coming full-circle to the
post-independence period. the internal stresses that led to the
slide into military, one-party, or even no-party rule are still
evident. the ability of the new crop of technocrats to resist
still in doubt.

in zambia, pledging a revolution in accountability and human
rights, chiluba's movement for multiparty democracy (mmd)
government is now being charged with covering up corruption
among his ministers, ethnic chauvanism, and -- with a security
service un-reformed -- harrasment of the opposition.

but the despair engendered by the years of personalised
one-party rule means that despite mmd's failings after
nine-months in office, there is no real political competition.
how the government deals with a prostrate economy will be its
sternest test. (more/ips)


africa: struggling (2)

the one-party rule experiment in africa has failed.
its appologists claimed it was the best route to rapid
development, and without the destractions of political
pluralism, stability and order.

instead, without checks and balances to authority it was
tailor-made for the cult of the leader, shut-out some of the
more able members of society and stagnated, and was not immune
to factionalism which was frequently punished by repression.

apart from the determination and the courage of citizens at
the end of their tether, multipartyism has received a
significant boost from outside. the over-throw of the former
communist regimes in eastern europe, on which so many african
regimes had legitamised their own repressive rule, proved an
inspiration.

the west is now setting ''good governance'' -- human rights,
efficient government -- as the criteria for financial support.
one western diplomat candidly admited to ips, ''our interest in
democratic change only emerged when we perceived there was no
threat from communism and the collapse of eastern europe''.

donors have made clear their new intentions by suspending aid
to the recalcitrant authoritarian government's of kenya and
malawi.

in the west african countries of ghana and nigeria, the
leadership has attempted to manage change. flt-lt jerry rawlings
dabled with the idea of a ''no-party'' democratic transition in
ghana, to circumvent a political class which survived inspite of
the years of military rule, and which he blamed for ghana's
economic ruin.

under mounting domestic pressure, and donor influence,
rawlings has now opened the door to un-restricted party politics
and may even himself stand in presidential elections due in
november.

in nigeria, military president ibrahim babangida has his own
tightly controlled transition programme. after the country
experimented with the westminster and presidential systems of
civilian governments, charecterised by mismanagement, corruption
and brought to an abrupt end by the military, babangida has
introduced his own brand of democracy.

it attempts to end ethnic-based politics -- in the absence of
ideology, the rallying cry for political parties in africa --
and the influence of old-guard politicians by sanctioning only
two artificial parties created by the government. (more/ips)


africa: struggling (3)

while ethnicity can be a legitimate tool of mobilisation, by
the time of the last civilian government in nigeria in 1983, the
three largest ethnic-based parties were moving towards
cross-ethnic alliances. among the politicians, the prospect of
government patronage was more important than home-town
loyalties.

the process, halted by a coup, is still discernable within
the two new parties which influential former politicians and
ambitious businesmen have been able to penertrate. in nigeria,
the politics of business is synonymous with the business of
politics.

in francophone africa, the step towards multipartyism has
been more dramatic. a domino-effect, begun with benin in 1990,
has seen popular demonstrations lead to sovereign national
conferences attempting to strip formerly supreme leaders of
their powers.

it has however had its limitations. as togo and zaire has
proved, popular protest may lead to a national conference, but
the ability to impose its demands depends on the loyalty of the
security forces.

while zaire's president mobutu sese seko is attempting to
manipulate chaos and buy-off opponents to stay in power,
politicians such as veteran dictator felix houphouet-boigny in
cote d'ivoire has succeeded in out-manouvering the opposition by
floating a series of surrogate parties and calling
snap-elections.

in africa, as some countries still struggle towards the
achievement of democracy, its final test will be when elected
governments can be routinely changed at the ballot box.
(end/ips/oa)