What we must be looking for is whether that party has a message that we understand. The policies that guide the party in the short and long term is what is often distilled into a manifesto. Policies touch on issues such as health, education, defence, development, social care, infrastructure, employment promotion, enterprise development, foreign policy, trade and industry and even on constitutional reform. Policies change from election to election and even between elections. Policies must be based on rigorous research and facts that are available, but must change after review of performance and new information.
Policies change because parties have to be pragmatic and realistic.
In Africa, the manifesto we get from our parties are promises about development projects, promises the have often not been properly or realistically costed. Most of the people do not have an opportunity to read the documents because very few are printed. Even the educated people who read these documents do not demand a forum for discussion of the policies. We do not know how the party intends to raise money for the policies, whether from more taxation or from development loans. Most of us continue to vote in Africa without a care about the policies of the parties.