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10 February 2000

1. Introduction

I believe that it is imperative to begin our discussions on democracy and human rights in Africa with a very basic question: democracy for what? By asking this question, we will free ourselves from the overwhelming confusion that surrounds the use of several concepts such as "democracy", "human rights" and "governance". These notions have not only become trivialized today, but have been mis-appropriated by a wide range of interests such as some donors and multilateral institutions.

To answer the question stated above, my position is that, democracy is for the promotion and advancement of the individual and collective well being of the different peoples of our nations and continent. This means, that whatever structures and processes that we struggle to put in place for democracy and human rights, these must recognize and embody the basic principles of inclusion, participation, freedom, justice and equity for all who find themselves in any of our African countries at any given time. This is important. These basic principles cannot be compromised even in one single case.

Democracy as a participatory and inclusive social institution that guarantees freedom and social justice is a very recent occurrence in human history. It is also very fragile and subject to sudden reversals, threats and attacks from competing allegiances and identities that define the human condition in terms of bondage to the dictates of creed, race, ethnicity, class, social status and other petty narrow interests. We see the trends of such attacks and reversals every day in Africa. In many African countries, governments and regimes flagrantly breach the rule of law and human rights, which they have not only sworn to defend, but, in certain cases they had themselves established.

Attacks also come from sources beyond governments and regimes. The enemies of democracy are not only in governments. They are in churches, mosques, temples and shrines, and also in homesteads, kraals, shantytowns, high-income estates, communities and in civil society. These enemies are everywhere that intolerance, exclusion, injustice, domination and unmitigated exploitation and victimization of others are. They not only use the resources of governments, but also use weapons such as guns, knives, clubs, "pangas", petrol and other bombs, "necklaces" and lynching to pursue their goals. It is as a result of this that we get the genocide in Rwanda, the ethnic riots and killings in Burundi, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. This is why in Africa today, democracy and human rights are not only about governments (though these are the greatest culprits!).

Democracy is a life condition that includes social values and attitudes, relevant institutions and the definition of specific kinds of social relations that demand awareness and endless vigilance by citizens and communities. This is why democracy is a difficult system to build and grow. It takes time and is subject to serious reversals that are often rapid and devastating. Colonial rule by its very nature could not and did not build democracy in Africa. What it built was an empty shell of representational politics built on the foundations of an oppressive and alienating state. The colonial and post-colonial states were therefore fundamentally flawed. Their institutions either had no real roots in the society in which they operated, or in the case of the so-called traditional institutions, these had been invented and/or perverted (Terence Ranger, 1983).

The other important related point is that no outsider can build democracy for Africans. We must build our democratic institutions and values by ourselves, not by reinventing the wheel or pretending to create some special or exceptional "African democracy" but through struggles and mobilization. We must make demands on ourselves that recognize that democracy while expanding human well being and progress is essentially subversive of existing conventional social and political orders and relations. We must reconstruct the state. Fortunately, some of these "artificial" states are disintegrating and imploding. In many other cases, the clamor for constitutional review all over the continent is a sign that Africans want to be involved in redesigning the conditions of their co-existence. No matter how flawed some of these efforts are, they constitute a beginning. They show that more Africans want to be part of constructing their "social contract". In cases, where these inclinations have been blocked or hi-jacked by powerful interests, people have resorted to violence and wars. The lesson is that there can be no peace without building democracy. Yet, to build democracy requires peace.

What needs to be impressed on outsiders, particularly the powerful societies of the West and the dominant international financial institutions and multilateral agencies, is that propping up unpopular African regimes is no longer acceptable. These powerful interests must also contribute to the design of global governance norms and institutions that advance peace, reduce poverty and promote social justice and equity.

2. Reclaiming Democracy and Human Rights in Africa:

This is why to reclaim democracy and human rights in Africa, we must return to the foundations of democratic development. I link democracy with development, because, they are both closely connected and we can not have one without the other. This is the case in Africa and any part of the so-called Third World today (see: Thandika Mkandawire"s paper to the CODESRIA's 1995 General Assembly on "The Democratic Development State" and Armatya Sen's, 1999, Development as Freedom). If the goals of our struggles are the promotion of the collective and individual well being of Africans, then we can not have one without the other. And in this case we are not talking about development merely from the perspective of the increase in the Gross Domestic Product or the per capita income. It includes these two, but is more as it involves all those elements that constitute a more holistic human development in terms of social and physical infrastructure, the meeting of basic needs and the condition of peace, security and minimal good health.

3. The Foundations of Democratic Development

What then are the foundations of democratic development? In my view, these are peace, a condition of economic well being, the rule of law and an environment of social justice and equity. Given the limited space here, I will quickly run through each of this in terms of the concrete means by which it could be operationalized. I leave the discussions open for deepening and expansion by other participants.

Beginning with peace, it is obvious that there can be neither democracy nor development without peace. Africa today remains one of the biggest arenas of civil wars and internal and external conflicts in the world. Under conditions of war, there is little meaningful and beneficial economic production, human rights are denied and the rule of law has broken down. For democratic development to occur, Africa's wars and conflicts must be ended. It is Africans who must do this through dialogue and effective mediation, peacekeeping and peace building. Fortunately, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), has finally recognized the principles of interference in the affairs of other sovereign states to prevent genocide, gross violation of human rights and suffering. What is needed is the political will and resources. But ending wars is a political act to which good governance and an inclusive and participatory framework is essential. As for the outside factor, it is obvious that most of the wars and conflicts of Africa are not fought with weapons made by the protagonists. Reviewing the sales of weapons of war at the international level becomes an important question here.

An equally important foundation is that of economic well being. That is, building an economy that provides access to the market both for production, consumption and distribution for all our peoples. This involves a sustained and systematic war against poverty through freeing the energies of the African small producers, the informal sector as well as organized capital for effective production to meet the needs of Africa. This demands rebuilding and incorporating the African private sector into current economic challenges and finding means of building and channelling the vast wealth that current globalization makes possible to African sources. An important aspect of this is a return to an effective and efficient social policy to support the poor in liberating themselves from poverty. Again, there are internal and external factors involved in this. The external factor involves being part of the global struggles to reform both the international financial institutions and the global financial and economic architecture. What is clear from the point on the economy is that extensive poverty most times does not promote a culture of democracy and human rights, as it leaves too many people vulnerable and open to manipulation by several forces and interests.

Finally, we must build the conditions for the rule of law and an environment of social justice and equity. My honest view is that most African countries have little space to manoeuvre to avoid doing this for too long. Africa today, is not the Africa of the 1960s. Communications, social awareness and a readiness to resist have increased significantly. We must change or be destroyed through endless conflicts, balkanization and the disintegration of states and national boundaries. The choice is between transformation and chaos. While the political elite pretends not to know this, many citizens and communities are aware of the urgency of the threats. The wave of struggles for constitutional change, political reforms and democratization is an indication of this. The key is the setting up of acceptable and legitimate processes of dialogues, consultations and discussions on the future of nations and nationalities, the rights and obligations of citizenship and the role and relative power of democratic institutions. Other issues include the patterns of power sharing, the place of majorities, minorities and marginalised groups such as youth and women.

In many parts of Africa, these discussions are proceeding with more or less degree of freedom and openness. These are led and promoted by intellectuals, some politicians, workers, peasant groups, civil society institutions, the media, the professionals and faith-based groups. All of these actors have a stake in some form of orderly transformation. We have all seen too much chaos, insecurity; conflict and tension at close quarters, to know that they are not the conditions under which democratic development, prosperity and happiness can thrive. This realization and the struggle for effecting transition from the old to the new, although slow and often inconsistent and little sustained, provide both optimism and a window of opportunity for intensifying the fight for democratic development in Africa.

References:

1. Mkandawire, Thandika, 1995,"Beyond Crisis: towards Democratic Developmental States in Africa", paper to the CODESRIA 8th. General Assembly, 26 June to 2 July 1995, Dakar, Senegal
   
2. Ranger, Terence, 1983, "The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa", in E.Hosbawm and T. Ranger eds. The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge University Press
   
3. Sen, Armatya, 1999, Development as Freedom, New York, Alfred A. Knopf.

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