Transition" - By General Muhammadu Buhari
Chatham House, London, 26 February 2015
Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to
talk about this important topic at this crucial time. The 2015 general
election in Nigeria is generating a lot of interests within and
outside the country. This is understandable. Nigeria, Africa's most
populous country and largest economy, is at a defining moment, a
moment that has great implications beyond the democratic project and
beyond the borders of my dear country.
So let me say upfront that the global interest in Nigeria's landmark
election is not misplaced at all and indeed should be commended, for
this is an election that has serious import for the world. I urge the
international community to continue to focus on Nigeria at this very
critical moment. Given increasing global linkages, it is in our
collective interests that the postponed elections should hold on the
rescheduled dates, that they should be free and fair, that their
outcomes should be respected by all parties, and that any form of
extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and would not be
tolerated.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the USSR
in 1991, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War,
democracy became the dominant and most preferred system of government
across the globe. That global transition has been aptly captured as
the triumph of democracy and the 'most pre-eminent political idea of
our time.' On a personal note, the phased end of the USSR was a
turning point for me. If you will, that was my own road to Damascus
experience. It convinced me that change can be brought about without
firing a single shot. As you all know, I had been a military head of
state in Nigeria for twenty months. We intervened because we were
unhappy with the state of affairs in our country.
We wanted to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the
prevalence and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and
elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of
democracy has shown that another, and a preferable, path to change is
possible. It is an important lesson I have carried with me since, and
a lesson that is not lost on the African continent.
In the last two decades, democracy has grown strong roots in Africa.
Elections, once so rare, are now so commonplace. As at the time I was
a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, only four African
countries held regular multi-party elections. But the number of
electoral democracies in Africa, according to Freedom House, jumped to
10 in 1992/1993 then to 18 in 1994/1995 and to 24 in 2005/2006.
According to the New York Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Sahara
Africa conducted multi-party elections between 1990 and 2002. The
newspaper also reported that between 2000 and 2002, ruling parties in
four African countries (Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and Mali) peacefully
handed over power to victorious opposition parties. In addition, the
proportion of African countries categorized as not free by Freedom
House declined from 59% in 1983 to 35% in 2003. Without doubt, Africa
has been part of the current global wave of democratisation.
But the growth of democracy on the continent has been uneven.
According to Freedom House, the number of electoral democracies in
Africa slipped from 24 in 2007/2008 to 19 in 2011/2012; while the
percentage of countries categorised as 'not free' increased from 35%
in 2003 to 41% in 2013. Also, there have been some reversals at
different times in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote
D'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania
and Togo.
While we can choose to look at the glass of democracy in Africa as
either half full or half empty. While you can't have representative
democracy without elections, it is equally important to look at the
quality of the elections and to remember that mere elections do not
democracy make. It is globally agreed that democracy is not an event,
but a journey. And that the destination of that journey is democratic
consolidation--that state where democracy has become so rooted and so
routine and widely accepted by all actors.
With this important destination in mind, it is clear that though many
African countries now hold regular elections, very few of them have
consolidated the practice of democracy. It is important to also state
at this point that just as with elections, a consolidated democracy
cannot be an end by itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold
series of elections or even to peacefully alternate power among
parties.
Read more here at: t.co/zVDSqR5WAO
--infonaija
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