TOWARDS A DEMOCRACY THAT DELIVER
JUNE 2010.
1.0 Introduction
Today, democracy is the most popular type of government in the world. Democracy, defined by the immortal 16th United States President, Abraham Lincoln as the government of the people by the people and for the people, has continued to attract new countries.
The practice of democracy can be traced back to the early Greek civilization. Dr Oyebade Olowogboyega in his lecture at a public symposium organised by the Osun State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists on may 29, 2010 remarks ‘ Greek enjoyed the pride of place in the early advent of human civilization particularly the advent of democracy in 6th Century BC by the Greek Athenians...’ Since the early days, democracy has continued to grow. Presently, more than 70 percent of the world population is living under some kinds of democracy. It can be argued that the best of example of an ideal democracy is practiced in the United States, which started practising democracy some 220 years ago.
Despite the obvious preference for this type government in the world today, discontentment and disappointment among people living under democracy is not negligible. Even in the United States, there are reported cases of disillusionment about democracy, election and governments among people. What are the things people living under democratic governments usually expect from their governments? What are those things that make democracy an ideal government? Why are people getting disappointed about democracy? What are those things that can be done to make democracy work properly so that its dividends can reach everyone? These and others questions we intend to answer in this essay.
2.0 FEATURES OF AN IDEAL DEMOCRACY
Democracy has many attractive features. When compared with other type of government, democracy offers the best people based government. For countries that had been under military dictatorship, their peoples easily appreciate the opportunity democracy offers. That was why Nigerians, young and old, were so happy when Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after 16 years of military dictatorship. What are these features that attract people to democracy?
2.1 ELECTION
Under a democratic government, the people retain the power to elect their leaders. This is very unlike military and absolute monarchy governments. Elections give sense of belonging to all citizens. The election is usually ‘closed ballot’ where the voters can keep his/her vote secret. In some democracies, elections are not used only for choosing leaders, it is also used in making other national choice like which bill to pass or not pass.
Equality in voting. Members of the dēmos have the opportunity to vote for or against the policy, and all votes are counted as equal. Informed electorate. Members of the dēmos have the opportunity, within a reasonable amount of time, to learn about the policy and about possible alternative policies and their likely consequences. (Robert A. Dahl, 2010) 2.2 DIVISION OF POWER AND PRINCIPLE OF CHECK AND BALANCE
Power in a democracy is not concentrated in one arm of government; it is rather divided among the three arms of government. The three arms are the The Executive headed by the President or Prime Minister or chancellor as applicable to different countries, The Legislative headed by the Speaker and Senate President, and The Judiciary under the auspice of the Chief Justice.
The Executive like the name suggests, executes and enforces laws made by the Legislative. The judiciary interpret such laws as made by the legislative. There is a form of check and balance in this process. Nobody in a democracy is allowed to have enormous power to avoid dictatorship. Though, more presidents have always find way to exert themselves more power than stated in the constitution. This is going to be discussed properly later.
2.3 FREEDOM OF SPEECH, DEBATE AND ENQUIRY
Alistair McConnachie (2003) indentifies five principle of democracy. Freedom of speech, debate and enquiry leads his pack. A democracy that denies its citizenry this freedom is no democracy. It is imperative that people in a country should be able to hold a contrary opinion to that of government on issues without fear. Mcconnaishe posits ‘the strongest power is that which forbids its own mentioning... anybody who attempts to suppress political debate should be suspected of trying to defend illegitimate power...’ This feature of democracy is best exemplified in more advanced democracies like United States and this feature attracted countries in the defunct Soviet Union and African to embrace democracy.
2.4 OPEN, DIVERSE AND INDEPENDENT MASS MEDIA
Another important feature of an ideal democracy is an independent, uncensored, diverse and open mass media. Mcconnaishe posits ‘it is the mass media which forms and validates most people’s understanding of what is ‘real’... it is the national mass media which holds key to reaching the millions of voters’ he continues ‘if you control the mass media... then you can control the whole the democratic process’
It is only those that have lived under dictatorial governments that can fully understand the consequences of government interference with mass media and its personnel. The independence of the mass media is imperative and a sine qua non to achieving good democracy.
2.5 EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW
In an ideal democracy, the judicial system must be ‘blind’. This means that the laws and its administration must be no respecter of any person. Everybody must be treated equally in a court of law. The rule of law principle must also be held sacrosanct. Mcconnaishe opines that the rule of law means that ‘judgements are made in accordance with the written law, rather than in an arbitrary manner.’ This can only be achieved with an independent Judiciary and a good Constitution in place that can guarantee fair hearing to all.
2.6 ECONOMIC DEMOCARCY FOR ALL
Economic democracy is the democratization of economic power. This requires decentralising economic power and empowering economic power and economically empowering smaller units... whether it is the individual or the people collectively (Mcconnaishe, 2003). It is very important that economic policy of a country is people oriented. The people must always come first. A democracy must always strive to better the economic conditions of the people.
3.0 PEOPLE’S EXPECTATION OF DEMOCRACY
Now that we have illustrated the basic features and principle of democracy, we have to also understand the people’s expectation of democracy. All human being living under any type of government always have some legitimate demands of their governments. This is truer of people living in a democratic country. New entrants into democracy always have high hopes about democracy. For a country coming out military dictatorship in 1999, Nigerians had high hope of better country.
According to the 1999 constitution of federal republic of Nigeria, it is the duty of the government to provide basic amenities in the country. This amenity includes provision of school, health services, roads, electricity among numerous others. I am certain that most other countries’ constitution have a similar provision. Though the provision of these amenities might not be limited to the government alone in most democratic countries, it is still expected that the governments provide enabling environment.
Most citizens do not expect government to give them money, but they expect government to provide means of getting money. People, especially in developing countries, expect governments to provide quality education to its citizens at no or little cost. In Nigeria, for example there is free education from primary to secondary school in government schools. This same is obtainable in the United States, Ghana, and Brazil among others. Higher institutions education in most countries is not free. But citizen expect the government to strive to alleviate the pressure by subsidising the school fees, giving scholarship to worthy students and granting interest free student loan.
Furthermore, the citizenry expect the government to provide quality and cheap health service. Government is expected to build well equipped hospital around the country. Government is also expected to eradicate deadly diseases in the country. Though in most countries, health at tertiary level is not free, but governments are usually expected to support citizens when necessary. There is now Health Insurance in some countries of the world, including the United States and Nigeria. This insurance usually comes to aid of patients at time of need. But usually poor people are unable to purchase the insurance policy. No wonder, President Barrack Obama pushed for health reforms in the states recently. Other countries should follow suit.
Provision of infrastructure like road, sporting facilities among others is also the duty of government. People expect their government to develop their country so as to have a pride place in the comity of nations. An underdeveloped country is always looked down on.
Most importantly, citizens always expect their government to always rise to challenges facing them. They expect the government to always provide solutions and answers to all problems and questions. Most citizens’ demands always fell to this category of general and non specific demand. For example, people always expect their governments to always keep their inflation rate at barest minimum. They expect government to always have a working economy plan. Government successfulness is always measured, among other thing, by its capability to address issues. Recently, President Barrack Obama was criticised for not quickly rising up to the BP oil spill in the Pacific Ocean. The oil spill is capable of leading to death of man, animal and plants of unimaginable magnitude. Americans believed the government responded too slowly. The same was complained of President George Bush during Hurricane Katrina.
It is understandable that citizens usually have high demands of their government. The politicians when campaigning for election do not usually help matter. They usually promise ‘heaven and earth’ only to do nothing when they get to power.
4.0HAS DEMOCRACY FAILED?
Let me bring in an excerpt of a work I edited, in the Pathfinder in 2009. It is about local government in Nigeria.
‘We may all agree that the public functions of the local governments are to maintain local roads, local markets, motor parks, slaughter houses, slaughter slabs, health standards in public restaurants and food stalls, provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education, and health services in collaboration with State Government, provision and maintenance of public conveniences, sewage and refuse disposal, construction and maintenance of street lightings, drains and other public roads, parks, gardens, open spaces, and so on, as prescribed by THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REBULIC OF NIGERIAL, 1999. Without mincing words, over the past decade, under the elected civilian administration, local government councils, throughout the country have received huge amount revenue allocations without the provision of the commensurate services to the public, without any meaningful infrastructural development. The research conducted by Afrobarometr, in 2008, have shown this clearly that:
The public clearly consider that the local governments have failed in the In the performance of their primary duties, namely service delivery and resource mobilization ( collection of fees and rates). On both dimensions, the public assessed performance poorly. This is not isolated from the fact that failure of the various levels of government in the country to collect rates and fee has been generally attributed to availability of oil revenues, which are allocated to the levels of government.’(Dr Yemi Atanda , 2009)
This assessment of the local governments in Nigeria is no less true of the state and federal government. This is also what is obtainable in some countries. The situation in Nigeria is more appalling. Critics have argued that democracy is too costly in Nigeria. As at 2009, the National Assembly of the country has spent about 534.4 billion to enact just 532 laws in 10 years. In other word one bill has cost the citizen about 1 billion naira (90million US dollar), in a country with 70 percent of its citizens living below a dollar a day, this totally unacceptable.
So when you ask an average Nigeria the question is democracy working, the answer is no. In a research carried by this writer in 2008 in Iwo, Nigeria showed that 8 in 10 Nigerians between age 18- 25 believe Nigeria democracy has been a failure. 6 in 10 between age 30-50 believe democracy is not working right. In an ongoing research in Ilorin spearheaded by this writer, so far more than 70percent of all respondents believe there is nothing to celebrate in Nigeria 50 years anniversary. Their anger is understandable. Despite the huge revenue that has accrued to the pocket of Nigeria government in the last 11 years, the level poverty and underdevelopment in the country is totally unacceptable. I sincerely apologized for ‘Nigerialising’ the problems of democracy. But I feel that it is better to look at democracy from the eye of new entrant-country.
Even in the United States people complain about their government. Only recently, the republican and democrat slugged it out for like seven month on the president Obama health reform bill. Some Americans on CNN and other media described the situation as ‘government business on pause’.
5.0 WHY HAS DEMOCRACY FAILED IN SOME COUNTRIES?
Why is that people who hitherto believe in democracy are now complaining? Why does it seem that democracy is not working? The problem is not really with democracy. Democracy if practised to the letter is the best type of government on earth. If democracy is not the problem then what is the problem. To answer this question, let’s go poetic.
GOD SAVE NIGERIA
(For a country bedevilled with man- made problems)
God save Nigeria
From people who take her to ransom
The rich and the powerful of status quo school.
God save Nigeria
From small men with small ideas in big position
And their crook ways of doing things
God save Nigeria
From sick leaders with poor health
Poor health of mind, soul and body.
God save Nigeria
From some invisible but deadly cabal
Who always work against the interest of the nation.
God save Nigeria
From citizens who always shut their eyes to the truth
And their heroes worshipping of corrupt leaders.
God save Nigeria From some compromised journalists and writers Who are always pawns in the hand of the corrupt. God save Nigeria From some of her own lawmakers and civil servants Who are useless and redundant. Ultimately God save Nigeria From the lapses and ineffectiveness of her constitution And our learned people who interpret it for us. (ALABI, SODIQ, 2009)
Problems facing Nigeria can be said to have been captured in this simple and self explaining poem. Our major problem in Nigeria and in other democracies is bad leadership. Though sometimes, the president might be a good leader but the people he would have to work it might be corrupt. Corruption is the greatest problem facing Nigeria and most African countries. This corruption stems from bad leadership but it does not end there. Recently, the Nigeria government was reported to have planned to build the world costliest airport runway at about N64 billion ($600million). Tens of Billions of dollars (more than what was used to rebuild Europe after Second World War ) have been stolen in Nigeria, according to Economic and Financial Corruption Commission (EFCC) in fifty years. This Money should have gone into providing amenities. The extravagance and corruption coupled with lack of visionary government has relegated Nigeria to the back seat in the comity of nations.
In other realms, as in Nigeria also, politics is another problem. The political parties in most countries sometimes get carried away with election and forget about the country. Most times, partisan politics usually take over and the country would be ground to halt. That was what happened recently in the US.
Another major problem facing democracy especially developing democracies is free and fair election. The last general elections in Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Kenya are the examples of what an election should not be. There were cases of violence, rigging and other malpractices. When the choice of the people is subverted, can we even lay claim to practising democracy? Unless the choice of people counts, bad leaders and corruption will continue to dominate.
6.0 WAY OUT
So far we have indentified the expectations of people about democracy and reason why these expectations are not frequently met. In order not to fall to the syndrome common with critics of outlining problems without providing solutions, we are going to recommend ways in which democratic dividend can be made to reach everywhere
6.1 Eradication of Corruption, Favouritism and Cronyism
Democracy can never work in an atmosphere of corruption and cronyism. These malaise need to be eradicated. This will allow government to effectively execute project. Establishment of anti corruption agencies as obtained in Nigeria is important.
6.2 Involving the People
A government that want to succeed must listen to the people. With due respect to Plato, his idea of philosopher kings can no longer work. Nobody is a reservoir of knowledge. The people of an area are in the best position to know what they want. Government should always consider public opinion before taking any action. The opinion of people representatives in a national assembly may most reflect that of their parties’ than that of their constituency. The representatives cannot always be depended on. Until government learn to listen to people, gulf of difference between leaders and followers will continue to widen. Like in Nigeria today, the citizen are less concerned about building but they are certainly concerned about uninterrupted electricity supply. So instead of the government building 64 billion naira runways, the government should try to provide electricity.
6.3 Visionary Government
To providing the dividend of democracy, government must be visionary. Government must understand what their people want and how to get it. The economic policy of a country must be clearly spelt out and followed accordingly. The people should always rank first.
6.4 Prioritised Projects
The government should be able to prioritise its projects. The principle of opportunity cost comes to bear here.
6.5 Elections That Counts
Before a democracy can deliver, the election must first count. Unless there is free and friar election, there can be no good leaders. Without good leaders democracy cannot work.
4.0 YOUTH AND DEMOCRACY
Youths also have roles to play in making democracy work. Youth should always participate in democratic processes positively. Youth in some African countries are often used to rig election. This rigging usually brings in bad leaders. Youth should not sell their future for loaf of bread. This is the moral duty of youth. . Benjamin Haydon (1786-1846) said “Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy nor age or fame to be an excuse for indolency”. And like Hafsat Abiola said, youth are enough to change the world. If youth are truly the future of the world, they must be ready to safeguard that future.
Youth can also form themselves into democracy watch group. These groups will be like kind of watch dogs on government in their locale. During the colonial days, youth were at the helms of struggling for independence then. But since independence youth have abandoned politics and governance.
Youth should also outline ways in which government can work better and present same to their government. Youth should make these groups into a pressure group, effective, efficient and positively fearful group.
5.0 CONCLUSION
As we have shown above, democracy is a great government if practised accordingly. But when practiced wrongly it could be a bad system. All hands must be on deck to make democracy works in all countries of the world. Leaders in newly democratised countries like Nigeria should understand that they owe it as duty to their people to deliver and to avoid the return of military government.
