DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT Sonnie Ekwowusi

We must envision a democracy that guarantees freedom, writes

NO DEMOCRACY IN WHICH WRONGS AND SOCIAL INJUSTICES ARE INTENTIONALLY COMMITTED AND PERPETUATED CAN SAVE A COUNTRY

To many, politics is the highest human enterprise. Democratic dividend is the highest common good that can be achieved here on earth. In his article entitled, “Democracy Vs Government”, Robert Maclver opined that democracy is the political liberation of all men from the chains of power. Democracy provides the way from the ruthlessness and corruption of power. It is that Thomas Jefferson even likened the United States’ Senate and its numerous activities to heaven.

Democracy rests on many assumptions. One of those assumptions is that men have enough wisdom and virtue to pursue the end of democracy-promotion of the welfare of the people. But viewed against the backdrop of history, men do not have enough wisdom and virtue to pursue the end of democracy. Democracy is challenged from within by sheer ignorance and pursuit of personal interests at the expense of the common good and welfare of the people. In his book with title, “The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America,” Richard John Neuhaus, writes that we should resist the temptation of being romantised by what the people who are in power do. Political power, he says, is the ability to get other people to do what you want, and not to do what you do not want. And that people who behave like this are said to govern. According to him, it is in the interest of politicians and the hordes of people who make their living by talking about what politicians do to continue to disguise the truth and keep overheating the polity with what they think the people would like to hear.

The point Neuhaus and others are making is that democracy is not a measure and a guarantee of political success. Totalitarianism is present in constitutional democracy as much as it is present in military despotism. Simply put, constitutional democracy is not a guarantee of freedom. If constitutional democracy must lead to true human development it must transcend political experiment. Democracy is more than a political experiment: it is also a moral enterprise which largely depends on the ethics and virtues of the citizenry for its success. In his book, “The Moral Mandate for Freedom,” Prof. Rocco Buttiglione shared the views of Plato, Cicero, James Madison and Alexis De Tocqueville to the effect that democracy not run by highly-principled political leaders is bound to collapse. Plato, in particular, was hostile to democracy because he feared that the democratic powers and institutions would be imperilled under the watch of men of unruly passions and creatures of appetite. In his often-cited classic work, “Democracy in America,” French historian and diplomat Alexis De Tocqueville writes that democracy bereft of equality of conditions is bound to gravitate towards despotism. To all these thinkers, democracy is not synonymous with instant political and economic prosperity. If it is said that democracy liberates all men it is on the assumption that there are political leaders with high moral principles ready to navigate democracy to a safe harbor. Unfortunately most democracies are not run by men with high ethical principles. Most democracies unfortunately are in the hands of men of unruly passions and creatures of appetite.

Even a democratic government elected through a free and fair election is not intrinsically a good government that can guarantee equality and freedom. The case of Nigeria is a good example. In the 2015 Election, the Nigerian voters elected a president and other political leaders through a political process that was adjudged by many to be free from electoral fraud or gerrymandering. Initially it was feared that the election would precipitate a large-scale violence in certain parts of Nigeria. But eventually the election not only became successful but became a strong instrument of national unity and reconciliation in Nigeria especially after the defeated ex-President Goodluck Jonathan spontaneously conceded defeat and congratulated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari. But unfortunately since that change of guard in Nigeria the country has been writhing in pains and anguish under the incompetence and scatter-brain ideas of the Buhari government. For example, we are approaching the end of the tenure of the Buhari government yet it is difficult to point at one single stellar achievement of the government. The anti-corruption battle has become a parody of errors. When President Buhari returns to the country, the EFCC will start making some arrests just to impress Buhari. But when he is out of the country the EFCC will relapse into its stupor. Anyway, in fairness, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is now using his intelligence as a good lawyer to bring governance and forge unity in Nigeria. But the man is also treading softly to avoid incurring the wrath of the “owners” and “custodians” of Nigeria who are idly sitting down somewhere and watching out to see what they would construe as Osibanjo’s missteps to be used in nailing him.

Therefore no democracy in which wrongs and social injustices are intentionally committed and perpetuated can save a country. No democracy in which the political leaders intentionally commit wrongs against the country can save the country. If you take away freedom and justice all that remains in a country are open robberies. We must begin to move away from the statist mentality that once we establish democratic institutions, bureaucracies and enact laws all our human problems will be solved. In principle, functional bureaucracies, democratic institutions and laws are good, but not every obligation that augurs well for proper ordering of society can be democratised, bureaucratised let alone legislated upon or codified in positive law.

Therefore we must work out our democracy. The surest way to be ruined by democracy is to take democracy for granted. So, we can no longer take our democracy for granted. Among the ills of contemporary democracy is lack of freedom. We must envision a democracy that guarantees freedom. Freedom