Acid test for democracy
BARACK Obama, the 44th and first black president of the US, had the world in tears this week when he delivered his emotive farewell speech after eight years in office.
In the Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) protesting multitudes were also in tears because their respective presidents were refusing to vacate their offices.
The Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh lost the December election to a coalition of opposition parties. He initially accepted defeat but a week later said he would not relinquish power. The head of Gambia’s electoral commission Alieu Momar Njie has fled to Senegal after receiving death threats.
President-Elect Adama Barrow would have been the first democratically elected head of state in a region used to coups and dictatorships.
Eleven people have reportedly been killed in the DRC during protests to demand that President Joseph Kabila step down after his term expired on December 16.
Kabila has been in power for 15 years and is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
However, a recent constitutional court order has allowed him to stay on until his successor is chosen.
With that country’s ruling party and some opposition leaders agreeing to have an election only in April 2018, Kabila has another year in office.
As in the Gambia, a democratic handover would also be a miracle for the DRC which never seen a peaceful power transfer since independence from Belgium in 1960.
As if addressing the situation in these two African countries, Obama said: “In 10 days the world will witness a hallmark of our democracy. The peaceful transfer of power from one freely-elected President to the next. I committed to President-Elect (Donald) Trump that my administration would ensure the smoothest possible transition, just as President Bush did for me.”
He said democracy was threatened when citizens, and indeed leaders, took it for granted.
But it was not all bad news though for Africa as Nana Akufo-Addo was sworn in as Ghana’s president on Saturday, sealing a peaceful transfer of power in volatile West Africa.
As the so-called leader of the first world, the US has never been perfect, and Obama conceded as much. But said it is the democratic spirit and belief in a free and fair world that made its people great.
“So that’s what we mean when we say America is exceptional. Not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change, and make life better for those who follow,” said Obama.
Basically, his message was that democracy is the responsibility of all citizens of the world, and what unfolds in Gambia and the DRC in the following weeks will be an acid test for African democracy.