Obasanjo says that Western Liberal Democracy as a form of Governance is not Working in Africa
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that western liberal democracy as a form of governance is not working in Africa, because it was imposed on the continent.
He suggested the introduction of ‘afro democracy’ to replace the western liberal democracy now in vogue in Africa.
Obasanjo made the call in Abeokuta on Monday, at a high level consultation on ‘rethinking western liberal democracy for Africa at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Complex.
He said that the western liberal democracy is a government of a few people over all the people of the population.
According to him, these few people emerging from the system are only some of the people and not full representatives of the people.
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According to him, African countries have no business operating a system of government in which they have no hands in its definition and design.
Furthermore, Obasanjo emphasized that the weakness and failure of liberal democracy, as it is practiced, stem from its history, content, context, and practice.
Transitioning to the critique of representative systems, he pointed out, Once you move from all the people to representatives of the people, you start to encounter troubles and problems.
This raises a critical question: for those who define democracy as the rule of the majority, should the minority be ignored, neglected, and excluded?
In essence, the crux of the matter is that we have a system of government in which we have no hands to define and design, and we persist with it despite the awareness that it is not working for us.
Compounding the issue, Obasanjo noted, Those who brought it to us are now questioning the rightness of their invention, its deliverability, and its relevance today without reform.
