the population as authoritarian while brushing aside as mere imperfection of democracy a situation where a European leader is elected by members of his party that represent less than 0.5 percent of the country ’ s population . Surely , a rational person wouldn ’ t conclude that only one of these two approaches produces undemocratic outcomes . They operate in different contexts much in the same way that some African countries have evolved into a situation where term limits work for them . For others , term limits have turned into a game of musical chairs with little to show for the democratic outcomes of improving people ’ s lives .
In all these cases , the lesson is simple : Africans shouldn ’ t uncritically emulate systems that have failed elsewhere , especially by looking for problems we don ’ t have in our societies , such as ideological divides . All successful societies have examined their contexts for democratic inspiration . For such alien systems to be replicated in our societies , we need to also import the problems they were designed to resolve . Yet , we are currently lucky not to have issues similar to those they are trying to find answers to , as they are ripping their societies apart .
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The lesson that the West should help Africa learn about democracy is that it emerges from and evolves within a particular context , as it did in the West ’ s own circumstances . This calls for a change in attitude ; otherwise , we shouldn ’ t expect any real change . However , continuing to push democracy as practised in the West into Africa is like throwing good money into an obviously bad business .
Martin K . Ngoga is the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly ( EALA ).
The RPF and Moral Legitimacy
Lonzen Rugira
The RPF ’ s greatest achievement is that it stopped the genocide against the Tutsi amidst international indifference to the killing of over a million men , women and children . This was the moral basis of its claim for power in 1994 . However , the RPF itself has never made that claim . It says that its legitimacy is derived from putting in place a competent and accountable state that is committed to the greater good .
Its opponents do not address themselves to this source of legitimacy . Instead , they are convinced that to defeat the RPF , it is essential to demystify its greatest achievement in the eyes of the majority of Rwandans . Here ’ s why .
Having stopped the genocide against the Tutsi in the context of international indifference , the RPF could assert its moral right to preventing the occurrence of another genocide . The general indifference made it difficult to convince the RPF and Rwandans that they could rely on anyone but themselves to ensure that there could be no recurrence .
As a result , the RPF has made sectarianism as a basis for political organisation a no-go area in Rwanda . Sectarianism was the ground on which the road to genocide was laid . If the consultations that informed the framing of the post-genocide constitution are an-
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