FIRST WORD refused to grow in tandem with our democratic aspirations and tribalism still drives our democracy .
But we are not unique in this since a similar thing happened in Myanmar after the celebrated Aung San Suu Kyi won the peace prize . That is the lady that singlehandedly took on the military government and fought for democracy in Myanmar .
At one time she became a global popular prisoner of conscience after being thrown into prison for her unrelenting criticism of the despotic government that had adamantly refused to allow democratic rule to take hold in Myanmar .
Her plight galvanized the international community and pressure was brought to bear on the country and democratic institutions were allowed . For her role in this fantastic transformation she was awarded the peace prize while still under house arrest .
She then proceeded to lead a popular democratic party to power and although the constitution barred her from becoming president she was however the de facto leader of the country . The fight for democracy and human rights had propelled her to power .
However activism and administration of a country are usually two separate issues and once in control it did not take long for Suu Kyi to find herself in trouble . Myanmar is a multi-ethnic country with over a hundred tribal groupings .
Trouble started when the small Muslim Rohingya tribe got in conflict with the predominantly Buddhist tribes and as most religious conflicts go the administration backs the majority and the conflict quickly degenerated into veritable genocidal cleansing .
Suu Kyi then at the helm of the country and for reasons best known to her chose to keep quiet as the atrocities aided by the military escalated and the minority group
“ Democracy as a stable political system seems to have eluded the developing countries and as we have stated in the past , the problem may not be the people but the system . It may have been designed for totally different societies and copy pasting simply does not work ”
chose refuge in the neighboring Bangladesh .
As in all democracies the need to balance the interests of your vote rich areas and fair and equitable governance for all is usually a tricky balancing act and we are sure that Suu Kyi ’ s silence may not necessarily have meant she supported the oppression .
But the harm had already been done to her reputation and especially to the fact that she was a well respected recipient of the peace prize . She could speak as a prisoner but had no voice as a leader . Is that the real nature of democracy that leaders are puppets ?
As we write Myanmar has degenerated back to military rule and at the moment a military junta is in control of the country . Could it be that democracy is not the panacea offered to all countries and that it may not work in a low literacy multiethnic setting ?
Our neighbor Ethiopia is also undergoing a similar fate . The prime minister Abiy Ahmad is also a celebrated peace prize winner . At the moment he is famous for being the peace prize winner that went to war .
His fall from grace was rather a swift affair as he was feted for bringing to an end the decades old stalemate with Eritrea that earned him international recognition and respect . He was seen as a reformer and pragmatic leader hence he bagged the peace prize .
Totally out of character and script the same man launched a civil war in the Tigray region in an attempt to control the Tigrinya tribe who had refused to tow his line . What was supposed to be a law enforcement operation in Tigray has morphed into a full scale rebellion .
Again it appears that democracy in a multi-ethnic setting is near impossible to operate and it is instructive that Abiy ’ s original problem was actually from his own compatriots , the Oromo and it was a tussle between the young turks and the traditional rulers .
It appears that the imposition of democracy without addressing the underlying social economic issues just sugarcoats the simmering problems and given the supposed free speech environment , tensions are stoked and they eventually explode .
It is with this unfortunate track record for the peace prize in mind that we are looking with trepidation at South Africa where Mandela and De Klerk shared the peace prize . The clouds over South Africa are looking very dark and we hope the peace prize does not bring storms .
Democracy as a stable political system seems to have eluded the developing countries and as we have stated in the past , the problem may not be the people but the system . It may have been designed for totally different societies and copy pasting simply does not work .
The time may be ripe for a hybrid system that is home grown and which takes into account our history and experience . We unfortunately do not have the pan-African political thinkers who were trying to find a workable political system for Africa ’ s distinct reality . ■