Hekima Review No. 27 (May 2002)

The biggest riddle of Africa is its political situation. Over the last three decades, our continent’s preoccupation with the process of democratization has only had marginal success. At the onset of this third millennium, the call urging African countries to democratize is coming both from within and from without. In our time, to subscribe to democracy as a form of government is to appeal for national renewal and global deference. However, a cursory glance at the continent’s political history shows that two opposing forces are at work: on the part of the majority, goodwill to change the situation, and on the part of others, unwillingness to tamper with the status quo. The weight of the inertia has, of course, been exacerbated by the absence of regard for the promotion of justice and by fanatical intolerance towards dissenting voices. The assumption is easily made that the democratization process is itself a response to the political riddle, which taunts Africa and its people.