Democracy was designed to save us from tyranny and creating a system of government that ensures the involvement of the people in every major political decisions, a representative government that rule on behalf of the people, with the people's interest being their utmost priority. Government of the people, by the people, for the people - as defined by abram Lincoln. An acute definition of what the practice of democracy is meant to be or what it should have been but is that what we have now?
The apple has really fallen far from the branches with no safety net to hold unto, our greed and corrupt practices has birthed dubious leaders with enormous hunger for power causing havoc and Chaos to the country, laying waste to the desirable objectives outlined for a democratic state. Is the issue truly the practice of democracy or the people? Has there ever been any system of government without disadvantages? Thomas Hobbes recognise the significance and influence of human greed in his deduction of social contract theory, creating salience for the fact that the somersault of every policy depends on the interpretation and acceptance of we humans which dictates what works and what doesn't.
A democratic state like Nigeria populated with different ethnic groups and tribes is said to have fallen from grace due to the rapid deterioration of the country at every sector. An average person would definitely believe the issue with my country is democracy but it is not. It is more of the way it is practiced. Imagine buying a brand new car, over time due to usage it will definitely develop issues but you choose to ignore it. The issue began to hinder your day to day life activities, till one day you are driving on a major road and the car breaks down completely blocking the road, restricting other users from making use of the road. Now imagine someone suddenly saying cars are bad due to the issues it has caused, do you think the car is the issue or the owner? Just like the illustration, that is how I view the issues with democracy in my country.
MAJOR CHALLENGES OF THE PRACTICE OF DEMOCRACY IN MY COUNTRY.
1) Tribalism: Like I said earlier, Nigeria is a country filled with different ethnic groups and tribes with diversity in language and culture. As beautiful as that might sound it is also problematic, in the sense that each tribe has their own beliefs and perspective of what leadership entails. Most times they all prefer to be ruled by their own and whenever an election is held and whoever emerges as winner is sworn in as president isn't one of their own they feel neglected. In this case the feeling isn't really the issue but what it makes people do is the problem.
The elected president has to be on his toes to always make sure he/she doesn't engage in any action that portrays him as someone who is in support of his tribe against another and also his tribe will also be having expectations since the elected president is from their tribe. To make matters worst, the issue has made it difficult for people to vote for a person based on his capabilities, most people in Nigeria prefer to vote for someone from their tribe regardless of his shortcomings.
2) Corrupt electoral system: In order for us to have an effective democracy there is need to have an electoral system that is free from the influence of the ruling party or any other party. The Nigeria electoral acts states that no personnel of the electoral commission must be a partisan or have any affiliations with any political party but it is all a lie. As long as the appointments of Independent National Electoral Commission {INEC} is not free from the influence of all the arms of government and parties, the democracy in my country will always be in shambles.
In recent times, populace of Nigeria no longer trust the election results published by INEC because they believe the results were doctored, this is no longer a rumour but a fact. Imagine the citizen of a state losing faith in the one of the major pillar of democracy which is electing a representative leader, what else is left?
3) Uneducated electorate/voters: I'm not trying to degrade anyone but the truth is the larger percentage of people that constitute the majority of voters in election are uninformed and that is because they reside in rural areas that are isolated from any form of media. During elections politicians are aware of this, they go into different villages to seek their support and this set of people only listen to their opinion leaders who they consider to be the most knowledgeable which might be their king or chief or any individual with a big mouth.
Whereas this politicians already gave this so called opinion leaders a lot of goodies, in so doing they go to their people and all they have to say his "When you see the logo of this party in the ballot paper, put your thumb on it" and that is all. This set of people have no idea who they are voting for, in so doing they assist in putting the wrong people in office. Then it becomes a case of blind people electing a blind president/officials, tell me what are the odds of good governance?
4) Lack of independent judiciary: Every arm of government have their own duties as dictated by the Nigerian constitution, the arm empowered with the responsibility of interpreting the law in Nigeria is the judiciary just like any other country in the world practicing democracy. The sad truth is my country's judicial body shares the same fate with our electoral system, in a country where the appointment and salary of the members of the judiciary including the chief judge is based on the decision of the executive arm of government.
What makes democracy thrives is "Checks and balance" with the executive arm of government dominating the legislature through appointing their part members in top positions and without the judiciary to maintain this balance, what hope does democracy have in such a country?
5) Mass media/spiral of silence: The almighty media that is considered the fourth arm of government with the ability to serve as watch dog in order to keep government officials in check and ensure the smooth flow of governance is now an instrument of disinformation and propaganda for elite and government officials. The media that is expected to be the people's voice has been bought and cajoled into silence leaving the people voiceless. In a democratic state that is meant to cherish the opinion and concerns of the people, how do you expect them to speak without a medium to broadcast it?
The Challenges and shortcomings of the practice of democracy in my country goes on and on but is there a solution, truly there is which is where the concept of Libertarian democracy comes in, just like the name goes, it is the type of democracy that liberates people creating a system whereby the government is held accountable for their actions by the people, creating salience for corrupt practices across all media entities and creating a means of enlightenment for the people in order for them to exercise their franchise right the right way.
But then like I said earlier, the problem has always been the people not the government, we enslave ourselves by voting the wrong people into office, who would be empowered by the responsibility of ensuring true libertarian democracy is practiced in Nigeria, the people? Sadly I have no idea.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Anti-Democracy" in hive learners community.
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