What's mine, isn't theirs: Is there really a democratic dividend for Africa?
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As Malawi votes AGAIN tomorrow since multi-democracy in 1994 - it still remains one of the poorest countries in Africa. This is albeit absence of any conflict. The common trend always appears for electives to focus on being re-elected in the next elections, whose motive could bring short term gains that often trade-off with longer term sustainable benefits. One could argue that, uncertainty of re-election of elected presidents is what causes mis-prioritization of development efforts, poor governance, and corruption.
Indeed democracy has its benefits, but does it outweigh its costs for African countries? - specifically asking..."what could have happened if there was no democracy, and presidents were secure about their presidency"?
If yes, then how do we mitigate poor governance that comes from insecurity of re-election?
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CHIGARU Farai, Malawi, SRO-WA, it is indeed sad to note that a formidable country like Malawi continues to face poor governance and extreme corrupt structures that tend to detriment overhaul socio-economic and environment systems.
I think to mitigate this, leveraging on strategic partnerships across sectors among (agriculture, minerals, energy, education etc) CSOs, development partners, donors, and philanthropists among others would come in handle in strengthening weak pitfalls in the existing system.
