First US President George Washington
Democracy has been proven to be the most effective governing system that puts power in the hands of the people. When the people have the opportunity to determine who controls running public institutions, make policies and laws to guide the daily operations of society, that society becomes more open and often to the best interest of the majority of the people. As humans, there is always the tendency to abuse power, a system and or a process that is intended to guard the common interest of a people. When such a system of checks and balances is controlled by a few individuals or group of individuals, there is bound to be abuse and oppression of the will of the people. This is what Democratic representative system is intended to prevent.
The world has once again witnessed in the United States the true beauty of representative Democracy. When the American people went to the polls in 2008 they elected an unlikely candidate the first in history to be the President of the United States. Along the way the Democratic Party won both Houses of Congress given the President and his party complete mandate to govern the affairs of the nation. Of course, while the President has four years to implement his policies, both Houses of Congress are equally divided into electoral time periods to allow the people to check back on the governing status of the nation and change or maintain the status quo to continue to balance power. Two years later the Democratic Party with the First African American President was overwhelmingly defeated in the midterms which gave control of the House of Congress to the Republicans.
That victory by the Republican Party in 2012 led to what we called divided government with the governing party controlling the Senate and the Presidency while the Opposition party controls the House of Representatives. This formula though mandated by the people often leads to more acrimony and struggle for power. However, both parties again have an opportunity to either promote their policies or use a different approach to prevent the governing party by obstructing as much as possible with the hope that they will frustrate voters enough to disapprove of the government that controls the White House.
This is essentially the approach the Republicans used to stand on the way of any progressive policies that could make the Democrats and Obama look good. Obviously, this is politics, if the governing party gets their way and successfully implements policies to the satisfaction of the electorates then they can easily point to those successes and seek for re-elections. This most definitely puts the opposition GOP at a disadvantage. As a result they too will do anything possible to prevent the successes of the governing party. Given this reality of democratic politics, both parties have to find a compromise to get things done in the interest of the nation.
As contentious and obstructive as the opposition party may be, the system is still created in such that they can find a way to pass some bills and the President too has executive power to pass some laws should there be complete deadlock in the legislative. We have witnessed this in the United States when President Obama sign into law the dream act granting illegal immigrant children of certain age access to go to college without legal residency. He also did the same with the Federal minimum wage.
So in essence the Democratic system of government is designed to work with the participation of the people in one way or the other. The founding fathers of the United States Constitution were very much conscious of all the possibilities of human abuse, thus the careful crafting of constitution provisions that could stand the test of time. Of course every decade or so one political party or the other takes extreme measures that move the country towards extreme circumstances. When that conflict is apparent, the same system is designed to correct course by fully engaging citizens who are the real custodians of power through the ballot box or mass uprising as seen during the civil rights movement (1960s) or occupy Wall Street (2012).
As Dr. Baba Galleh echoed during a radio interview on Gainako; “Democracy is not a Western Civilization or values but a Human civilization”. Every society ought to have a system of checks and balances where the collective interest of the people and society is handled through fair representation and accountability. Not one person or group of persons should be able to impose their will on the people without resistance. Several forms of governance exist around the world; but the Democratic system has proven to be the most legitimate and one that leads to more peace than any other system. It is a system that is badly needed in Africa and the Middle East where leaders seize power and never wants to let go. They don’t only stay in power but destroys every basic fabric of society so their selfish interest would be protected at the expense of the people.
What is even more beautiful about Democracy is how citizens are conscious of their role in empowering leaders. In the United States citizens are well aware that every political dispute must either be addressed through the ballot box or the courts. No citizens are willing to get to the streets to kill others only for leaders to stay in power regardless of how contentious the results. That must be the most inspiring outcome of the Democratic process that any civilized society must embraced. Ultimately, that level of consciousness of any citizenry, that feeling of empowerment by the people must be the desire of any generation to arm its people to value their lives and that of their fellow citizens through education and economic independence. This cry for Democracy must come true for Africa and Africans where governments control the people instead of the people controlling who can govern their affairs.
By Demba Baldeh