Reviving Democracy in Africa

Ali A. Mazrui writes

Institutions were inaugurated without reference to cultural compatibilities, and new processes were introduced without respect for continuities. Ancestral standards of property, propriety and legitimacy were ignored.When writing up a new constitution for African countries, the elites would ask themselves: “How does the US House of Representatives structure its agenda?”; “How do the Swiss cantons handle their referendum?”; Or even wonder how the Canadian federation would handle such an issue.On the other hand, these elites almost never asked, “How did the Banyoro, the Wolof, the Igbo or the Kikuyu govern themselves before colonisation?” In the words of Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke’s words: “People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.”