Africa: Western-style democracy – should African countries still believe in it?
For decades, African leaders have been fed the same refrain: to develop, Africa must adopt Greco‑Roman democracy the democracy of ballots, multiparty systems, and calibrated power alternations. As if this model, born under other skies and in other eras, were a universal truth. Yet it is clear that the majority of African presidents, past and present, struggle to apply these rules.
Not through incompetence, but because this system is a utopia, a control software designed by dominant powers to better manage the less powerful.
Let us look at the facts. Are those who lecture Africans on democracy, like a teacher facing his pupils, exemplary themselves?
France during the Yellow Vests suspended fundamental freedoms, beat its own population, silenced voices.
The United States, self‑proclaimed guardians of the democratic temple, have supported coups, provoked wars, and imposed sanctions on anyone who refuses to fall in line.
Ukraine, whose fight for freedom is praised, has become a pretext for a proxy war where civilians pay the highest price. So, what democracy are we talking about?
All African presidents know this, but almost all remain silent. All except one: Captain Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso.
He dared to say out loud and clearly what many think quietly: Western democracy has no place in an African country seeking to free itself from the straitjackets of imperialism and neocolonialism.
Multipartyism? Too often, it is nothing but a brake, a permanent disorder that paralyzes the state, divides peoples, and opens the door to external manipulation.
Africa needs unity, coherence, and sovereignty. Not an imported mold that has proven itself elsewhere but which, on the continent, serves above all to maintain a disguised dependency.
It is time for Africa to wake up, dare to face reality, and invent its own paths. Greco‑Roman democracy is not a mandatory stage. It is one option among others. And the wisest option today may be to put it back where it has always wanted to keep Africa: at the bottom of the ladder.
Neil CAMARA
