By Jimmy Henry Nzally
This negative picture of Africa sparks images of corruption, autocracy and strongman politics. As former US president Barack Obama said: “Africans need strong institutions not strong men”. Therefore, an attempt to describe waves of democratisation is relevant as it connects to the democratic change taking place across Africa. The importance of strong institutions cannot be over-emphasised. Senegal, one of Africa’s strongest democracies, has recently proven this assertion to be true. Freedom House (2019: 12) notes that Senegal’s “reputation as one of the most stable democracies in West Africa was threatened by new regulatory barriers that could limit the opposition’s participation in [the] upcoming election”. However, Senegal witnessed protests and resistance against democratic backsliding and in this way President Macky Sall’s hopes of a third term were ended. Also, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of organising fresh elections. These elections, held in March 2024, saw opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye winning over Amadou Ba, Macky Sall’s hand-picked candidate. This shows that people were active participants by exerting pressure on their governments through protests, and with the presence of strong democratic institutions. Across the continent, strong opposition movements are making waves for a new, better Africa. The 2021 presidential elections in Uganda put much pressure on Museveni, thanks to a young and vibrant opposition leader, Bobi Wine. In South Africa, opposition leader Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Firefighters (eff) is putting pressure on the long rule of the Africa National Congress (ANC). The eff staged a national lockdown on 20 March 2023, in protest at what it described as the failure of the ANC and its lack of touch with the masses. It also called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down over corruption allegations.
South Africa’s 2024 elections ended ANC’s three decades of dominance, as it won 40% of the votes, “down from the 57.5% it garnered in the 2019 parliamentary election”. This means that the ANC must enter a power-sharing deal to be able to govern, while its own future still hangs in the balance. These examples show the emergence of a new political culture shaping the continent. Concretely, there are pressures to end autocratic rule, political hegemony and one-party dominance in African politics, as opposition-led civic culture is bringing about active participation in the political life of African countries. This shows the important role of civic culture as studied in the work of Almond and Verba. Instead of individuals being mere observers, African political culture is now shaped by unwavering civil resistance, the spread of democratic values and civilians who are active participants in politics. In a democratic political culture, the role of the citizen is to be active in the political life of their countries. This includes being vigilant and organised against leaders who want to overstay in power, as in Senegal. In more and more countries, there is a strong and vibrant opposition leadership to instil national movements. Right now, Africa’s political culture is actively being shaped by strong civic and vibrant political engagement.
Case Study: The Gambia’s 2016 political transition
We will now discuss one case study to understand how African dictators lose elections: the case of The Gambia, where former president Yahya Jammeh lost in the December 2016 elections to coalition leader Adama Barrow. From 1994 until 2016, the political culture in The Gambia was defined by oppressive leadership cultivated around the person of Yahya Jammeh, who had vowed to rule for a “billion years”. Until Jammeh’s election defeat in 2016, his strongman rule in a political culture based on a parochial system made it safe to say that he ruled the country as the “North Korea of Africa”, which explained the leadership’s animosity towards the people. But the December 2016 elections marked a turning point in the history of The Gambia. This was because people were organised and galvanised as a result of shared experiences under autocratic rule. Awareness of human rights violations documented by human rights organisations and the spread of information on social media were key in mobilising support. As reported by Human Rights Watch, “Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule in [The] Gambia was marked by widespread abuses, including forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and arbitrary detention”. The killing in April 2015 of Solo Sandeng, an opposition youth leader of the biggest opposition party, the United Democratic Party (UDP), was but one example but is widely cited as having galvanised the people against the regime. Sandeng was killed by the Jammeh regime for protesting and calling for electoral reform. As reported by the BBC, “He was angered that the fee to contest as a presidential candidate had risen from 10,000 Gambian dalasi to 500,000 dalasi ($8,050)”. Furthermore, “In addition, opposition candidates were only given two weeks to campaign and feature on the national broadcaster, while the president’s nationwide meet-the-people tours were given blanket coverage”. Sandeng’s death brought about opposition unification, sympathy votes and, in the end, victory for the opposition coalition. Calls from the populace, civil society and diaspora groups for a united front took centre stage, especially after senior members of the UDP were also arrested, tried in court and jailed after calling for Solo Sandeng to be released dead or alive. Their treatment made international headlines as reported by RFI, “Some 55 members of the United Democratic Party have been arrested during peaceful demonstrations, including leader Ousainou Darboe”. At this point, the country was in a difficult situation and thus opposition leaders were compelled to heed the calls from the people to form a coalition. Barely three months before the presidential elections, opposition leaders came together to form a united coalition to contest against Jammeh. Bloomberg also reported this news: “Opposition parties in the West African state of [The] Gambia unanimously agreed to form a coalition and select one presidential candidate for elections scheduled for December”. The Gambian case study shows that in essence, power resides with the people. For over two decades, the people were made subjects in an autocratic regime with a leader who wanted to stay in power for life. But thanks to political participation and a shift from a parochial system to one of participation, the people voted against that very parochial system to install a democratic and participatory system. In a nutshell, the people became participants and not subjects, and as a result, the change to democracy was made possible. Adama Barrow, the coalition leader, “won more than 45% of the vote”. This change was greeted with the slogan “New Gambia”, underscoring the painful relief in post-dictatorship as well as the unbelievable trauma the people had undergone to bring about change. The political culture has changed in The Gambia’s post-autocratic rule. The Gambia Afrobarometer (2021) elaborates on this change: “In addition to six television stations, Gambians have access to about 40 radio stations, including community radios, as well as several online media houses.” Campaigning on political issues now engages the people in open debate. Shifting from autocracy to a democratic transition, the people are now more involved in democratic activities than they ever were under the previous regime. The country witnessed its first post-dictatorship presidential elections in December 2021. More than before, people had faith in the elections as the right means to choose their leaders. According to Afrobarometer (2021): “By overwhelming majorities, Gambians support elections as the best way to choose leaders (88%) and believe that elections work well in enabling voters to remove leaders who don’t do what the people want (85%)”. In the 2021 presidential elections President Barrow won by 53%, his rival Ousainou Darboe of the UDP receiving 28% of the votes. This gave Barrow another five-year mandate. Importantly, however, these 2021 elections also saw an unprecedented number of presidential aspirants. A total of 23 aspirants submitted nominations to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), although the majority of these were subsequently disqualified. The IEC “disqualified 15 of the 21 hopefuls–including Marie Sock, the only female aspirant–for not meeting the constitutional requirements. About half of them were running on independent platforms”. But clearly, people are now participants rather than mere political spectators. This is all in the spirit of consolidating democracy to avoid democratic backsliding. One could indeed say that democratic transition has bred a participant political culture in The Gambia. Not only has people’s faith been restored, but it also shows in the number of political parties that have emerged since the fall of Jammeh. According to the IEC, “There are currently eighteen registered political parties in The Gambia”, which means that the number of registered political parties has doubled. Today, the country is seemingly striving towards democratic consolidation. Not only has it organised its first democratic elections in the post-Jammeh era: there is also a growing call for justice as supported by the report of the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparation Commission. For the future, the country’s democratic consolidation rests on justice for the victims of human rights violations under the previous regime, the presence of a strong and vibrant civil society, the introduction of a new constitution, a space for opposition voices, and solid commitment to freedom of expression. Therefore, the outcomes of democratic consolidation and its durability are critical aspects to focus on in this post-dictatorship era. Right now, there are some questions as to the intent of the current president, who seems to have had a desire to amend the constitution with respect to the two-term limit. Barrow won the last elections democratically, but he seems to be willing to stay in power beyond two terms. However, these autocratic movements of Barrow will likely be challenged as a result of the active participation of civilians, as political activities are now thriving. Civil society movements such as #OccupyWestfield and #3YearsJotna are among the major protests organised against the Barrow government. #OccupyWestfield was conceived as a way for citizens “to vent out their dissatisfaction towards the conditions of the water and electricity supplier, Nawec”, while #3YearsJotna made headlines as people protested against Barrow’s failure to honour the statement in the 2016 coalition agreement that the new president would step down after a transition period of three years (see Thomas-Johnson, 2019). The Gambian case is a manifestation of the fact that a change from autocracy is possible and can breed a participatory democratic political culture. Among other things, this is manifested in the number of organised protests, the organisation of elections post-dictatorship, and the number of registered political parties and independent candidates.
The work of Almond and Verba (1963) on civic culture continues to stand the test of time. Despite many decades having passed, still their work has a tremendous impact on social sciences and other disciplines. Through their work, political scientists can establish the political culture of a given state. In a nutshell, people either participate fully as “participants” in the politics of their country or show little or partial interest as “subjects” or are unformed and “parochial” about it. This forms the basis of a country’s political culture. This article has highlighted the importance of the model but has also pinpointed criticism of it. The main critical observation is the fact that no African countries were cited as an example. In the application of the model, the article has highlighted how the model helps to demonstrate the influence of colonialism on African political systems. The fall of traditional African institutions such as kingdoms/empires was a consequence of colonisation. This brought about and instituted Western-style political culture. Africans were forced to become subjects to the colonisers, instead of being participants in the newly established colonial systems. This continued until the fight against colonialism, which led to the independence struggles for the liberation of the African people as they sought to form their own governments.
