Governance refers to a system of rules and regulations that guides the decision making process and administration of a state or nation. Governance needs to be fair and just so that no form of bias would corrode the administrative process of leadership towards the masses but I dare say that on the African soil, such fair governance is lacking.
Politics is a dirty game.
This was a slogan I heard since I was little and till date, the narrative remains the same if not worse. It is not like there are saint leaders elsewhere who are free from corruption but in my opinion, there are leaders who would put the interest of the masses first and then later seek their own belly. But sadly, I can't attest to that form of governance here on African soil.
The kind of Governance practiced here is dog eat dog and if you want to be safe, you'd better stay out of it. Those who dared to effect a good change were either killed or deposed from power with one scandal to silence them up. From the military rule and even to the now Civilian democratic rule, the governance system of the African soil is too stained to allow for a developmental society.
Allow me to buttress my point with a few examples. A military president in the early 90’s, was known to be very ruthless while he was alive. His embezzlement profile was out of this world. I heard as a young child that he stored money in cash form in a huge warehouse. Even after many years after his death, the money he wired to offshore accounts are still being discovered in millions. This money would have been put to good use in developing the nation but this head of state thought it best to amass it for himself.
There are several other cases of this that I won't further explain. Leaders bury cash in empty soak-away pit, storing cash in empty buildings or the one where the money is used on sugar girls. All these monies would have been put to good use in dealing with the aspects of the economy that is deficient but the virus of bad governance has eaten deep like a canker worm.
Would I vie for an autocratic government?
In as much as Autocracy sounds nice and appealing, the human mind cannot be trusted one bit and one person cannot be saddled with the responsibility of bearing the weight of a nation alone. A good leader needs advisors and members of council to rule and make wise decisions that would benefit the nation.
Also, the matter of the grassroots cannot be handled by a one man leadership. There needs to be subsects that would supervise and give back reports from the grassroots to the top. With that said, I don't think an autocratic government would be any better. A democracy is the best form of governance, where the people have a voice and the rule of law is upheld. Then and only then can the African soil see the much needed societal change it so needs.
Thank you all for reading. This is my response to the #weeklyengagement #112.
Image source : Meta Ai.