It is interesting how this subject has attracted heated debate. Indeed, Africa ranks poorly on every indicator used to assess poverty, health status, infant mortality, life expectancy, illiteracy, education and so on.

Presidential term of office has become a vexing problem for African leaders who wish to develop their countries and a boon for “international community”.

Many times we see leaders who respect the term limits and are democratically elected, but in their countries lawmakers and law breakers are almost indistinguishable. Even crime rates exceed those in a war zone. It is absurd for us to consider the Western governance as a benchmark or a role model for our democracy.

Westerners attempt to forcebly export democracy, but they are not democrats themselves. According to (Jean-Jacques) Rousseau, in the mature democracies in the West (as a reference to the author), the wealth is in the hands of very few individuals. A tendency considered detrimental to democracy.

Take America as an example: five percent of the population possess 60 per cent of the nation’s wealth. American sociologist Wright Mills described American democracy as a tyranny of elites.

He said the United States of America is undemocratic because it is the money which dictates the elections but not the people.  The result of any election is the expression of the voice of the money but not the voice of the people.

Moreover, Max Weber has observed that western democracy favours unelected caste of elites such as civil servants and military leaders who control the country and never respond directly to the citizens about their activities, and this bureaucratic structure sometimes tends to be a dynasty.

In other words, it is almost impossible for a person from low social status to hold a reputable leadership role in society. Even membership of parliament is inherited through elections to some extent.

Therefore, Africans should determine their future because democracy has so many connotations; we should also know that “you reap what you sow”.