Over the course of the last month, we have seen major protests taking place in the streets of Venezuela against the regime of their decade long dictator, Nicolás Maduro after falsified election results had been released declaring him the winner of the presidential election. What happened on the 28th of July in Venezuela, was an election that was neither free nor fair in any sense. The main opposition party had dealt with obstacle after obstacle put in place by the ruling regime at every opportunity, to prevent them putting forward a candidate for the election.
However, despite the best efforts of the ruling Venezuelan regime, it is clear that the opposition still managed to come out on top. Not only did they manage to win the election, reports indicate that they did so likely with a very wide margin against the ruling Maduro regime. However, any hope of the Maduro regime stepping aside, after they lost the election were almost immediately swept away, after the electoral council went ahead and declared Maduro the winner of the presidential election.
The electoral council would declare Maduro the winner of the election without providing any evidence to prove that was the case. Even till today, around one month since the presidential election, the tabulated results are still yet to be brought forth. The electoral fraud that has taken place is clear to anyone watching. A panel of United Nations election experts would even go as far as to say Venezuela’s recent presidential elections lacked “basic transparency and integrity.”
Since the election, the Venezuelan people have been pouring into the streets calling on Nicolás Maduro to step down as president. Other South American leaders have even called out the clear election fraud that has taken place. Some countries have even gone as far as to officially recognise the leader of the opposition party as the official head of state in Venezuela. While the international pressure had been mounting on the Maduro regime, his administration remained steadfast.
In response, a major crackdown on protesters and members of the opposition has followed. The unfortunate reality is that, as long as Maduro continues to have Venezuela’s armed forces on his side, it is clear that he does not plan on going anywhere. It does not matter that the regime is clearly unpopular among the majority of Venezuelans. This sad reality is present not only in Venezuela but across the African continent as well. Perhaps even more so across Africa.
In fact, similar scenes to the ones we are witnessing on the streets of Venezuela are all too common across Africa. Like clockwork, following elections across Africa, protests and accusations of electoral fraud tend to follow. Most of us are not under any illusion that our nations are truly democratic, and are fully aware that fraud runs rife in the electoral process in many of our nations.
The amount of power, money and influence that come with political positions is too great for many politicians to willingly give up. In our systems of government, elected officials are more concerned about ways they can serve themselves rather than acting as any kind of civil servants. Once they get into positions of power, they gift themselves high salaries, fancy new cars, luxury estates and much more. So they tend to be in no rush to just hand over whatever perks they give themselves.
This is despite the fact that their constituents, whom they are supposed to serve, are encountering daily challenges. As a result of the economic catastrophe that has engulfed the country in the last few decades, Venezuela has experienced one of the world’s worst refugee crises. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have been displaced into neighbouring countries in the Americas. Life for Venezuelans still in the country is marred by gang violence and shortages of food medicine and other essentials
The Venezuelan government is more interested in maintaining its power than it is for providing the people of Venezuela with any kind of proper livelihood. In Africa, we see similar types of governments all across the continent. Every year, we see thousands of Africans attempt to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea, attempting to make it towards Europe in search of better economic opportunities that are severely lacking at home. Meanwhile, we see African politicians continue to enrich themselves off our countries’ public funds, while their citizens continue to suffer.
Unsurprisingly, following the elections that had been held in Venezuela, we saw a number of African leaders actually congratulating Nicola Maduro on his supposed victory in the elections, such as the leaders of Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Madagascar and many more. This act by African leaders should not come as a surprise to anyone. African leaders have a long history of legitimising the rule of leaders who take power through illegitimate means.
African leaders essentially have an unspoken agreement of never really criticising each other’s electoral practices. Because most African leaders themselves typically have taken power through illegitimate means, it would be hypocritical for them to criticise their counterparts in other nations. This tacit agreement means African leaders can always rely on one another to legitimise their electoral misdeeds.
The few times you have seen a rebuke by African leaders, they often amount to nothing. Like the recent election in Zimbabwe last year, which Southern African leaders had refused to endorse, stating that the 2023 election fell short of democratic principles. Yet one year later, we have the spectacle of Zimbabwe hosting Southern African leaders in Harare for the 44th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of States and Government.
The title of this blog post is that Venezuela should serve as a cautionary tale for Africans, however, the reality is that in many cases, many of us are already living in our own versions of Venezuela, to varying degrees. In fact, many of our countries arguably could even be considered as being worse off. This reality is why it is so important for Africans, particularly us in the younger generation, to fight for and embrace democratic values.
Because of the pretend elections many of our countries hold every few years, people have become increasingly disillusioned with the idea of democracy. There are some who argue it simply doesn’t work, or that perhaps it is just not a good fit for African nations. They believe, falsely, that perhaps a one party state may be the solution to solve many of our problems because of the outsized power, the government may have to solve problems.
The problem with that thinking is that it very often does not work in practice. The idea of a benevolent dictator that may lead your country on the path towards becoming the next Singapore may sound good in one’s mind. However, time and time again, rather than the next Singapore, what you frequently end up with is the next Venezuela. Because once you have handed all the wealth and power of your country to the new dictator and things do not work out, what is the plan then?
How can you affect any kind of change then? Moreover, what incentive does this new dictator even have to work in the benefit of his constituents? He already has all the power and wealth he needs. So what exactly would compel him to do anything other than furthering his own interests? And who exactly will he be accountable to when all the power rests with him? What is stopping him from committing all sorts of crimes against his people or his opposition?
The problem with African governments today stems from a lack of accountability. Many of our governments function almost independent of the general population. Despite their unpopularity, voters lack the ability to effect any kind of real change through the ballot box. That is why so many Africans have become so disillusioned with our governing bodies. Many have lost any real hope that they can change anything and instead just begin to look for alternatives abroad.
The answer is more democracy, not less. The more voters are able to effect real change through the ballot box, the greater incentive there is for elected officials to actually work for the benefit of their constituents. So rather than our politicians simply seeking to benefit themselves, they are forced to actually do their jobs as civil servants. Because they know, when the time comes for an election, they would be held accountable for their failures and misdeeds in office.
