Lessons from Burkina Faso

Biya has legality but not legitimacy
-Albert Ngome Kome, former minister and former DG

Albert Ngome Kome

A couple of years ago, BLAISE COMPAORE was re-elected president of BURKINA FASO by over 80% of the electorate. How come that the same people who are supposed to have voted him to power are the same people who have chased him out of power? This is sure proof that elections in Francophone Africa with a few exceptions (Senegal, Mali…) are a sham! The President who organizes the elections always ends up winning. This explains why they stay in power for decades claiming that they are there according to the wishes of the people. Which people?
    Those who cite countries in which there is no limitation in Presidential mandates to justify a constitutional amendment fail to see the high level of democracy in those countries as compared to our Francophone countries. There we have REAL democracy as opposed to our FAKE democracy. Elections there are fair, free and transparent and the results reflect the wishes of the people. That explains why the losers in those countries hasten to congratulate the winners while in our countries; the losers hasten to contest the victory of the supposed winners.

    Another problem is the number of voters out of the total population. For instance, take the example of Cameroon where the population is about 20 million. If we assume that the voting population is 60% then we expect 12 million voters. But where, instead of 12 million, you have 3.5 to 4 million voting, even if the results reflect the wishes of the voters, the elected President is legal but not legitimate! Waiting for elections to effect changes at the head of the state is virtually giving a life mandate to a sitting President.
    Following the above analysis, it is unrealistic to think that change can come through elections. With the exception of one or two Francophone countries in Africa change CANNOT come through elections! What has happened in BURKINA FASO is a people’s revolution which is one of the ways to dislodge Presidents who have no intention of leaving power after decades of unprogressive governance;
    In conclusion, until we become a REAL democracy, the only peaceful way of having a change at the head of the state is through a constitutional limitation of the mandate. Our democracy is still under construction and we cannot compare ourselves with some of the old democracies which are Real democracies where there is no limitation of the Presidential mandate.