The People Have Spoken

If the outcome of last Sunday's local government elections in Senegal is anything to go by, the people of that country have made it categorically clear to incumbent Abdoulie Wade that their country does not belong to him and his son. This is real democracy at work. The elections according to political analysts, is seen as a referendum on the 82 year leader's government and widespread expectation that his son Karim will stand when his father's second term ends in 2012. This possible eventuality is what dismayed many people not only in Senegal but around the sub-region.

African leaders must understand that they are only political appointees that are given a mandate to run the affairs of their various countries, and they must therefore not see or believe that those countries are their personal properties. Recently, the former United Nations boss, Kofi Annan, himself an African, has frowned at the African leaders in the way and manner they run the affairs of their countries. He was quoted to have said that once elected into Office, the African leaders tend to believe that only they can be trusted in running the affairs of their countries. Kofi Annan is right!

"So Two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three."

E.M. Forster