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From the bullet to the ballot: Africa's punctuated journey
Students Solidarity Trust
July 29, 2011

Transitions are known to be a very difficult period for all involved and Africa has not been an exception. After successfully liberating their nations from colonialism, leaders of the post colonial state in Africa have had a difficult time making the transition from fighters to statesmen. The rule of the bullet seems to prevail over the logic of the ballot. Obsession with the use if not abuse of the gun is rampant in Africa's dictatorial henchmen who do not believe in the tenets of the universal suffrage they fought for. Equality is a qualified term that is used for their own entitlement and not the benefit of the masses. Africa continues to be under regimes who have taken to being hysterical and not historical in their pursuit to stay in power without accounting to even those they force to vote for them where elections are stage-managed.

Democratic spaces such as the African Union and the United Nations remain occupied by those in military garb such as Gadaffi, Museveni, Jame, Mubarak and Sassou-Nguesso. The voices of those they purport to represent are quashed with ease and any dissent stifled. Through a self-fulfilling but false excuse of saving their populations from misrule, these rulers have ensured the gagging of the people and their economic disenfranchisement. Through various nefarious looting schemes, the countries they preside over have been looted to shells with bank accounts in western countries their reward.

As Africa has attempted to democratise, the military continues to work against this endeavour with vigour, verve and violence. The declaration by a few misguided Zimbabwean generals that they will not salute anyone who has not been part of the liberation struggle is one of the mild examples of the force the military still wields. Malawians are still mourning the death of their compatriots courtesy of a ruthless army. Mswati in Lesotho continues to use his army to perpetrate atrocities against a restive and restless people who are fed up with his absolute monarchy. In all these instances, civilian figureheads have been used to muzzle the people.

As the second decade of the twenty-first century begins, Africa needs and deserves better. Africa needs a patriotic and not partisan force, a force willing to uphold the values of the nation and not a few well-connected elites, a force that recognises the importance of not visiting violence on the people who are supposed to be under its protection. Africa's journey to democracy cannot, should not and will not be stopped by this power-hungry group of gun-toting military men whose major wish is to loot. The next generation of Africans require a continent where the marketplace of ideas triumphs over teargas.

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