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Abstract 
This paper on “Democracy and African Political Development: Problems and Prospects” is an 
attempt to assess the level of growth, acceptability, challenges and the future of democracy in 
Africa. It identifies major problems or challenges facing the practice and entrenchment of 
democracy in Africa, including: military incursion in politics, sit-tight syndrome, illiteracy, 
poverty, weak institutions, the challenge of communication, violence, imposition of candidates 
in elections, negative influence of religion and endemic corruption. Using analytic method, the 
paper discovers that these problems are artificial and remains due to inherent selfishness of 
African leaders; but are surmountable when inclusiveness is encouraged in the politics of 
African States. The work also establishes that African democracy ought to be modelled and 
influenced by African ideology of communalism, which entails egalitarianism. The work 
concludes that democracy ought to be the best alternative in contemporary Africa and a 
veritable source of development. It recommends amongst other things that internal democracy 
should be entrenched in the political parties and education of citizens as a panacea to solving the 
problem of political underdevelopment that is militating against democracy. 

Keywords: Democracy, Corruption, Political Development, African Political Development, 
African Development. 

Introduction 
The development of democracy as a form of socio-political system of government is traceable to 
the age-long demand for freedom as a prerequisite for citizens' rights. From Aristotle's city-state 
to the contemporary mega States, the demand for freedom by citizens was and still is sustained 
through various forms of agitations, demonstrations and resolutions. The freedom to decide an 
acceptable form of government through a collective decision by the individuals and groups 
concerned leads ultimately, to accepting personal and collective responsibilities is, of course, a 
form of democratic ideals. 

Democracy and development are interrelated and remain an integral part of the features 
of socialized government that defines the roles of individual and collective engagement of 
citizens in the task of running any particular form of government. The nature of African life and 
the mode of their living both in private and public or social settings are overtly engrafted into the 
thinking and nature of African society. African society is predominantly socially oriented. 
Modern and contemporary democracy in African focus at egalitarian society where the rights 
and privileges of citizens are protected and every citizen is treated equally without undue 
preferences occasioned by myopic, ethnic and chauvinistic biases. 

From the foregoing, this work attempts to assess the development and impart impact of 
democracy and its influence on African experience. As expected, this work shall endeavor to 
clarify the concept of democracy and political development. Furthermore, effort shall be tailored 

DEMOCRACY AND AFRICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: 
PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Elijah Okon John, Prof.
&

Ekpema Udofia Nkanang, Ph.D
Department of Philosophy 

University of Uyo, Uyo, Phone: +234(0)7032878735 
E	 mail: elijahjohn@uniuyo.edu.ng  

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towards assessing various problems and challenges facing democracy as a system of government 
and development strategy. Attempts to examine the prospects of democracy as understood and 
practiced in line with African social ambience and orientation shall be considered. 

Understanding African Democracy and Political Development 
The communal living which characterised the ambience of African traditional society largely 
informs us about the understanding, application and general practice of democracy in Africa. 
That is to say, democracy is a contextualized system of government in Africa. The nature of 
African democracy reflects the nature of African system and thought. Togetherness can best 
describe the perception of an African man towards another. This idea of togetherness, in this way, 
is not detached from collective decisions, actions and responsibilities. If democracy in the West 
involves participation of the masses in organising their future and society through peaceful and 
orderly selection of leadership, then, African democracy does not need to be westernised for it to 
be relevant or result-oriented to the people because, the very nature of African life is 
characterised by communalistic living and have been the preferred system of integration and 
cooperation from the beginning of the sociopolitical configuration called Africa. The 
communalistic practice now called democracy has been, from time immemorial, the usual and 
effective system of government known to the traditional institution nay traditional African 
society. The advent of modern democracy in Africa and its involvement in political development 
as a foreign product introduced by the Western colonisers is a misnomer, fallacious and a 
mistaken conclusion. The basis for integration in African society, be it matrimony, patrimony, 
monarchy and any other form of defined system of ruling, is still part and parcel of the system of 
“give and take”, “live and let's live” strategy which has endeared Africans. 

Although westernization of African communities through colonialism has dealt a big 
blow to communal African spirit in recent years, but in spite of the problem and challenges of 
xenophobia being one of its negative influences, majority of Africans still retain the harmonious 
living spirit which is characterised in their organum and translated to African moral dictum of 
“being our brothers' keepers”. This perhaps, is far from a sense in which the western idea of 
democracy is represented. Democracy emphasizes the idea of collective bargaining, existence of 
pressure groups to press home demands for better life through enforcement of decisions and 
principles that guarantee total protection for citizens. D. D. Raphael (147) believes that 
"democracy in a sense means following the view of the majority". The phrase: “for the people” by 
Abraham Lincoln and Rousseau's concept of the 'general will' opt for the participation of the 
masses or citizens in governance through few selected individuals who are first and famous, 
elected by the people to represent them by being their mouth piece and exercising completely, the 
sovereign will of the people who are the legitimate sovereigns which they owe allegiance to. 

African society is of course, at the top of this enforcement. African democracy is devoid 
of cosmetic and window dressing approach to social justice which we have unfortunately 
experienced through western democracy, which is viciously warlike with clashing and 
confrontational mode of agitations. Before now, these vicious strategies of gaining control of 
government and achieving group's goals, objectives and demands were not identified with 
African system. In fact, the recently practice of military democracy and selfish capitalist's 
economic and political regime is far from being Africa's preferred strategy of governance. The 

Concept of Democracy 
Apart from the etymological definition of democracy which derives its meaning from the Greek 
root demos which translates to 'people' and kratos meaning 'rules' thus, connoting rule by the 
people; rule by the masses; rule for the generality of the populace. Democracy as understood by 

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one time American President, Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address is: "Government of 
the people, by the people and for the people". Judging from the Greek root demos and kratos, we 
infer with categorical exactness that democracy as practiced by Africans as a populist political 
system and method of government that allows for massive participation of citizenry in party 
activities, general elections and major interactions through what is currently phrased as the 
'town-hall meeting' which avails the citizens an opportunity of addressing major and nagging 
issues affecting the people; and, in some cases, selecting leadership through balloting. 

Elijah John in his book Man and The State (2020:99) believes that democracy as a 
concept is difficult to define. He explains that the difficulty in definition “is not because the 
concept is vague like so many political terms, but more importantly, because democracy is 
complete polymorphous concept. Hence, he submits: “it is common for one to talk of 
'participatory', 'popular', 'consensus', 'guided', 'bourgeois', 'liberal'... eastern democracy, western 
democracy, among others. Secondly, the difficulty is that what “one person would regard as a 
paradigm for democracy, another would deny it as democracy" (2020:99). John's submission 
above is to buttress the point that democracy exists with different strands and evokes different 
interpretations and understandings. 

Some scholars like Rubushka (81), Anam-Ndu (152) and McHenry (5) consider 
democracy not just as a form of government, but as a particular method of government where the 
rights and privileges of citizens are guaranteed; where the citizens freely exercise their franchise 
and participate in selecting the government they want; and where the citizens know the rules and 
follow it in all aspects of their engagement in government as constitution provides and 
guarantees such freedom; for instance: freedom of speech, of peaceful association, freedom to 
property and all other human rights as provided by the United Nations Charter on human rights. 
This understanding of democracy is somewhat a contemporary inclined position. On his part, 
Nnamdi Azikiwe understands democracy to mean: “The rule of the people by its majority 
inhabitants and includes a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and 
exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation, usually involving, 
periodically held free and fair elections” (1937: 23).  

The general understanding of democracy is that it is a system that encourages timely 
conduct of elections which allows their citizens the privilege of participating and aspiring to 
various political offices as a right. The nature of such an election is not a kind that is marred by 
violence and various other forms of irregularities but a kind that is judged free and fair. In his 
characteristic, “Pragmatic and Instrumentalist” dispositions, John Dewey considers democracy 
both as a system and a method of government. He believes that democracy is “the settling for free 
use of the experimental method in social inquiry and thought, which is required for the solution 
of concrete social, political and industrial problems” (John, 2020: 104). 

Appadorai (137) is of the opinion that democracy maybe described as a system of 
government under which the people exercise the governing power either directly or through 
representatives periodically elected by them. He further explains that a state may, in political 
sense, be termed as democracy if it strengthens the institutions for the expression and, in the final 
analysis, the supremacy of the popular will on basic questions of social direction and policy. 
Moreover, Appadorai considers the fact that "political liberty is the indispensable minimum" 
qualification for democracy. Where such minimum standard of freedom or liberty is not 
guaranteed, then the claim for existence of democracy is definitely in doubt. He highlights these 
indispensable minimum provisions for democratic entrenchment to include: 

Equal rights of all normal adult to vote and stand as candidates for periodical 
elections, equal eligibility for executive and judicial offices (provided the 
essential qualifications for the performance of these duties are satisfied); and 

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freedom of speech, publication and association. These rights provide the 
opportunities for political participation, that is, for choosing rulers and deciding 
the general lines of their policy, they enable those who are so minded to devote 
themselves to political problems as much as they please. Among the political 
rights outlined above, stress must be laid on the rights of speech, publication and 
association. These rights are integral to democracy because they make possible 
free discussions and the continuous participation of the people in the 
government, not only in time of the general elections (Appadorai, 137-138). 

From Appadorai's submissions above, we can appreciate the importance of freedom of speech 
and necessity of media functioning as basic ingredients for democratic governance. Free 
association of citizens is one aspect that must be allowed in the state before we can accept such 
system as democracy. Blackburn on his part reasons that "in modern society, the sovereignty of 
the people in general is expressed not directly by a vote on individual question, but through 
representatives. He however raises concern whether these various mechanisms can ensure that 
decision making authentically answers to the people or serves their interest. He further submits 
that the problem of eliminating a democratic constitution howsoever suggest that political 
democracy is hallow” (Blackburn, 93). Thus, Harold Laski's assessment of modern democracy 
as an option for totalitarianism. 

As expressed above, one discover that democracy occurs in different forms and entails 
complicated economic relationships with other countries of the world. Besides, democracy 
occurs in different forms of economic and political indices such as capitalism, socialism, 
welfarism, etc. Following these different forms of democracy as explained earlier, scholars like 
John Rawls and NnamdiAzikiwe emphasize on a welfarist form of democracy where the 
resources of the state are managed and shared to citizens as primary responsibility of the state 
towards the welfare of its members. (Popkin and Stroll, 106; Igwe, 187 -191). 

All these forms of democracy are necessary for engaging in development agenda of any 
society and African political development is not an exception. However, as had been observed 
earlier in the work, emphasis on modern form of democracy is not alien to African, in terms of 
social, political and economic integrations, African society has set a model that cannot be 
ignored even by the socalled developed democracies. For instance, African communalism 
exemplifies in Ujaama of Julius Nyerere and Connsciencism of Kwame Nkrumah are ideologies 
focused on socialism and welfarism which are typical of African practice; all expressing 
cooperation, freedom and responsibility to one another as 'brother's keeper'. 

This sense of unity, togetherness or communal living creates a possible opportunity for 
inter-personal discussions in all aspect of social life. It encourages and enforces a bond of unity 
and inclusiveness in the minds of citizens, it is this sense of collectiveness in decision making 
and action which gives a sense of collective responsibility that makes McLeam and Macmillan 
believe that democracy as "a descriptive term is synonymous with majority rule" (139). The 
majority rule typically finds its meaning in an egalitarian society where there is emphasis on 
equal rights and rule of law. Thus, African democracy thrives through deep rooted 
communalism and inclusiveness that elevate the spirit of African brotherhood towards building 
and sustaining egalitarian system that gives vent to equality and liberty. If the tenets of 
democracy include freedom of the citizens, then any freedom enjoyed under democratic system 
is not freedom in disguise that tends to enslave the citizens in a way and manner that they cannot 
enjoy their inalienable rights to life, such as freedoms of speech, association and movement, 
then it is a dubious freedom; freedom that cannot erode all forms of neo-colonialism and its 
attendant negative effects on the citizens. 

The nature of African democracy encourages massive participation and representation 

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of all stakeholders in a political system, but modern African democracy tends to follow Western 
democratic ideals and trend which is suffering from blending and synchronisation of the best 
elements of ancient African democracy that thrive through mutual trust and deep sense of 
brotherhood exemplified in communal living and sharing and considers human life as sacred; 
urging respect and protection for citizens' lives as a major responsibility of leadership in piloting 
the machinery of government and its affairs. 

Challenges facing African Democracy and Political Development 
In this section attempt shall briefly discuss some of the inherent challenges facing democratic 
development in Africa. We cannot deny the fact that there are numerous problems facing 
democracy and political development in Africa. Some of these problems are natural and others 
are artificial. That is to say, some of the problems are caused by African cosmogony and 
heterogenic nature, while others are manmade and motivated by ignorance and greed. The 
following will buttress the assertion made above: 
Election Rigging: One of the ingredients of democratic practice and development is timely 
conduct of election that is seem to be fair, free and peaceful. Davidson and Oleszek in Tunde 
Opeibi's Discourse, Politics and the 1993 Presidential Election 
Campaigns in Nigeria (2009:6), observing the importance of elections, held that "elections 
celebrate the individual citizens' membership and participation in the community's decisions and 
thus allowing the voters to signal their approval of the regime in power or to express their 
disapproval and set in motion an orderly transfer of power. In Africa, the electioneering exercise 
is constantly turned into violence and in the process human lives and property are lost. Typical 
examples abound in countries like Nigeria, Senegal, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Gambia, etc. However, 
in recent times, some African countries have started learning the lessons that violence during 
elections is like a whirl wind that blows no one any good, As a result, conscious efforts have been 
made by stakeholders to ensure a hitch free exercise though pockets of violence become 
inevitable at times. 

Other negative tendencies that characterise elections in Africa include: vote buying, 
thuggery, ballot box snatching, ballot paper stuffing, change of original result of opponents in 
favour of particular individuals or government preferred candidates, unnecessary inducement, 
false propaganda during electioneering campaign (that is, spreading of falsehood), incitement of 
electorate against government and the contestants as the case may be, disenfranchisement of 
electorate by election officials and political gladiators, over voting, under-age voting, etc. 

Lack of Proper Political Communication and Wrong Use of Language: Political 
communication has been a major set-back to political development and promotion of democracy 
in Africa. But in recent times, the advent of GSM, social media, and other communication 
platforms including internet, Facebook, messenger, twitter handle, instagram, WhatsApp, etc, 
have aided tremendously in easy dissemination of information. Besides, the establishment and 
installation of high frequency radios and television stations by government and private 
individuals have helped in no small way in dissemination of information. Also, the role played by 
print media cannot be overemphasized. The programmes of government and political parties are 
communicated with ease through the above mentioned media. 

Nevertheless, we cannot pretend that the challenge of information and communication is 
completely surmounted. The reason for this conclusion is due to unfavourable network terrains 
that most African electorates are faced with and this has negatively affected the free and speedy 
flow of information. But fabulous effort is being made to spread development programmes to 
such difficult terrains through construction of 'road network, rail system and installation of high 

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frequency and digital media gadgets.  
Opeibi (1995:16) observes that "in recent times, political communication has occupied a 

centre stage in discourses on governance because democracy as a form of government itself has 
become a global phenomenon". Political development and democracy cannot adequately thrive 
without addressing the challenges of communication channels. In some cases, wrong 
information in form of propaganda and attempt to sabotage the efforts of government and 
integrity of opponents in an election may be disseminated to the electorates who have no means 
of verifying such information. Before they realise that the information they had was not correct, a 
lot of damages may have been done both to government and the affected individuals whose 
integrity might have been soiled and their characters assassinated. 

It is therefore of importance and necessity for electoral bodies and government to address 
squarely the communication challenge if democratic development in Africa must be sustained. 
In our digital age, it is proper for relevant agencies of government and non-governmental 
organisations (NGOS) to campaign for and ensure that an up to date communication equipment 
are provided for speedy and right-channelled dissemination of information. It is also necessary 
to observe that wrong use of language and uncontrolled hate speeches have characterised most 
African political campaign outings. That is to say, wrong use of language of politics is a 
challenge to ideal and ideological electioneering process in African clime. Beard in his The 
Language of Politics has clearly shown the relevance of language in political development when 
he reasons that “looking at the language of politics as an occupation is important because it helps 
us to understand how language is used by those who wish to gain power, those who wish to 
exercise power and those who wish to keep power” (2). 

In a similar perspective, Christiana Schaffner (202) believes that in linguistic literature, 
political language has been used either to donate the use of language in the content of politics, 
that is, a specific language use with the purpose of anchoring a specific politically motivated 
function. She justifies two types of political communication which are: internal and external 
political communications. The internal political communication concerns discussions that 
centres on "functioning of politics within political institutions, that is, governmental bodies, 
parties or other organisations", while external political communication is aimed primarily at 
"general public, especially the non-politicians for the purpose of carrying them along on 
government activities and other political developments around them" (202). 

The essence of analysing the language of politics here is to draw attention to the necessity 
of proper utilization of political language not as a means to deceiving the public but as a machine 
for proper articulation of political ideals and programmes to the understanding of the populace. 
Communication, and perhaps right communication for that matter, is a panacea for the problem 
of misinformation and misrepresentation of government, political parties and other interest 
groups' strategies that have been misconstrued and is currently setting a wrong political and anti-
development agenda in our society. Of course, right and strategic information is a means of 
overcoming the deformity occasioned by misinformation. One fact is clear: either we are 
properly informed or (improperly) deformed. In either way, the effect on the lives of people in the 
society and from government programmes cannot be underestimated. 
Struggle for Power: African democratic process has over the years experienced fierce battle or 
struggle for power. Power play at all tiers of government has negatively affected the progress of 
African nations. Roche and Stedman in their joint work: The Dynamics of Democratic 
Government, aptly observe that, "Among the most complex problems that rise to plague 
democratic government are those which relate to the extent and basis of executive power" (322), 
since absolute power is said to corrupt absolutely. However, there are those who maintain that 
strong or vigorous leadership is a dangerous proposition, while others, like the great political 

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sociologists, Mosca and Michel, according to John Rosche and Murrays Syedman, are of the 
opinion that "leadership is by its very nature undemocratic" (322). 

Their assertion is of course, directly or indirectly inferring that leadership cannot be 
democratic since the trace of autocracy has been implanted in every leader. To this end, two 
opposing ideas resurface: some persons are of the opinion that strong democratic executive is not 
necessary on the ground that they are likely to manipulate the process and ignore the ideals of 
government to satisfy personal ego and run away with the resources of the state, while the other 
group believes that strong leadership is necessary since democracy is a facade, a "political 
formula" which clever leaders use to convince the masses that they are working in the best 
interest of the society as a whole. We can appreciate the level of misunderstanding of the use and 
function of power that is, democratic leadership power. 

One has to agree with those who kick against dictatorial leadership. Our experience in 
Africa (and most especially, amongst countries that practise what we may call camouflage 
democracy) is the fact that few groups of people often runaway with government. They do this 
through various means: either by ignoring the people after assuming office; siphoning their 
money from the treasury and heaping them in foreign lands; creating a barrier that makes it 
difficult for anybody to approach or confront them on issues of good governance or embarking 
on vicious power mongering expedition such as unjust arrest or detention of oppositions on 
trumped up cases; withdrawal of aids and incentives from the people and concentrating such aids 
and incentives within small enclave of political and family bourgeois; and creating insecurity 
that may climax in incessant and sustained assassination of innocent people who are seen as 
posing a threat on their stands on certain issues of governance. 

Power struggle is a challenge that has to be handled with care if meaningful achievement 
is to be attained by government. Political power should not be seen as an end in itself but rather, in 
the right sense of the word, a means to an end and should be taken as such. If we acquire political 
power to serve the people, then it should be acquired in a most responsible manner that is devoid 
of physical and psychological assassinations of the very people we aspire to serve. The physical 
and psychological assassinations, in this case, involve spilling of blood and destruction of 
individual's character, respectively. Those who struggle for power should endeavour to imbibe 
acceptable ethical code of conduct in order to avoid a rancorous situation that will destroy the 
peace and progress of the society. 
Military Incursion: Military incursion into politics is one of the unfortunate experiences and 
the worst destabilizing factor in African political system. In majority of cases, military takeover 
of government has negatively affected the development of political life in African society. The 
military, on taking over power run a unitary government with minimal number of civilian 
involvement in the administration. The constitution as a basic democratic principle of 
government is often suspended. The supreme leader rules only with degrees promulgated by the 
supreme military council that acts as an alternative legislature at the same time wielding 
executive powers. During this time, major political activities are suspended, the existence of 
pressure groups which is one of the features of liberal democracy ceases; thus, giving room for 
the regime to rule the society with naked force. The recent experience of military incursions in 
some West African nations bears one out on this score. 

Through the brazen use of barrels of gun instead of reasoning, which liberalizes the 
process of good governance, the military personnel rule with impunity. In fact, groups' agitation 
for a return to democracy and infrastructural development is met with stiff punishment and in 
most case, death penalty is pronounced and execution of agitators carried out with immediate 
effect and with ease. Typical example of this scenario in Nigeria's history was the execution of 
Ogoni Chiefs including Ken Saro-Wiwa – a human right activist and 'environmentalist who 

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clamoured for a better deal for his people. However, other small sections of the African society 
would be comfortable with a call for military incursion in politics.  

It is a matter of individual and group's preference after taking into cognizance what one 
stands to gain or lose in the process of military incursion. Once there is a disagreement in the 
political party where some individuals feel their interest is not protected, they will immediately 
contact the military politicians to overthrow the government. They do this in connivance with 
some self-seeking civilian politicians who move to act primarily on selfish' interest. In some 
cases, such individuals are compensated with appointments and huge contracts by the military 
government if the coup d'état is successful. 

On this account, therefore, we may assume that selfish or egocentric political and 
economic manoeuvre is one of the factors militating against the realisation and entrenchment of 
democratic ideals in African system and this may be the reason that Africa is lacking behind in 
development both in politics and infrastructure. This egoistic, egocentric and narrow-minded 
political calculations by certain powerful individuals in the society usually lead to instability in 
the political calendar of democratic society. If we must achieve a steady political development in 
Africa, such egocentric and egoistic individuals must be put under check. 
God-Fatherism: One can identify the problem of god-fatherism which has characterised the 
democratic landscape of African countries. God-fatherism breeds jealousy, hatred, nepotism and 
puts unnecessary pressure that becomes counterproductive as far as peace, progress and stability 
of government and society is concerned. What these god-fathers want is to have unflinching 
access to the machinery of government and influenced executive and parliamentary decisions in 
order to satisfy their whims and caprices. They are known to have often hand-picked less 
qualified individuals, close relations and associates and impose them on the populace during 
political selections. 

This is one reason some persons see Elections in African as mere 'selectocracy' instead of 
real and direct elections where every party in the race is protected and allowed to compete freely 
and favourably. Once there is a level playing ground in an election, the contestants will have no 
option than to accept the result and congratulate the winner. And in such atmosphere, the winner 
will ensure that the fellow contestants who could not win are carried along, accommodated and 
rewarded when they assume office because in every competition, there must always be a winner. 
Weak Institutions: Weak institutions in Africa constitute a major set-back to democracy. 
Respective institutions that should support democracy in Africa are weak and corrupt. In this 
circumstance, the possibility of having vibrant democratic culture is very slim. John has 
succinctly submits thus: 

The judiciary, the security agencies like the Police Force, Economic and 
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrup Practices and 
Other Related Offences (ICPC), the legislature, labour unions, Directorate of 
State Security (DSS), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the 
press, civil society groups, religious, economics, political parties and other trade 
and professional bodies are highly sentimental, bias, corrupt and, as a result, very 
weak and incapable of supporting democratic ideals in different African nations. 
(2019:229).  

Sit-Tight Syndrome: Another major challenge to democratic development in Africa is the sit-
tight syndrome of some Africa leaders. Experience of this situation abounds in some African 
countries. We cannot forget the political uproar in Libya, Morocco, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Gambia, 
Kenya, Cameron, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo; and even up to 1990's Apartheid 
regime in South Africa, that experienced the sit-tight syndrome of some of their past and current 
leaders. This sit-tight syndrome had been experienced also in Nigeria during the regimes of 

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Gowon, Babangida, Abacha and even Obasanjo. African leaders are noted for attempting and at 
times succeeding in perpetuating their stay in the corridor of power by amending degrees or 
Electoral Acts and the constitution to favour their negative political and egoistic desires, namely: 
to stay longer than necessary in power, but it however turns a huge misadventure for them. But 
not for divine intervention, most of these leaders would have succeeded. The issue here is that 
selfishness cannot be removed from contemporary democratic practice in Africa. This selfish 
desires lead to nepotism, ethnicity and complete absence of patriotism. 

Other seeming problems that inherently discredit African democratic development are 
poverty, greed, corruption, absence of continuity in governance in term of project execution and 
policy direction, poor allocation of resources, violence, insecurity (which in some cases lead to 
voters apathy during elections), and absence of political ideology in existing political parties and 
other pressure groups. Of course, the root cause of most of the problems enumerated so far is 
illiteracy. 
 John (2020:122) has explained the pattern in which this can affect the whole process of 
electioneering. He believes that illiteracy would not allow the very process of election to be fair 
and free “since the people may find it difficult to distinguish party symbols, read and understand 
manifestoes of different political parties for them to vote for ideology” if at all such ideologies do 
exist. In this scenario, we cannot undermine the need for result oriented training and formal 
education in polity. The more literate the people are the fewer problems they will impose on the 
society. Knowledge is virtue and virtue is power if I may align my thought with Aristotle's idea in 
this regard. 

Prospects of Democratic cum Political Development in Africa 
Despite the numerous challenges and problems that democracy encounters in Africa, the 
prospects are there. In fact, the advent of modern democracy has had some major positive 
impacts on the people. One of the many impacts is the participation of women in politics which 
hitherto was an exclusive right of men as African political space will continue to experience 
liberalization and massive mobilisation and participation of inclusiveness. In an inclusive 
political culture, development is assured and the unnecessary heating up of the polity is 
drastically curbed leading to reduction in crime will have direct impact on the people. 
 It will also encourage proper exchange of ideas for the purpose of building a strong and viable 
economic cum political society where citizens are economically, socially and educationally 
empowered to contribute their quota in the development of their society. The current over 
bearing influences of religion which John (2020: 113) identifies as one of the problems of 
democracy will be overcome through the power of reasoning which, qualitative education both 
formal and informal can guarantee. It is a truism that knowledge is power. The more voters are 
educated the less the indoctrinating influence of religion on their placement of loyalty. 
 In recent times, many educational institutes and universities have been established. It is hopeful 
that the establishment of these institutions will translate to quality-trained individuals who 
would actively participate in the task of democratic governance and development. Besides, 
efforts should be made to ensure compliance to the principle of internal democracy within 
existing political parties that is competing for power. The institution of internal democracy will 
help to control rancour amongst members of the same party. By so doing, the booty and dividend 
of democracy will be enjoyed by citizens and it will boast African political development. 

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Conclusion  
African democracy and political development have grown beyond mere experimental practice. 
What we have now as democracy in Africa is basically, a modernised African democratic culture 
of communalism. This communal influence of African lifestyle is positively encouraging the 
thriving of democracy and political development. The tribal and ethnic influences on democracy 
can be checked through political education. Propaganda that often lead to a minimal level once a 
pragmatic, political education is accepted as the basic government principles for development. 
 This work, therefore, concludes on a positive note that African democratic and political 
development is on course. Democracy is the most acceptable form and system of government in 
contemporary African states although we still have few communities that still uphold the 
traditional African culture that supports successive monarchy which produces direct biological 
heirs in the society in event of the death of the leader or king as against democratic principles. 
However, this practice is not given wider acceptance as it is merely taken to be a process of 
selection of leaders and not a system of governance in Africa. 

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