The Director of the Open Society Foundations, Dr. Chukwuemeka Eze, has declared that democracy in Africa is failing to meet the expectations of its citizens.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on September 15, he stressed that young people across the continent have lost faith in electoral processes and are now demanding economic justice.
“If you look at what is going on in Africa today, whether it is the social movements that are recently led by African youths that are becoming now intersectional but also intergenerational.
“That it is also no longer something to do with urban cities, but also now involving the rural communities and the peri-urban communities,” he said.
Dr. Eze explained that the youth no longer see elections as the central issue.
“They are no longer interested in electoral fraud or the outcomes of elections. They are focusing more on economic justice, because for them, democracy is not delivering.”
He noted that the demands of youth movements are the same across the continent.
“Therefore, whether it is in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa or Senegal, the demands of these youth-led movements are one and the same, economic justice.”
Dr. Eze revealed that this reality shaped the work of the Open Society Foundations.
“So to that extent, when we were developing our democratic features in our Africa strategy, we decided to find out the nexus between democracy and economic justice and why the recent social movements across Africa are no longer focusing on electoral fraud or outcomes of elections, but what kind of policies allow democracy to deliver to its people.”