The African Dream

In the light of the near-perfect functioning of the American democracy which has just delivered a stunning victory for Sen. Barack Obama and the American people, my restless mind is becoming increasingly preoccupied almost to the point of obsession with the question of major chunks of our beloved continent, Africa, suffering from a state of chronic confusion and self-induced misery in the practice of democracy.
The Continent's unparalleled capacity to fumble in almost all spheres of democratic governance is baffling, to say the least.
Take a look at what has transpired recently in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, Burundi, Congo D R, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Cameroon and many others, and you are immediately confronted by the utter failure of the practice of democracy to thrive in every one of them.

Our societies appear to be rudimentary in the assimilation and accommodation of the noble aspirations, principles and ideals which are fundamental for the practice of democracy. Is democracy an end in itself or a dispensable means to a more lofty end? Do we, as African nations and societies, need to aspire to similar dreams that have served other nations so well or do we continue as we have and hope that somehow "our democracy" will undergo its own evolution ( which I call "Que sera sera") and do the job?

Our excellence has been broadly wasted on adapting to and enduring adversities, calamities and misery and not on overcoming them once and for all. We seem to possess an incredible capacity to survive in the valley and not, as one would expect, in summiting the mountains on our way!

When are we going to realize that we need strong social, democratic and governance institutions to act as the pillars and guideposts for our collective wellbeing and not the myopic adherence to the transient system of subjection( of ourselves) to personalities, tribalism and political partisanship.
Come on Africa we can do better that that!

Let us, as a people, develop a consensus for a new dream that we all can aspire to: The African Dream.
The American Dream like a beacon of hope and inspiration seems to have served them well. Although imperfect, it has enabled them to rise up again and again to achieve the unimaginable. A similar dream stitched together in Africa by Africans for Africans, I believe, will go a long way towards helping us to reach where we have never imagined we could.

Barack Obama has inspired us to think and say " Yes, we can".
So fellow blogger and readers your suggestions in this regard are warmly welcome.
Yes, we can!