Afrobarometer Report: Majority of African youth disillusioned with democracy

Afrobarometer’s
flagship
report
on
Democratic
Trends
in
Africa
has
found
that
the
majority
of
young
people
are
dissatisfied
with
democratic
governance
in
their
countries.

The
report,
which
surveyed
39
countries
across
Africa,
indicates
a
growing
disillusionment
with
democracy
among
the
youth,
who
are
increasingly
leaning
towards
military
rule
as
a
temporary
solution
to
the
failures
of
civilian
leaders.

Various
factors
have
contributed
to
this
trend,
including
unemployment,
corruption,
and
a
lack
of
accountability.

Boniface
Dulani,
Director
of
Surveys
at
Afrobarometer,
shared
these
insights
during
the
report’s
launch
in
Accra
on
Wednesday.

He
expressed
concern
over
this
trend,
noting
that
most
young
people
in
this
generation
have
not
experienced
military
rule
and
are
therefore
unaware
of
its
associated
dangers.

“Most
of
the
youth
have
never
experienced
military
rule,
so
they
might
be
looking
at
it
as
something
to
try
because
democracy
is
failing.
But
if
you’ve
lived
through
a
military
regime,
you
might
know
that
as
bad
as
democracy
is,
it’s
certainly
better
than
that
kind
of
government.

“However,
about
53%
of
Africans,
are
telling
us
that
if
governments
are
failing
or
abusing
office,
then
the
military
should
step
in
to
clear
that
but
at
the
same
time,
many
people
are
also
rejecting
military
rule,
even
though
the
numbers
are
declining.”

“So
what
this
tells
us
is
that
the
military
rule
is
being
looked
at
as
an
option
when
civilians
have
failed
and
they’re
looked
at
as
a
temporary
solution,
not
a
permanent
one,”
he
said.

Mr
Dulani
urged
governments
to
take
the
concerns
of
their
citizens
seriously
and
address
them
adequately.

“Governments
should
never
take
people
for
granted,
because
although
there
was
an
excitement
for
democracy
in
the
1990s,
what
we’re
seeing
now
is
that
people
are
not
happy
with
democracy
and
asking
themselves
questions
of
what
democracy
is
really
offering
to
them
and
trying
to
find
other
alternatives,”
he
added.