Abdulai Mansaray: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 29 August 2025:
Seen as the best form of governance, the Greeks who have been credited with inventing the idea and concept of democracy recognised the dual nature of it from its inception. Great Greek philosophers like Dio Chrysotom have argued that democracy is not a monolithic concept but rather a phenomenon with two opposing forms.
There is good democracy which is “reasonable” and “gentle”, it fosters free speech and demonstrates respect for good people and sound advice. The bad side of democracy is characterised by “boldness” and “arrogance”, which is difficult to please and usually resembles a collective form of tyranny.
Interestingly, it is not like, democracy was a product of academic debate or intellectual discourse. It was born in the streets of Athens out of a bitter and violent struggle between two men. Their rivalry forced an entire city to choose its future, leading to one of humanity’s most important moments: the birth of democracy. In a nutshell, democracy typically means “power in the hands of the people”.
With a backdrop of class structures, democracy therefore needed to provide protection for the rights of the people against its hazards and pitfalls. Societies developed national constitutions as guardrails and channels to give the people a voice in the government and to serve them fairly.
Democracy, therefore, is naturally associated with freedom, liberty, rights, equality, choice, etc. Judging by today’s standards, is there any cause for concern that the world is gradually but insidiously tilting towards the bad and ugly version of democracy?
The imperfections of democracy have never been so vividly demonstrated than what we see across the world today. The irony is that the very proponents and high priests of democracy are now the very architects of the demolition process.
America and its allies have always professed to protect, promote and evangelise democracy. The world was divided and compartmentalised along political nomenclatures of communism, socialism, democracy and autocracy in between, especially during the cold war. Leaders and Heads of States have been assassinated in the name of democracy.
Continents, countries and regions have been subjected to sanctions, internecine wars, interregna, coup d’etats etc, all in the name of upholding democracy. Inter-relationships, foreign policies, alliances, treaties, corporations, institutions and in some cases cultural links were based on “shared democratic values” around the world. In other cases, whole nations, countries, etc were founded on the foundations and tenets of democracy.
Sadly, the alarm bells that the ancient Greek purveyors of democracy sounded centuries ago are now sounding incessantly at deafeningly prophetic decibels. Regrettably, the same nations who sacrificed so much to keep democracy sacrosanct are now the demolition experts taking it down, one brick at a time.
The very tenets including, freedom of speech, free speech and even the call for freedom of others are now classified as treasonable offences. The right to freely assemble is criminalised today.
In Trump’s America today, the constitution and the courts are fast replaced by “Executive Orders”, a synonym for “decrees” in dictatorship. While the people remain pawns on the democratic chessboard, politics is now a game of vengeance.
Is capitalism the executioner- in- chief of democracy?
While staying out of the glare of the world, the billionaires have always bought and sold our leaders to rule the world. With money comes power, as he who pays the piper calls the tune.
With ownership and control of the mind-bending machinery called the “media”, the hypnotised masses have collectively accepted the normalisation of the abnormal with effortless subservience, their quest for world domination in the New World Order. While the “Billionaire Takeover” which had hitherto been in the shadows, is now in full flow and full view of the world. They no longer shy from demonstrating their full and open support in cash, kind or media for their proffered and preferred political candidates.
Interestingly, DEMOCRACY” has always been the gridlock to their perpetual greed for power and wealth. After many centuries of clandestine apparatus to get round the “constraints” of democratic institutions, Trump and his enablers have willing and readily opened the valve for the inevitable takeover.
The billionaires’ sword of damocles” on African democracy
So, while the USA and its Allies were busy with the Arab Spring and fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on credit cards, Russia and China were without any fanfare, cementing their foothold in the African continent.
Unlike their Western counterparts, Russia and China came with little or no political preconditions. They came as “partners” to trade Africa’s minerals in exchange for security, infrastructure, etc. America’s diminishing presence in the African car boot sale has forced Trump’s administration to quietly recalibrate its Sahel strategy, trading military support to West African juntas battling Jihadists for lucrative access to the regions’ vast mineral resources.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso will no longer considered “political outcasts”, if they can give America their GPS to minerals in their countries, as Quid Pro Quo for security. Although the Biden administration had used economic asphyxiation on Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali for their “unconstitutional”, “undemocratic” and “unelected “governments, trump has no qualms in demonstrating that the litmus test for American foreign policy these days is transactional analysis.
So, who or what is driving this diplomatic and foreign policy shift?
You don’t need to be an Einstein to see the fingerprints of the billionaires, moneybags, the venture capitalists, the stockbrokers etc all over this. With Foreign policies determined by foreign interests that were discussed behind closed doors and clandestine settings, this time it’s in the open as their hand-picked politicians know a thing or two about wall Street.
The auctioneering is conducted in world view as we saw Ukraine’s minerals bargained for peace. The same is happening in Congo’s resource -infested war zone. The inevitable Billionaire Takeover is here and here to stay, as democracy is seen as an anathema to their New World Order in pursuit of World Domination. Are we witnessing democracy in its last throes? Are we witnesses to the painful throes of the restructuring of democracy?
What does this mean for democracy in Africa?
The African continent is known for its monopoly on coup d’etats, wars, famine etc. We wrote the thesaurus on the issue. Despite recent strides towards democratic/civilian governance in the last two decades, the Sahel Triumvirate threatened the trend recently. Many see the Sahel case as proof that democracy has failed Africa.
With Trump and the Western world now consecrating military coups and juntas by way of “business as usual”, what hope is there for African countries to preserve democracy?
With the State Department ordered to overlook International Human Rights abuses, and with its country reports no longer required to “call out governments for abuses like restrictions on free and fair elections, significant corruption, or serious harassment of domestic or human rights organisations”, what is the message to corrupt leaders and even the military when Trump lavishes praises on dictators and adores them? When was the last time you heard the US call out a country about its democratic credentials?
Was democracy a farce, a sham or a hoax?
As the world seemingly turns its back on democracy, what does that mean for African democracy, a continent that boasts of the longest serving and oldest Heads of States? Is Africa’s democracy at risk?
Can anyone unceremoniously and unconstitutionally grab power and still get the blessings of The US and its Allies, as long as the latter have their hands in the cookie jar? Would “democratically” held elections become some sort of advance sales of stolen goods then?
Let us take a case study closer to home, just to illustrate some of the potential hazards of America’s policy?
The opposition APC party in Sierra Leone, which had threatened non-participation in the June 2023 general elections went on to boycott parliament because of the controversy around the election results.
Against the threats of civil war, sporadic but relatively moderate protests, shut down strikes and various flashes of violence that nearly brought the nation to an undesirable standstill situation, the opposition APC party looked up to and sought the intervention of the international Community for a resolution.
With the involvement of some regional neighbours, it took the commanding role of the Americans to get our political parties to engage in Electoral justice (Tripartite Committee) and bring the impasse, thankfully to a peaceful end. (Photo above: Ruling SLPP and opposition APC leadership establish tripartite committee).
Every Sierra Leonean will hope and pray that we don’t have a repeat performance of 2023 June elections. We hope elections would be free, fair, peaceful and kept clear of such controversies. We also hope that losers would be graceful enough and accept their loss.
With the new American stance, let us hope that as a nation, we would be capable of sorting out our own differences. As utopian as it might sound, we need to start thinking of how we can sort our issues in house. We can no longer count on America’s or western intervention especially with the wave of jingoism on sale by right wing political parties.
Will Trump’s administration have the time to engage in African domestic politics without any transactional value? Does his administration even have the moral high ground to preach democracy? When last did you hear his administration talk about democracy? Will running to the US does not sound like a viable option?
It is up to us all as Sierra Leoneans to prioritize our needs and promote, secure and actualise them.
With the masks and veils slowly coming off, was democracy a veiled strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles? The Republican party in the USA was known as the party of family values, the party of morals and religious convictions, steeped in conservative values.
Thanks to capitalism, they conduct public affairs for private advantage. As they now engage in lawfare as the law. the rule of law, free speech and freedom have become the first casualties and victims. They are dismantling any semblance of symbiosis that seemingly existed between Democracy and capitalism.
If democracy is not already dead, Trump’s transactional approach to the Sahel Region is the clearest sign that democracy is on life support machine in Africa.
Don’t forget to turn the lights off when you leave the room.
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