My Name Is Adriano Nuvunga;

Introduction

My name is Adriano Nuvunga;

From the International Institute of Social Studies from the Erasmus Rotterdam University, The Hague, The Netherlands.

Democracy has not had an easy time in Africa. It is not surprising, considering that for centuries the majority of citizens in most African countries have been excluded from public decision making.

First through colonial rule.

Then through the military rule and dictatorships that often followed in the wake of colonial withdrawal.

And even now, since a wave of democratisations that swept the continent in the 1990’s, true freedom still seems elusive. We have multi party democracies. But what does this mean when the same party wins election after election? When one party among the many completely dominates the political field? Today I will share with you some of the risks posed by such domination by a single political party, using the example of Mozambique.

First I will give you a brief overview of Mozambique’s transition to democracry

Then I will explain some of the risks when one political party dominates the politics of a country.

Finally I will discuss some of the ways that we (social sciences researchers?) should be responding these risks.

Turning to Mozambique’s transition to democracy.

·  Like South Africa, Mozambique held its first fully democratic elections in 1994. Since that time, the ruling party FRELIMO has won every election by a large majority. In fact at each election it increased its majority in Parliament. Opposition parties contest elections, but FRELIMO is the sole party in governemt.

·  Frelimo is the former liberation movement tht freed the country form colonial rule after a ten year struggle which ended in 1975.

·  After a 16 years long civil war, the warring parties had to negotiate a Peace Agreement which ended the war and paved the way for the 1994 democracy founding elections;

·  The first and every election after that has been won by Frelimo.

·  This has happened in many other coutnries on the continent. After the first democratic election, political competitiveness declines. ruling parties and presidents become entrenched. Parties that ushered in independence becoming the sole participants in government

·  Turning to my second point – what are the rsiks in a case like this?

·  Some people say this situation is good because it provides the necessary stability for the government after years of civil war, to focus on much needed investment in social development.

·  I argue that when parties cease to come and go, the quality of governance including service delivery is undermined.

·  Dominant parties are like monopolies of companies in service provision. Where there is monopoly services are bad and where there is competition services are better.

·  Second, when parties stay in power for long time, they blur the dividing line between what the party is and what the state is . (? and present them as the state and not a political party not sure what you mean;) Can you rather give an example. I am not sure exactly what is wrong with blurring this boundary.

·  Another danger is the qulity of elections In Africa, which has a track record of electoral fraud. (How does one party rule make this worse?)

·  Put this fact toghether with a government that loses popularity due to poor service delivery and what do you get. The temptation of the ruling party to focus on finding ways to stop people from voting them out of power, instead of focusing on the delivery of service.

What should our response be to this scenario? I conclude by saying that the phenomenon of party dominance needs to researched further, so that its causes and consequences for democracy and economic development can be better understood.

Conclusion

I hope tht my talk to you today gave you some insight into one party dominance. I hope that you have seen that we need to remain critical in our understanding of what democracy is, and vigilant in protecting and nurturing democracy in Africa. Finally I want to leave you with the challenge of how do we find ways to make good the promise of freedom that democracy brings.

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