It has been an election week in Africa. The people of Tanzania and Ivory Coast went to the polls to choose their leaders. Nigerians vote for or against the proposed new constitution ahead of the presidential election scheduled for 31 January, 2011. The momentum of elective politics is on. The African electorate is determined to be drivers of their own destiny. Will the ballot deliver this dream? 

A brief analysis of Africa's history reveals that most governments operate using imposed governance templates from external forces. The citizenry did not willingly sign a social contract to create or affirm the constitutional systems that manage their affairs. As a result, the unquestioned inherited colonial governance institutions perpetuated the extractive mentality among the African leadership. The clash between the foreign agenda (which is exercised directly or indirectly through donor agencies and African proxies) with the aspirations of the local citizenry has led to conflict on the continent, especially during elections.

Elective politics thus offers an opportunity for Africans to go further to query why they are wallowing in the current governance quagmire. The power of elective politics can be used to overthrow the old order without use of violence. It is the culture of plunder of public resources that must be voted out and be replaced with responsible and visionary leadership. Borrowing templates from other countries is not wrong in itself; however, it is wrong for leaders to sustain templates that have never been legitimized by the citizenry through due process of participatory democracy. As Africans opt for democracy and elective politics; they too must guard against the danger of use of money by the wealthy to influence voter decisions.