After Nigeria, we are the second biggest black African nation. We are the headquarters of the African Union. We are the only African country that has never been colonized. This is perhaps the last surviving African civilization.
In the urban areas, we have focused on infrastructure roads, telecommunications, power.
When push comes to shove, people vote alone.
Some people think African states cannot be trusted with the cookie jar. But there are absolutely good NGOs who have this feeling of human solidarity and who also recognize that their work can only be supplementary to the government.
Democracy cannot be a plaything for the capital cities. It has to infiltrate every nook and cranny in the country, including the village.
While all democratic systems are works in progress, ours started rather late and therefore has a longer distance to cover. But democratic transformation for us is not mimicking some facets of Western governance. The focus has been on building institutions of democratic governance.