By Julius Adeoye

The United States of America made a high-profile announcement at the end of 2022 that Zambia would become one of the venues for the second “Global Democracy Summit”. However, the essence of the United States’ move is to occupy the moral high ground and gain geopolitical advantages in Africa. It is difficult for African countries to really benefit from it.

From a practical point of view, in the past 20 years, under the banner of “anti- terrorism”, the United States has repeatedly waged wars in various parts of the world, including Africa, and forcibly exported “democracy”.  

The United States hypes up the “debt trap” conspiracy theory in Africa, but itself increases Africa’s debt burden through money printing and interest rate hikes.

 The United States should fulfill its promises to the African people and make up for the deficit of trust in areas such as peace and security, economic development, and climate change that African countries are more concerned about, instead of just plundering resources, preaching, Inciting geopolitical confrontation in Africa.

Efforts by the United States to shape itself as the main leader of the “democratic camp” through the Summit for Democracy won’t achieve the desired effect. 

This is mainly because the US cannot provide attractive leverage nor use its own performance to prove that being in the same camp as the US can help other countries obtain more benefits and larger room for development.

At the recent announcement by the White House, that it will host a second Summit for Democracy on March 29 and 30, 2023 in Zambia, and while Costa Rica, the Netherlands, and South Korea will act as co-hosts.

The first Summit for Democracy hosted by US President Joe Biden in December 2021 was snubbed, as around 110 countries and regions invited by the US government, 89 came to the virtual gathering, according to media reports. 

A metric of success is how well will the summit strengthens the structural economic enablers of democracy at a domestic level within these countries.

African governments are committing themselves to meaningful processes of democratization that seek to secure civil and political rights, social-economic rights, and the physical security of their citizens. 

They are also building and sustaining effective democratic institutions, improving governance systems, strengthening national accountability mechanisms, while also addressing marginalization and expanding the space for political participation and citizen engagement. 

In turn, the United States should redouble its efforts in the strengthening of democratic institutions at home such as the judiciary, electoral management bodies, and anticorruption entities, as well as efforts to support civil society organizations, social movements, and prodemocracy actors who remain critical to protecting the space for civic engagement and discourse.

Democracy is sustained by the material prosperity of citizens in terms of good jobs, rising incomes, and overall well-being. Well-paid bureaucrats, how has the young people with good job prospects living in secure communities with decent roads, hospitals, and health services.

*Julius Adeoye, a social commentator, writes from Lagos State.