Important to keep faith in democracy despite drawbacks

Angered by proposed tax hikes, people in Kenya are engaged in countrywide protests and have set fire to the country’s parliament leading to comparisons with similar scenes in Sri Lanka which led to the ouster of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022.

So far five persons have been shot dead by Kenyan police as they try to quell the fast-spreading anti-Government protests. Kenyans, like a majority of Lankans blame the country’s financial woes on corruption, with taxpayers wary of paying more amidst a lack of trust over the transparency of the State.

In July 2022, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country and resign from his post of President after protesters entered his official residence and other important Government buildings and took control of them.

Unlike in Kenya, attempts to set fire to the Parliament here were thwarted after police and army personnel put up barricades and beat back the crowds.

The unfolding scenes in Colombo in 2022 were flashed across the world and has since become an inspiration for many seeking to overthrow their government by unleashing protests. Kenya is one such place where things remain volatile with the country’s President William Ruto under pressure to withdraw the controversial bill that would raise taxes or resign.

The world over people have lost or are fast losing faith in politicians, including those elected to office by the people’s vote as public patience with politicians dwindles. The youth in most countries have demonstrated they are unwilling to sit and wait while politics go from making one bad decision to another and put their futures in peril. 

For a long time people have been fed the hackneyed definition of democracy being a system where the government is of the people, by the people and for the people but the youth are unwilling to buy such clichéd words anymore and stand by while those running the government only serve themselves and their cronies.

That said, the best system that is in place in the world where the people have a say in public affairs through their elected representative is in a democracy as the alternatives are far worse. In democracies, however imperfect the systems are, the voters get the choice of voting for a cross section for candidates as well as changing government at regular intervals.

Be it in the UK or the USA or Sri Lanka where elections are due within the next few months, the choice before voters are far from perfect. Many of the same politicians are putting themselves on the ballot paper backed by their parties and voters will have to choose among them. But they at least have the chance to make a choice and vote for the ones they think would be best for the country.

However angry people may be at government policies, burning down a parliament and trying to force political leaders out of office by the use of force instead of through the ballot does not augur well for any country.

In Sri Lanka the Aragalaya was showcased as a game changer that would bring about the much-needed system change to the county but two years down the line, things pretty much remain the same.

However bleak the outlook is in democracies, it’s important for the people to bear in mind that the alternatives are far worse. Authoritarian rulers, military dictatorships, communist regimes deprive people of the most basic individual freedoms which people in democracies take for granted. Sri Lanka has a long way to go until its democracy is inclusive and refined so that the people of this country belonging to all ethnicities, religions, etc. can live freely in peace and prosperity. But for now, we have to make the best of what we’ve got and keep faith in the democratic system and use the power of the ballot to bring about the changes that people seek.