Former Executive Vice President of Unilever Ghana and Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, says Africa’s democratic dysfunction is not merely the result of policy failures but a historical inevitability rooted in the continent’s tragic starting point.
In an interview on JoyNews’ PM Express, following his provocative lecture “Iniquities of Iniquity in Our Santa Claus Democracy,” Nsarkoh argued that many of Africa’s early leaders inherited broken structures, faced uncharted terrain, and became pioneers without predecessors—and it shows.
“You take someone like Nkrumah—who was he learning from?” Nsarkoh asked.
“Whose mistakes could he study? These people were pioneers. They were navigating terrain with no compass, no predecessors, and no playbook. And we’re still paying for that.”
He argued that the failure of post-colonial democracy in Africa stems from this fundamental void—an elite class forced to build nations from the ruins of colonialism while simultaneously battling for survival in a global system stacked against them.
“Our democratic project started not with the control of sovereign productive forces but with a flag, an anthem, and a dark-skinned president,” he said, referencing Kabral Blay-Amihere. “That is not independence.”
For Nsarkoh, the rot is both systemic and historic.
“The colonial hangover is real,” he said.
“The post-colonial elite simply took over the levers of the state and became new colonialists. They built nothing for the people—they just inherited power and used it to look after themselves.”
He added that African democracies were constructed on “distorted realities.” Unlike Western democracies that emerged after centuries of capital accumulation and institutional development, Africa was expected to implement a system it had no foundation to sustain.
“The West started modern democracy when they already had wealth to distribute. Africa was forced into democracy while still crawling from under the wreckage of colonialism. It’s not the same conversation.”
Nsarkoh dismissed comparisons between Ghana and countries like Singapore as misleading.
“The starting points were different,” he explained.
“Singapore didn’t have to carry the same weight of colonial distortion. They weren’t starting with GDPs below $3,000 per capita and broken institutional memory. We were.”
He lamented the collapse of local government structures in Ghana and described the country’s current democratic practice as little more than “a public auction for the highest bidder.”
“What we have is not participation—it is transaction,” Nsarkoh said.
“Citizens are no longer participants in democracy. They are ballots, bought and sold.”
At the heart of his critique is a profound disillusionment with the elite consensus and its role in sustaining the illusion of democratic progress.
“We celebrate elections like they are proof of democracy. But what we have is Santa Claus democracy—a system of gifts and giveaways, not accountability,” he said.
ALSO READ: