Democracy: road to failure

Andy Burnham (Labour Party) since 20.07.2026 is the Prime Minister of the UK. Standing before Downing Street No. 10 yesterday, his outlook on the policies he wants to implement is a reminder of where he was two years ago. Sir Keir Starmer (Labour Party), after a landslide general election win, kissed his wife, Lady Starmer, at the very same spot before the door of No. 10 was opened and he was greeted inside by an enthusiastic crowd of civil servants and future cabinet ministers. Before leaving office, Sir Keir Starmer did not shed tears in front of the cameras of international media outlets. Unlike previous Prime Ministers, he was cheerful and smiling all over. He left in defeat of his policies and conduct in office.

Democracy as a governance system is the intended inclusion, checks and balances, accountability and transparency in which humans can operate, standing on their party's and personal manifestos and agendas to benefit the majority of voters, considering and respecting the needs of minorities and lobby groups of interest. Citizens expect democratic elected politicians and the system of democracy to serve them better than any other form of governance the world has witnessed or thought of. Being under constant observation and scrutiny, democratic elected politicians are voted into office by the electorate, being convinced a certain leader and party has all it takes for the future: ideas, strategies, plans and personnel. The road ahead is filled with potholes and bumps, large and small, expected and unexpected. Leaders able to rally the majority of votes behind them over time, riding down the road of the future, finally end up being replaced during the upcoming election by another party leader from another party or the same party or, as seen in the UK midterm, with no voters' confirmation. Voters change leaders when they fail to keep their promises and demonstrate conduct unacceptable to them. Winners, on the other hand, are voted for again and again (Africa is a prominent exception to the rule) into office until they decide to step aside and focus on other issues and chances in life.

Democracy, in most cases, is a road to failure. From the glory of an enthusiastic new beginning till the end in tears, forced by time and circumstances to hand over the reins to the next candidate for him/her to ride down the road to failure.
In Ghana, political leaders promise stadiums in numbers, theatres, sports events, airports for regional centres, waste time and money on launching toilet facilities, etc. to please the voters; and they jubilate. Meanwhile, the basic needs are not addressed. The same die-hard voters go hungry at night or sleep rough, unable to eat from stadiums, theatres, sports events or regional airports. Cocoa Processing Company CPC Limited in Tema, since 2012, is annually subsidised by $ 12-14 Mio. Ghana by now could have bought 4-5 brand new chocolate factories for the money wasted on two hundred poorly paid workers and glorified its name as the best chocolate producer in the world!

Modern Elected Kingdoms inherit the glorious past of ancient Greece and combine it with the fundamental principles of democracy outlined above. No man-made governmental system is perfect. Constant observation of political processes exposes the time to change direction for the betterment of society.

While democratic elected leaders share tears with their former supporters, elected kings, when dead, are mourned by their subjects.