*WHEN THE BALLOT IS COMPROMISED, THE BULLET BECOMES THE LAST ARBITER - THE SAD REALITY OF AFRICA*

Let’s stop pretending. Africa’s recent wave of military takeovers did not fall from the sky, and they are not happening because soldiers suddenly developed an appetite for political power. They are happening because many so-called “democratic” governments on the continent have lost the moral right to govern. When elections themselves become a crime scene—bought, rigged, manipulated and auctioned to the highest bidder—what exactly remains of democracy?

Democracy, we are taught, is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. These are not decorative words. They are the constitutional and moral pillars on which legitimacy stands. But what do we call a system where votes are monetized, the electoral empire serves political mafias, and results are manufactured long before citizens line up to vote? Certainly not democracy. It is, at best, a government of the few, by the few and for their friends—a clever civilian disguise for minority dictatorship.

And when this distortion becomes the norm rather than the exception, when citizens themselves lose the belief that their vote matters, the entire edifice of democracy collapses from within. A ballot stripped of integrity is nothing more than a piece of paper. When the ballot is compromised, the people’s mandate is stolen, and the promise of democratic choice becomes a hollow ceremony. In that vacuum of legitimacy, power naturally seeks alternative arbitration—and history has shown that, in Africa, the bullet often becomes the final arbiter.

In this void stands one institution Africans did not choose yesterday, did not elect today, but established constitutionally to protect the state: the military. The armed forces were not created to govern, yes. But they were created by the people to guarantee the continuity and survival of the nation. When reckless civilian leadership pushes a country toward the cliff—through corruption, constitutional manipulation, vote-buying, and raw impunity—the military instinctively moves to stop the fall. That does not make coups ideal. But it does explain why they keep happening—and why populations, however reluctantly, often accept them as a temporary antidote to democratic betrayal.

Let’s be honest: Africans are not welcoming soldiers because they prefer boots to ballots. They are welcoming them because ballots no longer mean anything. Because elections across the continent have been reduced to transactional auctions where citizens are spectators, not sovereigns. Because leaders rewrite constitutions with the casualness of signing a hotel guestbook. Because institutions meant to check power now kneel before it.

A democracy that does not reflect the will of the people is democracy in costume—a dangerous masquerade that invites instability. And when the system becomes deaf to the cries of the governed, the guns eventually start speaking. A nation cannot remain silent when citizens are screaming for justice but the political class responds with arrogance. And when that silence from above becomes unbearable, the military—rightly or wrongly—interprets it as a call to intervene. This is the brutal arithmetic of failed democracies.

Military intervention, in many cases, is not the cause of Africa’s crisis—it is the consequence. A reaction, not a plan. A desperate attempt to halt national collapse when every civilian mechanism has failed or been compromised by those in power. Countries do not wake up one morning and choose coups; they are pushed into them by decayed political cultures that reward manipulation over merit, money over mandate, and force over fairness. When leaders behave as though they are above the constitution, they inadvertently invite those who see themselves as guardians of the state to restore balance—however imperfect that “restoration” may be.

The uncomfortable truth is simple:

If Africa wants coups to end, Africa must fix its democracy.

Stop selling votes.

Stop buying power.

Stop rigging outcomes.

Stop rewriting constitutions to stay in office forever.

Stop governing against the people and start governing from them.

Stop turning democratic institutions into private estates.

Until African leaders understand that legitimacy cannot be purchased, manipulated or declared by force, the continent will continue to bounce between broken elections and “corrective” military interventions. A nation that vandalizes its own democracy should not feign surprise when soldiers step in to sweep up the debris.

The real danger is not the soldier at the gate.

The real danger is the politician who destroys democracy from within—quietly, slowly, legally, and shamelessly. The soldier arrives only after the politician has finished the demolition work.

When elections become a crime scene, coups will remain a consequence.When the ballot is compromised, the bullet becomes the last arbiter. Unfortunately, that is the sad reality of Africa.

#alexdphenom