Do not fall for the countless economic indexes and the many ways they say democracy is improving in Africa, the fact of the matter is, the economy is improving for only those in power and democracy is being showcased not practiced.

For the ordinary African living in Africa, none of the improvements has a direct or indirect effect on his/her life— we are bearing witness to the fact that the struggle continues…

It is true that there are deep state issues and external actors which are pulling Africa backwards but that is just a highly infinitesimal part of the problem, the larger part of the problem is the lack of accountability among our leaders and those we offer power to oversee things.

Despite the many ways public officials are held accountability in places like the UK, tougher measures of accountability are currently being discussed to help bring the expenses of UK parliamentarians under scrutiny to keep them in check.

One of the many proposed measures was discussed this morning on BBC which is, whatever parliamentarians claim as expenses should be channelled through a particular credit card which should be accessible online to everybody—loosely explained as, you can logon to see what your constituency parliamentarian buys under the expenses claim scheme and that way, we all will know what is buying what and what time…

The above is the high standard of accountability the UK and several western countries which are well developed with better economies are looking to put in place so to bring the actions of those in power under public scrutiny.

In Ghana for instance, a parliamentarian who earns less than £4000 a month (which I still think it’s excessive) is able to buy his two girlfriends over £30,000 cars and give them a monthly allowance of not less than £1000 each while paying foreign schools fees for his sons and other concubines…

Our biggest problem is; who says it is too much when in fact it is too much? Who checks those in power and regulate the actions of the countless corrupt officials? In a country where the regulator is as corrupt as the person to be regulated, the public must take up the duty to ensure accountability.

Our electricity, gas, water, democracy, social and economic problems will all disappear if we take keen interest in the principles of accountability…

It looks like the days of street protests, civil disobedience and mass demonstrations have disappeared when this is the time we really need to be on our feet and put those in charge under our charge…