Is the African Electorate aware of his or her value and worth? The answer is no: Because of deliberate mis-education by some unscrupulous politicians to deny them of the knowledge of their purpose, value and worth. As a result, the African electorate have unfortunately been reduced to as it were, to a component of a voting machine which churns out good or bad leaders with regards to what information it is fed without knowing, due to their mis-education through ignorance perpetuated by abbreviations of political party names, slogans and colours most of which the African Electorate do not know what they stand for, yet vote for. Whereas , it is the duty of the African Electorate to independently decide base on the understanding of who they are and why they are who they are to be a part of a legal electoral machinery that produces nothing but good effective leaders, it is not so. It is for the reason of making the African electorate understand who they are and the purpose of being who they are, that I am attempting to put out this article in simple terms to demystify the role of the 3 key players in a national election with the hope that you the literate would also pass it on to the ignorant and illiterate in such simple terms to liberate the African electorate from their ‘mis education’ by Political Parties and politicians. WHO IS AN ELECTORATE An electorate is a person legally given the right to express his decision based on his understanding and conviction through voting in the good interest of others (mankind) and him or herself. The understanding and conviction of the African electorate is then subject to information availed or not availed to the electorate. The most important decision, arguably, an African electorate makes by way of voting is the decision of who becomes their head of government and communities. In this instance the President and their Members of Parliament or Governors in the federal system of government. The universal adult suffrage is the most adopted law by which most people become electorate in a country. It is the right of Citizens of a country who are of sound mind and at times of no criminal convictions of age usually determined by the Constitution of the country, to vote in the ultimate interest of the country. Most widely, at age 18, countries permit citizens under the universal adult suffrage to exercise this right. An electorate of sound mind is supposed be able to make decisions and vote based on information available, or search for information to satisfy him or her at conclusion that his or her vote is in the best interest of mankind, and in this instance the country and him or herself. But can most African electorate be described as such? The answer is No. Can we also relate the poor decision making of the African electorate with regards to the election of their leaders, to the poverty of the African people? The answer is yes. If so, the African electorate is responsible for the environment they find themselves, and the quality of life he or she lives. The correct education of the African electorate would lead to a better voting decision and transformation into a better living condition of the electorate, ordinary citizens, and their dependants. The role and responsibilities of the following personalities must be made clear to the electorate as the first step in helping them to arrive at a good electoral decision and vote accordingly. The President and Member of Parliament (MP) This is important because political party colours and symbols are used by politicians to either assume or shirk responsibilities leading to confusing and blocking information that ought to reach the African Electorate regarding their (Politicians) personality and capabilities from reaching them which leaves questions that ought to be answered by these politicians to give the African electorate a clear picture of who they are, unanswered, thereby perpetuating the woes of the African Electorate by misinformation. It is also important to note the role of your District or Municipal Chief Executive to situate the result of his actions or inactions in the context of Governance since they are not voted for but their role if not properly understood forms part of the mis-education of the African Electorate. He or she is the direct executioner of the policies of the president you elect into office and his or her Government, he or she is jointly responsible with the President for the development of your person and environment and not your Member of Parliament as is wrongly perceived - especially, if he or she is not a member of the ruling political party. The President The Governments of most countries in Africa where the mis-education of the electorates is endemic is run by an Executive President. These are people mostly popularly voted into office on the ticket of a political party or parties by the electorates in an ideal situation, with the hope that they will form a Government that will run the affairs of the country on their behalf to bring relief, improve, protect lives, and make profit or gains for the country. By so doing the electorate trade off a significant amount of their rights to the elected President through the constitution which now vest in the president, executive powers. In very simple terms he becomes the most important person in the country and his safety and warfare supersede all other people in the country including the electorates. He is not liable to any court proceedings for any action taking or not taking in the name of performing his duty, regardless of how it affects the electorates who voted him or her into office. He or she may be prosecuted only after some number of years when he or she is out of office and in certain cases not at all. He becomes the commander in chief of the country’s army and all state security agencies, appoints heads of institutions that run the country’s affairs and has the power to sack them. He has the power to initiate business on behalf of the country with an individual or a country. In simple terms, the collective right of the African Electorate to manage the affairs of their country for their good, is given to the President by way of voting him into office. This huge power trade off by the African Electorate if not more, should be equally balanced by the productivity of their Presidents through good Governance which is a rare occurrence on the African continent. Is the African electorate aware of the magnitude of the power they give away by their voting decision? I cannot say yes, because of the factors that influence the decision making of the electorates which lead to the election of ‘unqualified’ people as a result of their mis-education, as aforementioned which prevents them from scrutinizing the people they vote into these very important offices of their various countries. To mention a few, the following are some of the reasons for the poor electoral choices of the African electorates as a result of their mis-education. 1. The African electorate is not taught to think independently 2. The African electorate is taught to vote along the lines of Party initials, slogans, colours and symbols, which unfortunately have come to represent the ideology, policies and credence of political parties to the African Electorate. 3. The African electorate is not taught to think of his or her country first and he or she second but Political Party first, country second. 4. The African Electorate is not made to think of the future but the present by the offering of bribes, in terms of goodies and money. 5. The African electorate is made to think that opposing an ideology or policy of his or her political party corresponds to opposing his or her person, irrespective of the relevance of the opposing idea hence the violence associated with elections. THE PARLIAMENTARIAN OR MP Your Member of Parliament (MP) or parliamentarian is the person you elect into parliament or the legislature to represent your area, debate and enact legislations in the interest of the country and your area. History teaches us that in the past only noble or distinguished men of various social standing were either chosen or selected to represent the people, hence the title ‘Honorable’. This was all in the hope that these members would accordingly work honorably in the interest of the country and the people they represent, but not to seek their own personal interest at the expense of the people who elected them into parliament. Today because of multiparty democracy, a very good system of governance notwithstanding, the African electorate unfortunately is denied the opportunity to access and properly examine people offering themselves to be elected into parliament but instead, elect people based on their political membership or affiliation to a party, thereby in certain cases electing people with questionable characters into parliament. The result of which is the enactment of wrong legislations and the promotion of bad government businesses in the house of parliament, which transforms to the suffering of most African electorate and their dependents. Because of the deliberate smoke screen promoted by politicians in the name of political party initials, symbols and party colours placed before the African electorate and the complex party electoral processes which are often changed or manipulated to favour certain individuals of a party, the single most important element which is the character of the aspirant is overlooked by the African electorate even when it is displayed right in front of them. In so doing when elected, the MPS legislative duties are preceded by his representational interest that is ‘what will make his or her party people happy’. And not what will serve the country better and improve the lives of the people in the area he represents. In most cases, his or her function in the legislature becomes limited to the promotion of Political party business irrespective of the consequence to the country. And in cases where they are appointed Ministers of State or sector Minister this shameful behavior is further perpetuated leading the African Electorate by mis-education to believe that his or her right to a better life depends on which Political Party he or she belongs to and not because he or she is a citizen of the country. The aspiring President and Member of Parliament are two people volunteering to serve you the African Electorate. So any one of them or both who would directly offer you any kind of bribe by themselves or their representatives to vote them into office is first of all not honest but corrupt and disrespectful to you. He or she is not also a willing servant but an unscrupulous merchant trading in power. By offering you the bribe he buys your authority and your time or life in advance of (four) 4 years and in certain cases five (5 years) as the constitution may stipulate as the period for his term of office. Like all merchants, he or she intends to profit from it at your expense regardless of how you feel for taking his offer. How can a servant who wants to serve his master (you the African Electorate) offer his master money or bribe of any kind to serve him? Think about it. Unless the servant knows that there is an opportunity to get more than he is offering his master. For this reason, be informed, all African electorates of the answer to the following questions regarding your aspiring Presidents and Members of Parliament as the first step of Liberating yourself from the mis-education of the politicians, so you can vote into office people who have your interest at heart and are willing to serve you, if not to eliminate, reduce your suffering through fair accountable democratic governance. For the status of you the African Electorate is a reflection of the leaders you elect. 1. What is the Health condition of the person offering him or herself to be the President or Parliamentarian? 2. Has the person any history of domestic, social violence or a criminal case against him or her? 3. Is the person honest? 4. What is the person’s vision for representing you? 5. Is the person courageous enough to carry it through? 6. Is the person generous in good terms? 7. How is the person attitude towards other people? 8. Is he or she merciful or vindictive? 9. Is the person too committed to his or her party that he cannot tolerate any person from another party? 10. Is the person too committed to his or her party that compromises his or her moral and ethical senses? 11. Is he or she corrupt? 12. Is the person respectful to people? 13. Who are his or her friends and followers because from these would his government be formed?