The story here in most African countries is weird. Its like the only time these politicians seem to care is when election is approaching. They visit us, give us empty promises and a whole lot. Funny enough, they are voted for massively. Then once they are in power, we are out of the picture. In my country for instance, apart from what I was taught back in school, I cant really pinpoint the essence of the Legislature. From my observation, this has become a cycle. Its like instead of them bringing up policies that will improve lives, they waste resources just like that and master how to make us vote for them when the time comes.
My worry is, are we naive or thats just how the game of politics is played?
Politics has been a dirty game and every politician needs some degree of cunningness to success within their party. Replacing the politicians might not be a solution either as we've seen newer politician more committed to corruption. The greatest power are the people itself. Politicians could be forced to act according to the interest of people. Education is the most powerful weapon.
One of the largest contributing factor for success of democracy is a free and unbiased media.
In case of Africa, things are changing for good. We've seen impressive improvement in lifestyle of many African countries in recent years led by democratically elected leaders.