Written by Kibo Ngowi

The Citizens’ Summit in Defense of Democracy and Freedom has officially begun! Civil society, international organizations, academic institutions, think tanks, philanthropic organizations, and the private sector converged in the Zambian capital of Lusaka to make their voices heard in the Summit discussions and in the global democracy debate.  

“This initiative and engagements such as this one, which bring together various actors involved in a functioning democracy, are extremely important to upholding the democratic ideals that we all share and aspire to attain,” Zambia’s Minister of Justice, Mulambo Haimbe, said during his opening remarks.

“We often talk about democracy, what it looks like and how it should work. Often it is as though democracy is merely an abstract notion that is there only to be discussed and deliberated on, but to the contrary, democracy is in the everyday duties that we carry out, and is about what we do, not only what we say. Indeed, it is at the very essence of our lives.”

 This event is part of the global Partners for Democracy Day and gathers cooperation and support from civil society organizations and members of the Global Democracy Coalition including Accountability Lab, International IDEA, the European Union, Freedom House and the Ford Foundation.

Jacek Jankowski, the Head of the European Union Delegation in Lusaka, reflected on experiencing the freedom of democracy as a young man during his address. “I’m still young enough to remember when democracy came to my country. I’m Polish by origin and in 1989 when I was 20, we had the first elections where we had the right to choose. Before that, my country experienced the one party system.

“So I know what it means to have a free choice, to have the freedom to determine your path in life. So that’s why it’s so important that you as the youth and civil society make your governments accountable, and ensure your voices are heard. There is no better option than democracy. If you want to live in dignity, if you want to be respected, if you want your human rights to be observed, the only system which guarantees this is democracy. And I’m speaking not because of books or studies. I’m speaking based on my personal experience,” he shared.

Dr. McDonald Lewanika, the Lab’s Southern Africa Regional Director, said he hoped the summit would encourage citizens to embrace democracy “as a value, not just as a slogan”. “I’m hoping that we would have moved beyond the politics of the stomach, where we encounter narratives around how democratization does not work because it does not deliver bread and butter for the people and embrace the notion that democracy and democratization needs to deliver both on people’s freedoms and also on social and economic issues.”

“We are here to declare in our numbers that freedom matters. And we will do what allows us and our countries to meet the pressing challenges with courage and innovation and help our people to move forward,” he said.

The first session was  about democratic renewal in Africa and the strides made since the first Summit for Democracy. Tiseke Kasambala, the Africa Director of Freedom House, highlighted how they had tracked a decline in terms of political rights and civil liberties across the African continent. “We’re now going into the 17th year of democratic regression and on this continent, we see the same reflected. Only nine countries, according to our Freedom in the World assessment, improved in terms of their scores while the majority remained stagnant, which is not a good sign. So the necessity of democratic renewal cannot be understated.”

The second session of the day was on youth inclusion, looking at meaningful participation by young people in democratization and electoral processes. It brought together voices from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mali and Swaziland. This was followed by three parallel breakaway sessions exploring money in politics, civic space, and media freedoms.

One session was “Money in Politics: Financing political parties and election campaigns for democratic renewal in Africa” which saw the African Election Observers Network and the Alliance for Finance Monitoring hosting activists from Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Germany and Madagascar. Some of the recommendations the panel made included providing an enabling environment for citizen participation through the use of country constitutions, standardizing legal frameworks on political party financing, and strengthening electoral integrity.

To catch up on today’s proceedings, follow the links below:

Watch the Day 1 plenary sessions here. 

• Breakaway Session 1: Money in Politics: Financing political parties and election campaigns for democratic renewal in Africa.
• Breakaway Session 2: Media freedom, freedom of expression and the technology in elections. 
• Breakaway Session 3: The state of Civic space, its impact on peaceful and democratic elections and transitions in Africa.

Kibo Ngowi is the Marketing & Communications Officer for Accountability Lab

Sheena Adams