The Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, a former Prime Minister of Kenya, has urged African nations to strengthen democracy amid growing populism in the West, closing the global democratic space.
Odinga spoke on Tuesday, July 23, 2025, at the International Conference on Africa’s Democracy, held at the NAF Conference Centre and Suites in Abuja.
Odinga observed, “We live in an age of discontent. We live with vigorous agitation and substantial challenges to our government and institutions.”
He added, “Throughout the world today, many old systems are either under severe stress or are in decline. Democracy itself, as we have known it for several centuries, is being rejected even in its cradle in Europe and North America. In Africa, where political democracy is an import from the West, regimes are clawing back hard-won gains. In this charged atmosphere, the youth bulge threatens to overrun governments.”
Raila Odinga stated that, despite the challenges, African nations must develop indigenous systems to strengthen their democracies. They will do so as they face even more threats.
He stated, “Democracy and its role in Africa’s development are set to gain even more significance as transactional and inward-looking regimes emerge and directly ask to access Africa’s natural wealth in return for security and other forms of support. We have seen an increasing appetite by countries outside Africa for the continent’s natural resources, including oil, gold, iron ore, manganese, and rare earth minerals.
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