African politics is a zero-sum, winner-takes-all game where the declared winner walks away with virtually everything while the declared loser walks away with virtually nothing. There is no middle road in this electoral fight because the First-Past-the-Post electoral system does not allow the sharing of profit and loss among political contestants. With the “glory” of winning elections so radiant and the misery of losing elections so devastating, elections are a matter of life and death. On the one hand, incumbent parties are keen to use every tool necessary to shut the opposition out of power. These tools include the blatant rigging of elections, the capture and weaponisation of state institutions, the enactment and selective enforcement of draconian legislation, and the repression of democratic freedoms. On the other hand, the disgruntled opposition adopts tit-for-tat politics by refusing to recognise the incumbent party, claiming that it is illegitimate. The opposition does everything within its power to undermine the economic performance of the ruling party. This includes mass action, uprisings, boycotting parliament and other state forums, and in some cases, calling for the imposition of targeted or blanket sanctions.

Strangely, the opposition gets satisfaction from the failures of the incumbent party despite that some of the failures can cause uttermost damage to the economy and lead to the death of innocent citizens. It regards the failures as an indisputable statement that the incumbent party is illegitimate and grossly incompetent. It believes that a “burning and screaming” economy is the political tide that will oust the ruling party and bring it into power. In other words, a “burning and screaming” economy is the most potent weapon that the opposition can ever use against the ruling party. Africans of goodwill must understand that using economic collapse and political mayhem as a means to attain political power is a disastrous approach to politics. Unhappy with what it considers spiteful behaviour from the opposition, the ruling party throws away the template of civil engagement and take a violent and authoritarian response. The two sides increasingly become a danger to each other because of perceptions of mutual distrust and enmity. Each side sees the other as an existential threat to its vested interests and to the state. In extreme cases, they seek to exterminate each other.

A lot of energy, attention, and resources are diverted from development interventions to political fights. The tragedy is that the fight between the two sides degenerates into a vicious cycle whose end game is mutually assured destruction, with the ordinary citizens being the biggest casualties. The political elite from both sides primitively accumulates wealth while the nation falls deeper and deeper into the dungeon of polarisation, poverty, and inequality. As ordinary people move from hope to grievances, disillusionment, anger, and despair, society gets increasingly polarised. However, it is important to note that foreign interference in the internal affairs of African states is one of the major causes and drivers of polarisation. The core objective of this interference is to cause irreparable divisions between and among Africans and create the opportunity to exploit Africa’s natural resources. It has become abundantly clear that dialogue is the main tool that Africa should use to reverse this disastrous trend. The Dialogue or Perish Project seeks to promote systemic dialogue and dialogic political environments in deeply polarised African states.