Summary of the Busia Memorial Lectures "Africa in Search of Democracy - The Contribution of Dr K A Busia by Dr Kwame Donkor Fordovor

The Busia Memorial Lectures "Africa in Search of Democracy - The Contribution of Dr K A Busia by Dr Kwame Donkor Fordovor was done as a series of Busia Memorial Lectures for the Busia Foundation for year 2004.

The proceedings, as now detailed in the summary booklet, featured
a scholarly, thought provoking, well researched and ably written compilation presented in three separate lectures.

In his first lecture Dr Donkor Fordovor gives a general introduction to the theme and goes on to enumerate the ingredients of Dr Busia's conception of democracy. He takes the reader through a wave of what he calls Democracy and its role in Africa; the democratic deficit; and on to the claims of African governments to democracy leading to the situation in Africa compared with the claims

In the other part of the lecture Dr Fordovor delved further into Dr Busia in five steps, namely as the theoretician or political scientist by examining his writings, speeches, political campaigns, summary of his conception of democracy ending on his note of the relevance of his conception to democracy to the realities and requirements of contemporary African Societies.

In his second lecture, Dr Busia was assessed as a practicing politician, the innovations he brought to the economy and light is thrown on areas of his recognized achievements; areas in which he has been criticized and an education of the criticisms.

In the third and final lecture, Dr Fordovor considers the major problems of democracy in Africa. In the process he examines the main factors that inhibit the growth and development of democracy in Africa including, among other things, poverty and illiteracy, the influence of ethnicity, ingrained corruption and absence of a free press.

The summary booklet of the Busia Memorial Lectures is available from Busia Foundation