© Michel Lemoine/Sipa Press, Paris |
Ibrahima N’Diaye, the mayor of
Mali’s capital Bamako, is banking on the Internet to boost democracy in Africa via
specially-outfitted cell phones
Do democracy
and the Internet go together in Africa?
They don’t, because the Internet has only just started appearing on the continent.
To become a tool of democracy, the Internet must become democratic itself! The Web
has penetrated every country in the world, but only two per cent of the globe’s population
have access to it. In most African countries, the Internet is used only by an elite
living mostly in big cities. To make it more widespread, we need support from the
wealthy countries.
What do you expect from them?
That they help us develop an infrastructure as cheaply as possible while taking
local conditions into account. We’re not asking for hand-outs. If they decide to
invest, they have everything to gain, especially in economies of scale. Ninety-eight
per cent of the world’s population is not on line yet–that’s billions of people.
However poor they are, they represent an incredible market. The countries of the
South will gain too, because new technology helps to spread information, which is
a tremendous asset in promoting the growth of democracy.
Then there’s the issue of solidarity. Rich countries invest a lot to foster democracy
around the world. If the Internet is a means of helping to achieve that end, we’d
be baffled if they didn’t help us overcome the obstacles in our way.
What are those obstacles?
The first major stumbling block is illiteracy, which concerns about half of Mali’s
population. What’s the point of giving all citizens Internet access if they can neither
read nor write? Of course we must teach them how, which is a long-term undertaking.
We can also make use of technology. Nowadays, voice-activated computers and Braille
give blind people access to the Internet. It’s easy to imagine similar devices for
illiterate people. The energy situation is just as bad. Fewer than 10 per cent of
Malians have access to electricity or telephones. What can be done? In the short
term we must settle for equipment that runs on batteries, for example.
Which medium encourages the broadest possible participation in the democratic
process in Mali today?
There’s no question it’s radio, which overcomes the dual problems of illiteracy and
communication in the various national languages. Transistor radios are small, cheap
and battery-powered. What the transistor radio is today, the mobile phone will be
tomorrow. Soon the Internet will be accessible by mobile phone, and I’m sure that
will help us take a big leap forward.
Mobile phones with Internet access will be tremendously expensive.
True, but radios were also very expensive when they first appeared. It might
seem illusory to picture the spread of mobile phones in Africa, but technology is
developing very quickly, which brings prices down just as fast. Political determination
and the commitment of companies will be crucial to the future of such technology
in Africa.
If the Internet was widespread in Mali today, how would it affect democracy?
It would encourage more citizens to take part in the democratic process. It would
probably be more effective than radio in helping them to learn things and to voice
their opinions. At election time, computerised voting would solve major problems,
such as the participation of Malians living abroad (20-25 per cent of the population)
and of villagers who must sometimes travel 20-30 kilometers to reach the nearing
polling station. But, technical problems aside, Malians are not exactly flocking
to the voting booth. They seem to have lost faith in the country’s political leaders,
and we mustn’t rely on the Internet to make up for their lack of motivation.
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