Elections and the crises of empty stomach in the era of COVID19 in West Africa

Abstract

The dominant view in the literature of food is that some of the causes of food scarcity and hunger in developing areas are the issues of climate  change, intra and inter-state wars, poor agricultural policies limited hybrid seeds, improved livestock among others. The literature is, however, silent on the impact of pre and post-election crises on availability, accessibility and affordability of food in many parts of West Africa. Electioneering campaign in many states of Africa ends up with factionalism, ethnic cleanse and sometimes religious crisis that often prevent many farmers from having access to their farms. In Nigeria, The Gambia, Ivory Coast and Mali, to mention a few, people were subjected to forced migration because of the power of incumbency that government in power imposed on people when power was about to slip out of their hands. The intention of this paper is to construct causal links between election crises, Covid-19 and food insecurity. To unravel this problem, secondary data and critical theory will be the paper’s point of departure. In conclusion, the paper advocates for politics without bitterness and infusion of political education in the socialisation of African citizens.

Keywords: Election, Food security, Covid-19, Conflict, Critical theory, Africa