A clarion call from Ms. Graça Machel to "change the way politics work today" opened the conference, in which 27 African parliaments took part. Ms. Machel noted that Africa is the only continent in the world where the social indicators are falling and underlined that Africans today have wholly unacceptable levels of poverty. She called on parliamentarians to do away with the notion of "us", the elected, and "them", the people. Today’s parliaments, she said, are essentially urban, middle-aged and male, whereas poorer rural communities and young people do not sit in parliament. Money, or rather the absence of money, is part of the problem. In addition, gender equality is not a reality for most people, and is often not even accepted in society as a right.
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The ensuing debate about the state of democracy in Africa was passionate, insightful and often very frank. Delegates expressed particular concern at the development of power-sharing agreements, with a lively exchange of views taking place on the situation in Zimbabwe and what African parliamentarians can do to exert pressure for greater stability and democracy in this troubled country. The mood of the meeting was captured in the Gaborone Declaration adopted unanimously at the end of the conference.
In the Declaration, the participants deplore the re-emergence of one-man/strongman rule on the continent and resolve to work for the ratification and entry into force of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. They stress the need for both governing and opposition parties to be provided with fair opportunities to make a meaningful contribution to the political debate and pledge to make sure that rules and procedures are in place so that parliamentarians can always speak freely on behalf of their constituents, without fear of harassment or punishment.
In recognition that parliaments are central to democracy, the Declaration calls on them to effectively respond to and represent the needs of the people: "Loyalty to the people and the constitution rather than to individuals will help parliaments improve upon their image and public trust. Loyalty to the people also dictates that we as parliamentarians seek always to interact with them with a view to articulating effectively their interests and working towards the improvement of their welfare through more responsible socio-economic governance."
In a statement delivered on 15 September, the International Day of Democracy, IPU President Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab underlined that people worldwide have huge aspirations for more democracy but in many cases are not convinced by the way democracy is working in practice. In this regard, he expressed grave concern at “the gulf that separates public aspirations for democratic governance and vigorous public debate, and the widely-held perception of political life as a closed space where there is little room for dissent and real consideration of alternative policy options”. He went on to formulate a series of policy recommendations, which the IPU and its Member Parliaments will seek to address in the months and years ahead.
The conference was jointly organized by the IPU and the Parliament of Botswana from 14-16 September 2009 as part of events to mark the second International Day of Democracy. It is expected that an examination of the state of democracy in a different geographical region will take place in 2010.
