In this bold and intellectually charged episode, I sit down with Samson Itodo, one of Africa’s foremost voices on democratic reform and civic innovation, to interrogate a pressing question: Is Technology enabling the advance of democracy or its collapse?

As trust in electoral systems declines and state capture deepens, we explore how technology—once hailed as the great equalizer—is being both weaponized by autocrats and reimagined by civic innovators. Samson reflects on his years of work mobilizing youth, auditing elections, and building platforms that aim to place power back in the hands of the people.

We ask:

• Why does tech amplify participation in some places but entrench power in others?
• Are we solving for symptoms—poor elections, disinformation—or do we need to rethink democracy itself through an African lens and values?