Ideas of Democracy are embedded in accountability. A manifesto hence serves as an important benchmark for analyzing the performance of a government and ensuring it's accountability to the electorate with regards to the policies and promises envisioned in the document. Manifestos have since time immemorial been an essential document of political organizations as meaningful sources of information and data pertaining to a party's stance on a wide range of developmental issues. It would be prudent to remember though, that in an effort to acquire power, manifestos can often contain lofty ideals and unrealistic agendas. The boundaries between policy and national aspirations are becoming blurry in many of the manifestos being published.

A manifesto is a significant text worthy of consideration in a democratic dispensation, however it is reasonable to state that when agendas for development are colored in political hues, it becomes tough for succeeding governments to seek validation of their motives by using the ideals enshrined in a document, even if the issues raised had an over-arching theme of national importance.

Every few years, we have the elections, and the political parties come with an Election Manifesto with promises that are far fetched, barely thought through, and make promises which seem to show that the winning party will move heaven and earth for the welfare of its people.

After elections are over, these political parties simply forget these promises and the voters feel cheated and fooled by these false promises. It is an utter "breach of trust", under which the political parties should be prosecuted for breaking the trust of the people, as well as breaching the terms of a contract under which the electorate decided to vote for a particular political party.

The Manifesto should "legally binding contract." offers to trade a vote in exchange for a defined, obligatory bundle of benefits or outcomes. The punishment for failure to fulfill promises should exceed the rewards of violating the contract.

Without a doubt, this approach will have issues. Issues such as:

• Manifestos would start having disclaimers, ie with the cooperation of my colleagues/other branches of government and in the absence of natural disasters, war, etc.
• Many more specifics on some items, probably on the web but each commercial and speech would have to point people there.
• Less specific language in other cases. "I'm going to cut taxes" from a contractual standpoint could be satisfied in lots of ways that voters might not see as being satisfied.
• More lawyers and courts involved in our political process, perhaps a special court to adjudicate these case might have to be created.
• Fights over when manifestos must be finalized during campaign seasons.

Keeping the limitations in mind, it is important that political parties do give enough credence to the promises they make, and face repercussions when breaking those promises. No political power should be capable of making laws that are not scrutinized and approved of by the people. This is the only way we can be assured of leaders who are held firmly to their pre-election promises and, if elected into power, will not abuse the power afforded to them which can lead to dictatorship.