ONE-TIME President of Ghana, Mr. Jerry Rawlings, declared yesterday that Nigeria�s failings as a nation were self-inflicted and warned that it was time to deal with those problems.
He, therefore, asked the country to �weld its democratic acts together� and lead Africa in achieving self-esteem before the rest of the world.
�The weakness you suffer as a country is your own dejection and not from any external pressure,� he said at the 5th Trust Annual Dialogue in Abuja.
Mr. Rawlings, who spoke on �The Challenges of Democracy in Africa� warned: �This responsibility cannot be passed on to the next generation. You do not have the monopoly of time.
�Nigeria, with its resources, audacity, will and strength, has the potential to lead other African countries to achieve self-esteem. It should weld its democratic acts together to achieve that capacity.
�A culture of democracy must be deeply rooted in its social, economic and political levels. Nigeria must achieve its full destiny, and tap its potential strength in Africa.
�Nigeria is one of those few developing countries that deal with the Western world from a position of strength. We, the rest, deal with them from the position of weakness and sometimes, subordination.�
Blames political crises on African leaders
Blaming the political crises in parts of the continent on the inability of many African leaders to respect election results, he said: �Some of us ask, what is the value of the electoral process if our leaders cannot preserve the sanctity of the right of choice? What has led to this degeneration that the popular wish of the people cannot be respected?�
He said it was wrong for the developed countries to conclude that democracy could only be defined by their standards and conditionality.
He said many of such countries had also failed to acknowledge the success of African countries in the areas of security, economy and political stability.
�They have, therefore, concluded that unless African countries accept Western ideas of democracy, especially as formulated on the conditionality of donor countries and international financial institutions, the future of Africa is bound to be bleak.
�In my view, this is a rather arrogant and erroneous claim, which seeks to deny the African originality or any organisational ability in the matter of governance,� he said.
He said within the context of the on-going debate, Nigeria and Ghana had strongly committed themselves to promoting democratic governance in West Africa.
Continuing, he said: �We are all aware that for democracy to succeed, there must necessarily be a role for the opposition, decentralization must also be equitable, the media must be assisted to be free, pluralistic and independent, civil society organisations must have the unfettered freedom to operate and there must be a strong commitment to anti-corruption. In all these areas, we have seen leaders fail badly as the opposition is openly hounded and denied any significant role in governance, as leaders have themselves become absolutely steeped in corruption and opulent life-styles, as the powers that be refuse to prosecute corrupt Ministers.�
Rawlings said some African politicians were selfish. Such politicians, he said, after gaining power would strive to prolong their stay in power through fair or foul means, �sometimes crudely, multiparty democracy into a virtual one-party state, to arrogantly abuse the concept of the separation of powers, to ignore the rule of law, to undermine judicial independence, to interfere with the fundamental human rights of political opponents especially, and to capriciously use decentralisation to promote parochial or sectarian interests.�
He prescribed attitudinal change towards leadership by African leaders, and asked the citizens to learn boldly how to reject fraud and criminality in leaders, adding that Africans must disabuse the minds of politicians who think the electorate could be bought to surrender their rights and votes.
�I believe that we must persevere and even fast track the building of those institutions that will promote democracy and economic betterment on our continent. Our laws and institutions such as Parliament, the Judiciary and the Civil Service must be so reformed and strengthened as to make them extremely difficult to be subverted by politicians and political leaders. We must strengthen the Judiciary and anti-corruption units in our countries so as to enable them join meaningfully in the anti-corruption war.
Time for change
�African countries need to develop the systems that will hold their leadership to accountability without fear or favour. This comes from strengthening institutions such as the opposition, parliament, auditing bodies and the general public to be able to ask questions and demand answers. It is my belief that it is through the active vigilance of such institutions and our populations that arrogance and impunity can be discouraged.
�It is also important that Africans undergo an attitudinal change towards leadership that does not meet their expectations. Unless the citizens learn to boldly reject fraud and criminality in leaders, wrong-doing will persist. Unless our people disabuse the mind of politicians who think the electorate can be bought to surrender their rights and votes, leadership will continue to thereby commit fraud, rig elections and amass ill-gotten gains at the expense of the whole country; unless our people learn to stand up against dictators and political charlatans, democracy will continue to fail in different countries at different times.
�It is time, therefore, to change our attitude to those things. We need to co-operate among states in confronting corruption and waging war on other lapses,� he said.