By Fred Doc Nwaozor
Today
Friday, September 15, the world over is commemorating the 2017 International
Day of Democracy. The Day, which is annually celebrated, was adopted on
November 8, 2007 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
In its resolution in 2007, the General
Assembly, which believes that human rights and the rule of law are best
protected in democratic societies, encouraged governments to strengthen
national programmes devoted to the promotion and consolidation of democracy and
also decided that 15th of September of each year should be observed
as the International Day of Democracy.
The International Day of
Democracy was first celebrated in the year 2008. The UN General Assembly
recognized that the year 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the first
International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, which gave people a
chance to focus on promoting and consolidating democracy worldwide. The event
which featured various activities was used to raise public awareness about
democracy.
According to BBC English Dictionary,
democracy is a ‘system of government or organization in which the citizens or
members choose leaders or make other important decisions by voting.’ The Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary defines it as a ‘fair and equal treatment of
everyone in an organization or any group of persons, and their right to take
part in making decisions’.
Political Science, on its part,
referred democracy to as ‘the government of the people, by the people, and for the
people.’ Furthermore, democracy could be described as the slogan or anthem of a
certain organization that is being cited or sung, and understood by the entire
members of the organization or union.
The last time I checked, democracy of any
country deserved a thorough sustenance because it’s no doubt a welcome
development. This implies that any democratic state is expected to be fiercely
safeguarded at all cost owing to the fact that any practice that gives peace to
those concerned requires adequate sustenance.
However, it is appalling that
in most developing nations such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Rwanda, Guinea,
Burkina Faso, and Kenya, among others, democracy has suffered from enormous
maltreatment due to corruption. Without mincing words, corruption has remained
a blood-sucking cankerworm in the democratic dispensation of numerous countries
in the world to include the aforementioned ones.
Corruption has indeed hampered the
socio-economic and political growth of several nations, thereby constituting
nuisance to the available human and natural resources of the nations in
question. Surely, the various lingering uncalled, bilious and questionable
attitudes including personal aggrandizement, nepotism, election rigging, abuse
of human rights cum rule of law, misappropriation of public funds as well as
impunity of most public/political office holders, in a country like Nigeria, is
solely attributed to corruption. In a nutshell, unequivocally, corruption has
obviously rendered so many countries incapacitated, all in the name of
‘democracy’.
Since
democracy is believed to be the only system of government that allows the
citizenry to express their views in any manner they prefer as well as act as
they desire, people have unfortunately mistaken its flexible and liberal
features for laxity and docility. The leaders on their part, rather than
safeguarding the constitution which is the rudimentary symbol of democracy,
have equally chosen to abuse the content of such essential document that’s required
to be kept sacrosanct at all times.
Democracy is a universal value based on the
freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic,
social and cultural systems, and their full participation in all aspects of their
lives. On the contrary, Nigeria as a country has failed to uphold this
philosophy. This is why the youth are no longer the major dominance of the
country’s political arena as it was during the postcolonial era.
In spite of Nigeria’s bureaucratic nature, the youth cannot boast of at
least ten percent (10%) participation in her political strive. Rather, the old
men who started the game have vowed to die in service thereby endangering
thorough participation of the youth that are regarded as the most productive class,
which is purely contrary to the mandate of the UN. These among many more
factors presently found in the seemingly democratic setting of many nations
across the globe are solely products of corruption.
Hence,
as Nigeria joins the global community to commemorate the 10th
anniversary of the International Day of Democracy, we are expected to join
hands in the ongoing crusade that is targeted towards total eradication of
corruption in our democratic system, which has eaten deep in our bone marrow.
To this end, I call on the civil society and all concerned institutions
cum individuals to endeavour to contribute their respective quotas in their
various jurisdictions through sensitization of the entire citizenry via several
forms of awareness campaigns. We must acknowledge that this is the only way we
can embrace the real dividend of democracy.
Similarly,
there’s equally an urgent need for us to ensure that our young ones are given the
opportunity to effectively participate in the country’s democratic
dispensation. Thus, we ought to endeavour to highlight the challenges and
opportunities of young people engaging in democratic processes.
Survey indicates that people between
the ages of 18 and 30 constitute a fifth of the world’s population; yet,
several studies show declining faith among the said set of people in politics,
with decreasing levels of participation in elections, political parties as well
as socio-cultural organizations, or what have you, across the global community.
This apathy applies to both established and emerging democratic states.
Since it has been proven beyond doubts that
corruption remains the prime bane of democracy and has succeeded in causing
mankind an untold hardship, it’s pertinent to acknowledge that we can never get
it right if it isn’t holistically eradicated. Think about it!
Comrade
Nwaozor, public
affairs analyst & civil rights activist,
is the Executive
Director, Docfred Resource Hub - Owerri
(follow: @mediambassador)
N.B: You can send your opinion works to rostrummedia@gmail.com, or call +2348028608056
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