Ex-prime minister urges home-grown democracy in Africa

Former Prime Minister of Mongolia, Renchinnyam Amarjargal, has called for the practice of an home-grown democracy in Africa to reflect the culture and history of the people.He said such form of democracy would ensure that the people enjoy good governance.Amarjargal spoke on Saturday in Lagos at the Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisations ninth annual democracy lecture titled, The Mongolian Democratic Experience: Any lessons for Africa'He said, If Africa has to copy the practice of democracy from another continent, it will be artificial. A country has to build its own form of democracy from its history, culture and values for the benefit of the people. This is what we have learnt in Mongolia in our 22 years of democratic experience.According to him, there must be patience and perseverance in order to fully realise the potential of such a democracy.He added that the most important thing to do to make it work was to first identify the problems in a country and ways of tackling them.Then, the leaders will envision how they want to change the society for the benefit of all, Amarjargal stated.Chairman, Board of Trustees of CENCOD, Dr. Sylvester Akhaine, lamented the myriad of problems confronting the country since independence in 1960.He said rather than implementing viable policies for the betterment of the citizens, the government embarked upon unpopular policies like the planned removal of fuel subsidy.Akhaine said, Let me state that there is no oil subsidy but states irresponsibility. Nigerians cannot and must not pay for that irresponsibility. There is no such thing as oil subsidy - the same gift of nature that the entire country relies upon and from which the states and the Federal Government sit every month to share what they call excess crude account.He also urged the government to build functional refineries and criminalise activities of economic saboteurs.
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