Narendra Modi #39;s video on #39;Dance of Indian Democracy #39;
Expressing delight at how the Indian public, its young populace in particular had braved the ungodly heat of the Indian summer to exercise their franchise that is both their right and responsibilit...
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Narendra Modi's video on 'Dance of Indian Democracy' - Video
12.05.2014 22:06 UhrVon Zacheaus Somorin
Without economic development it will be ery difficult for Nigeria to achieve a steady democratic development, says Nigerian journalist Zacheaus Somorin.
That Africa is being faced with many challenges in its effort to make democracy sustainable. Since individual survival comes first before political consideration, it thus becomes difficult, in the realistic sense, for democracy itself to survive without economic development. All over Africa, the issue of good governance has always been an intractable topic for academic and political discourse. Thus Nigeria is not an exception. While each nation contends with it own problem, developed nations inclusive, Nigeria, being the heartbeat of Africa, with vast resources, has been trying to resolve its development challenges; the first attempt of which was the fight against the military that had no development agenda but power for its own sake.
With the enthronement of democracy in the country in 1999, there were global expectations as how the nation will surmount its many pixilated problems. With a militarist psyche that had held people down for years, there emerged a democracy that would heal the wounds of the urgly past.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, after taking the mantle of leadership, he emerged as a quintessential African leader with his strong diplomatic acumen to take on the world. While touring the world to ensure that the Paris club cancels the nations debts, pressure mounted at home for poverty eradication. However, the global trip had a positive impact: the debts were cancelled. Despite that, Nigerians still demanded for more as the global gesture aimed at getting the nation out of its economic misery was contrasted with the growing emergence of unacceptable class crisis between the Nigerian people and the elected political elites. In the most astronomical manner, the lawmakers budgeted for themselves unbelievable fat wages.
Thus, activists, journalists and those who challenged the military became disillusioned asking if democracy, is afterall, was what the nation needs to survive economically as a people. Political reforms were called for; with strong opposition party demanding for better governance. Expectedly, the consequence of the pressure was the regional defeat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the 2003 elections.
One of the challenges of democracy in Africa and Nigeria is resistance to political change. And without political change, it is expected that concrete consolidation of democratic principles would be difficult. Attainment of power through electoral means, most times, within the continent, is motivated by the esoteric interest of having access to resources hence the tendency of an average leader to hold on to power despite governance failure.
Evidently, when the purpose of the national conference inaugurated for the purpose of restructuring the nations federal system was suspected to being tilted towards enshrining in the constitution a third term for former President Olusegun Obasanjo, analyst began to wonder if the nations democracy will survive with party hegemony. The global outcry against what transpired during the 2007 election almost took the nation deeply backward there was a presidential declaration that late Shehu Musa Yaradua must win the election whether Nigerians like it or not. Regional elections were consequently flawed with the real winner going to court to claim their mandates back. Simply, the European Union declared the 2007 election as the worst in the history of Nigeria.
As it is obtainable all over the world, industrial development which drives employment is not possible without stable power supply. Several global co-operations have been established to ensure that Nigeria achieve stable electricity for its industrial growth. Since 2009, billion of dollars have been budgeted in that regard. But its seems there is no political will to make it work as some esoteric elitist cliques, possibly more powerful than the government, have been taming all afford at revamping the power sector. Summarily, the seeming performance of the present administration in the power sector ended when the former energy minister, Prof Berth Nnaji resigned
The ongoing national conference set up by President Goodluck Jonathan is aimed at consolidating the nations democracy thus avoiding the possible disintegration which the United States has earlier predicted. The hot debate at the conference has been based on the same question: what has been the impact of democracy on the people in terms economic empowerment and security.
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Nigeria and the Challenge of Democracy in Afica
Thai security officials said they will arrest protest leaders seeking to install an appointed prime minister as rising tensions threaten to spark fresh clashes between supporters and opponents of the government.
We ask people to leave protest sites and warn your children and family members to stay away for their own safety, Tarit Pengdit, the director-general of the Department of Special Investigation, said yesterday in Bangkok.
Thousands of pro-government supporters held a rally on Bangkoks outskirts at the weekend to protest last weeks ouster of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra by the Constitutional Court. Inside the capital, anti-government groups called on lawmakers to install a peoples council that would rewrite electoral laws to keep Yinglucks family out of politics.
Appointing an unelected prime minister is not only against the law, it may also spark violence, Tarit said. It will also anger the opposing group, which may escalate into clashes and eventually turn into a civil war.
The Peoples Democratic Reform Committee, led by former opposition politician Suthep Thaugsuban, has staged a six-month street campaign targeting allies of Thaksin Shinawatra, Yinglucks brother who was deposed in a 2006 coup. They accuse the Shinawatras of crony capitalism and using populist policies to secure the support of rural voters.
A Thai anti-government protester waves a large national flag as Thai riot-policemen stand guard at the entrance of a television station during an anti-government rally in Bangkok on May 9, 2014. Close
A Thai anti-government protester waves a large national flag as Thai riot-policemen... Read More
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A Thai anti-government protester waves a large national flag as Thai riot-policemen stand guard at the entrance of a television station during an anti-government rally in Bangkok on May 9, 2014.
Yingluck was forced to step down May 7 after being found guilty of abuse of power, and her Pheu Thai Party selected Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan to hold on as acting premier until an election tentatively scheduled for July 20. Thaksin-allied parties have won the past five polls, while the main opposition Democrat Party, which is aligned with the anti-government demonstrators, hasnt won a vote in more than two decades.
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Thai Government Supporters Prepared for Democracy Fight
The Seanad reform campaign group Democracy Matters has criticised the Government for the delay in implementing change to the States Upper House.
In the run up to the local and European elections on May 23rd, the group is calling on citizens to remind candidates of the Governments pledge to reform the Seanad, after a majority voted for its retention in a referendum last October.
Barrister and columnist Noel Whelan said the group were conscious that issues such as the economy and local services may be of more concern to voters, but the elections were also a good time to place the topic of Seanad reform back on the political radar.
We are asking voters to question candidates as to why [REFORM]has not happened, and what position they have on the matter, he said.
We want them to say, there was a referendum eight months ago, and nothing has changed. You have the democratic necessity to come back and ask us for our votes. You have the audacity to ask us for our votes in this exercise in democracy, but you have completely ignored the exercise in democracy that was the referendum last October.
Democracy Matters president Senator Feargal Quinn said it was an absurd situation that one and a half million citizens would still be without a vote in Seanad elections if reform was not enacted, while elected representatives could be entitled to as many as six votes.
Every citizen [SHOULD BE]asking each candidate as they knock on the door, do you approve of you having five votes and me as a citizen having none? he said.
Mr Quinn, who founded the Superquinn chain in the early 1960s, said he was stunned at how much longer it takes to effect change in politics than in business.
Last October the people voted and said they wanted change, and very little has happened, he said.
Senator Katherine Zappone said there was an urgency now, because if we dont get a bill passed by the end of this year or early in the new year, there will not be enough time to put the changes in place that are required for the next Seanad election.
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Voters urged to question candidates about Seanad reform
May 13, 2014
by Mariam Mokhtar@http://www.malaysiakini.com
Malaysias flirtation with democracy died 45 years ago, in the racial riots of May 13, 1969, in which Malaysians attacked Malaysians in acts of savagery. Today, we live in a state which, on the surface, seems to be a functioning, normal democratic society, but if one were to scratch beneath the surface, one would wonder if democracy was just a figment of the imagination.
We all despise and mistrust politicians, from both sides of the political divide. Detractors will insist that we are a democratic nation. That is one myth which must be immediately quashed. It does not mean that we live in a democracy just because we visit the polling stations every five years.
The electoral system is corrupt, indelible ink washes off, boundaries are skewed to benefit the ruling party, ballot boxes are switched during blackouts, thugs intimidate voters and money and citizenship is given to illegal immigrants, in exchange for voting rights. These are not the hallmarks of a democracy.
Politics in Malaysia is just a game for the ruling elite. They swop roles and tinker with administration and funding. The main thing is to keep the party in power. Personal interests outweigh the national interest. Our freedom is curbed, along with our freedom of thought.
It is a grave concern, when the rakyat increasingly accepts corruption, murder and thuggery, as part of the normal government machinery.Today, apart from it being a religion, Islam is also used as an implement for political suppression, a divisive tool, a diversionary tactic and a ploy to destroy the opposition.
Few Malaysians will have heard of the book, Malaysia, Death of a Democracy by John Slimming, a journalist who lived and worked in Malaysia from 1951 to 1967. Slimmings book gives an unbiased and graphic account of the riots, the reasons they happened and the aftermath. The book was banned in Malaysia, but having obtained a copy of the book, I know that Slimmings conclusions are just as applicable now, as they were, in 1969.
In June 1969 photocopies of Fred Emerys articles from The Times were smuggled in from Singapore and sold for RM20. People who were caught with these photostats, about the riots, were imprisoned for up to two years.
In the section of the book about One-Party Rule and Ultra-nationalists, Slimming said, The present UMNO leaders cannot risk offending the Malays for fear of widening the rift within their own party. He observed that, As long as the opposition is suppressed, there can be no long-term solution to the countrys difficulties.
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Comment on Malaysias flirtation with democracy died 45 years ago by looes74