A CLARION CALL FOR ERADICATION OF CORRUPTION AS THE
WORLD MARKS THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DEMOCRACY, TODAY
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2014
Everyone detests with passion seeing his/her
voice or speech swept under the carpet. In the same vein, it’s extremely
painful and devastating for one to be deprived of his freedom of speech in any
circumstance or arena he finds himself. And, this characteristic known as
‘Freedom of Speech’ remains the most distinct feature finds in 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’.
In Political Science, democracy is defined as ‘the government of the
people, by the people, and for the people.’ From my personal perspective,
democracy is 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.
Frankly, democracy of any country is the prerogative of the people that
make-up the country; therefore ought to be duly sustained because it’s no doubt
a welcome development. Thus, any democratic state is expected to be maintained
at all costs, owing to the fact that any practice that gives peace to those
concerned requires adequate sustenance.
It is appalling that in most developing nations such as Nigeria,
Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Rwanda, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and what have you,
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.
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 and questionable attitudes such as personal aggrandizement, nepotism,
election rigging, abuse of human rights and rule of law, misappropriation of
public funds as well as impunity of most 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’.
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 twenty-five percent (25%) 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 United Nations. These and many more factors presently found in the democratic setting of many nations in the world are products of corruption.
Today Monday September 15, the
world over is commemorating the 2014 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 Int’l 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.
The theme of this year’s commemoration which is tagged ‘Engaging young
people in Democracy’ is expected to highlight the challenges and opportunities
of young people engaging in democratic processes. It is obvious that people
between the ages of 15 and 25 constitute a fifth of the world’s population;
statistics has that the proportion is even higher in many developing countries.
Yet, several studies show declining faith among young people in politics, with
decreasing levels of participation in elections, political parties and
socio-cultural organizations across the globe. This apathy applies to both
established and emerging democratic states.
As the world marks the Int’l Day of Democracy today, I’m sincerely
calling on all concerned civil societies or institutions for total eradication
of corruption in our democratic system, through sensitization of the youth as
well as promotion of freedom of speech among the electorates, so that, the
citizenry of every democratic state shall live to benefit the real dividend of
democracy. The time to act is now!
COMR. FRED NWAOZOR
Public
Affairs analyst & Social activist
_______________________________
+2348054719437
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