By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Chinese ambassador to Sierra Leone has used a speech at a media seminar in Freetown to speak on the challenges facing democracy as a system of governance around the world.
In his keynote address at the seminar organized by the Independent Media Commission (IMC) for managers of community media, Ambassador Wang Qing said “The recent coups in some African countries have heightened concern about the prospects for democracy in Africa and at the international level, some countries have been hyping up the narrative of “democracy versus authoritarianism”, inciting division and confrontation in an attempt to drag the world back to the Cold War, thus seriously affecting the cause of world peace and development”.
The ambassador said democracy was “not a decorative ornament” but must be used to address matters concerning the people. He noted that “whether a country is democratic depends on whether its people are truly the masters of the country; whether the people have the right to vote, and more importantly, the right to participate extensively; whether they have been given verbal promises in elections, and more importantly, how many of these promises are fulfilled after elections”.
The ambassador said “Whether a country is democratic should be judged by its people, not dictated by a handful of outsiders. Whether a country is democratic should be acknowledged by the international community, not arbitrarily decided by a few self-appointed judges. Assessing the myriad political systems in the world against a single yardstick and examining diverse political structures in monochrome are in themselves undemocratic”.
Ambassador Wang told the journalists that following years of exploration and practice, China has developed what he called “whole-Process People’s Democracy, which integrates process-oriented democracy with results-oriented democracy, procedural democracy with substantive democracy, direct democracy with indirect democracy, and people’s democracy with the will of the state”.
He said consultation remains an important element of China’s democracy because “whenever a problem occurs, those concerned should always hold deliberations in good faith” noting that “all countries need to keep pace with the times and constantly explore forms of democracy that are more in line with people’s expectations and more efficient and effective based on the ever-changing situation. No matter how well a democratic system is designed, its shortcomings will be exposed over time”.
He said the media in Sierra Leone “shoulder important missions such as telling the truth, promoting public ethics and morality, building social consensus and upholding justice” and must there play an important role in political, economic, and social development as an important power in promoting democracy.
The seminar brought together dozens of community radio managers and some newspaper editors on the theme, of community media governance, media management, digitalization, and ethics with funding support from the Chinese embassy in Freetown.
