VP Mahamudu Bawumia calls everybody for development, Urges inclusive democracy in Africa

Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia recently said that it is prudent to involve the people in all democratic processes for Ghana and Africa to sustain and consolidate its democratic gains.

Mahamudu Bawumia was launching a book titled 'Democracy Works: Rewiring Politics to Africa's Advantage'. "If democracy will develop in Africa, we have to get more people included along with the chain, Mahamudu Bawumia opined during the launch.

Explaining that democracy evolved from the Latin word 'demos', which meant self-rule, he said, "At the heart of democracy is inclusive government – people making decisions about their own well-being."

"If you are developing a country or democratic institutions which are so important; to survive, inclusiveness must be there and that is why you have to educate the people. You have to make sure that the people have the right to information so that they can participate effectively in the democratic process," he said.

Praising the four authors of the 266-page book, who include a former President of Nigeria, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, the Vice-President said the book was very rich and cited a lot of practical lessons on how Africa could initiate development policy prescriptions to maximise the benefits from democracy, Graphic Online noted.

In his assessment of the book, Mahamudu Bawumia averred that before any country adopts any system of government it is prudent to learn from her historical background, socio-economic, political and cultural realities, instead of copying 'blindly' from other country's model of governance. According to him, there is a need for African nations to strengthen their democratic institutions to sustain and consolidate democratic culture on the continent, as reported by Ghana Web.