ABIDJAN, Aug 20 Western countries should be more understanding of African notions of democracy and not try to impose their own institutions on Africa, Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings said.
In an interview published in Ivory Coast’s official daily, Fraternite-Matin, on Wednesday, he also said that African countries must pursue economic cooperation and not be prepared simply to become markets for the developed world.
“When donor countries say to developing countries that ‘good governance’ is a condition for getting aid, often they mean we should adopt their own institutions, which have evolved over centuries in line with their social and cultural conditions.
“I think they ought to show a bit more comprehension as regards our continent,” Rawlings said.
African traditions had something to offer, he said, giving as an example the role of chiefs, whose authority derived from consensus and who could be set aside if they did not respect the oaths they made to their people.
Rawlings, who arrives in Ivory Coast on Thursday for a three-day official visit, said African countries had to put the accent more on economic cooperation.
“We can no longer present ourselves as a simple market for external powers,” he said.
Ivory Coast and Ghana are among the four West African countries manadated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to find a solution to the crisis in Sierra Leone, where a military junta ousted civilian president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May.
Rawlings — an air force officer who has twice staged coups himself in Ghana, before winning the presidency twice through the ballot box — said both sides must draw lessons from the crisis.
The military must return to the constitution, he said, adding, without elaborating: “President Tejan Kabbah must also take into account certain realities.” Reuters
