Africa urged to enhance exchanges on development

In their quest to improve governance in Africa, political parties in the continent have been urged to explore the Communist Party of China's inclusive approach in order to attain progress. Mwaivu Kaluka, the National Chairman of the Communist Party Marxists — Kenya said for the past decade, African countries have achieved a lot through economic partnership with China and it is time they sought ideological exchanges on governance.

Mwaivu said through programs like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, African countries have benefited immensely from China's support in infrastructure, trade and industry and it is time African political parties elevate this cooperation to the ideological level.

"It is worth noting that China's cooperation with Africa did not start recently, but during our liberation struggle from the West's colonialism. China actively supported freedom movements in Africa. We should move beyond economic cooperation to ideological cooperation to facilitate Africa's adoption of policies that are not as exploitative as those inherited from our former colonial powers," Mwaivu said.

Speaking ahead of the two sessions, the annual meetings of China's National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, he added that the CPC's system of democratic centralism creates a balance between people's participation and central governance — by involving the people through democracy while ensuring that the Party's policies are guided by a central ideology and structure.

Consultative approach

"If you take the two sessions for example, you will realize that it is an opportunity for Party officials, Party cadres and people from all over China to come together and review their policies and strategies and this ensures that everybody is brought on board. It is through this consultative approach that China was able to lift over 800 million people out of poverty," Mwaivu said.

Since independence, most African political parties have been operating under the Western idea of democracy, but Mwaivu said this system has promoted the exploitation and plunder of the continent and should be abandoned. He added that the Western model is not based on production but on exploitative financial tools.

"When you go to China, the leaders are always talking about increasing manufacturing, streamlining production and improving agriculture — because it is through production that we can develop capital. However, the fictitious capital promoted by the West has proved to be a failure," Mwaivu said.

He argued that the West falsely accuses China of leading Africa into a "debt trap" when in reality, Africa is unfairly indebted to Western countries through various instruments and unrealistic financial models.

As a political party, Mwaivu said his party has benefited from working closely with the CPC and its party officials have attended training sessions in China and held several exchange programs.

He encouraged the CPC to take a more prominent role in collaborating with African countries on political and governance training.