Lessons from Chinese Democracy And How to Fight Corruption the Unique way

By Olurotimi Oluborode

As for the Chinese system I promised to discuss, l think it’s the best in the world.

First you cannot wake up one day and contest any position. You have to start from being in leadership preparation system.

Second you must be amongst the top academically to be admitted to the political system, something like our minimum of 2.1 or First Class.

Next you take leadership courses, and only the top 10% who pass will go on to be Councilors. Then, the top performing councilors become supervisors, top 10% supervisors vie for LG Chairmanship – all still in your local area.

Next top 10% LG Chairmen become Commissioners, top 10% commissioners become governor, while top 10% governors become Ministers, and lastly top 10% minister contest for President.

The system is so efficient and self auditing and cleaning that only the smartest, best performing and cleanest can go far, let alone be president. They don’t have to worry about crooks, background checks, or dullards being their leaders. The system weeds such out very early. To be their governor, you must be amongst the top of the top, say top 0.001%, and to be president, everyone would have already known who’s next, because you are already the best of the very best, and there’s no controversy, doubt or uncertainty about it. You are simply the very best at the top of the pyramid. That’s their home grown brand of democracy. They developed it, and it’s best suited for them considering their size and diversity.

They laugh at US and the Western nations who preach their own faulty, if not outdated, brands of democracy to them (Chinese) because theirs is superior in every way.

Although they don’t hold elections, yet the system has an efficient way to produce leaders based on equality. Everyone has the same chance at the beginning. It is also not acrimonious or wasteful the way election campaigns are.

It prevents undesirables or manipulators yet promote the best of competence, and it is integrity proven.

That’s why when a Chinese official meets others from other countries, he is vastly more intelligent, experienced and informed on whatever topic or policies are involved. It’s always a MISMATCH with only one possible outcome. China wins!

They are winning at every level, from President vs President to Site Supervisor vs Site Supervisor in all parts of the world they are engaged.

I pray that Africans too, can sit down and develop our own home grown brand of democracy that will suit us and be as efficient as the Chinese, or else, it’s better we copy the Chinese model, and dump the American and British systems which were developed almost 300 years ago, which is dysfunctional to African mentality, communities and societies.

For instance we have our traditional rulership with their own powers, yet without powers. The AWUJALE OF IJEBULAND reigns supreme over Ijebus with many LGs under his jurisdiction. The LG Chairmen are his subjects, yet he has no power over the LG Chairmen who have administrative powers over his territory, subjects, and even him! LG Chairmen who operate the foreign democratic system we took from Oyinbos, and so we have a conflict situation where Chairmen prostrate to AWUJALE, and also pay his salary and can order him about!

A governor gives a traditional ruler his staff of office, thereby is the one who installs and can remove him even if his subjects who appointed him still want him and the governor doesn’t, yet the governor is his subject! That’s why an Obasanjo can wake up on the wrong side of his bed one day, and decide to embarrass Yoruba traditional rulers, and get away with it, all because he is a yesterday man.