On the fifteenth day of September each year, the world celebrates the International Democracy Day. This year's celebration was organized by the United Nations under the following theme: "Courage is tested when in the minority, tolerance is tested when in the majority".
With its five (5) years of experience in promoting democracy in Africa, Tournons La Page did not remain on the sidelines of this celebration. As usual, we organized activities in several of our coalitions.
TLP President Marc ONA signed a statement in which he discussed the recent coup d'état in Guinea and highlighted the abandonment of democratic processes by regional and international institutions. The constitutional and military coups in Togo, Mali, Chad and Guinea illustrate the failure of institutions such as ECOWAS, the African Union, CEMAC, the UN and Western partners to work for peace and democracy.
TLP - Cameroon organized a press conference on the theme: "Democracy or dictatorship: where does Cameroon stand?" It was an opportunity to review the history of the democratic process in Cameroon and to question the principles on which democracy is based, namely:
- Civic equality
- The separation of powers
- The representativeness
- Political pluralism
- The respect of fundamental rights and freedoms
- And the democratic and peaceful alternation
In Côte d'Ivoire, our coalition also organized a round table on the following theme: "Faced with the restriction of civic space, what alternative for the peaceful expression of activists?"
TLP - Niger made an assessment of democracy thirty (30) years after the national sovereign conference. This meeting made it possible to review the questions related to:
- Democracy and good governance
- Good governance and transparency
- State of play of the fight against corruption
- And the role of magistrates in the fight against corruption.
In the DRC, Tournons La Page questioned the level of implementation by the authorities of the key principles contained in the Universal Declaration on Democracy. TLP - DRC has unfortunately made a bitter observation on the need to organize free, transparent and peaceful elections at regular intervals in the country. Indeed, the leaders are affected by a general tendency that once in power to tarnish themselves by all means.
Finally, in Chad, the coalition hosted a radio program on the state of democracy in the country in light of its political history.