KAMPALA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials in Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party have said that the world needs to emulate China's people-centered development philosophy, a key factor in the country's social and economic growth and development.
Richard Todwong, deputy secretary general of NRM, told Xinhua that it is upon the understanding of this philosophy that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the country along its path of social and economic development.
"For the CPC, everything starts and ends with the people. This has put their people in the center of all that they do. The people is paramount above all," he said.
Augustine Otuko, an NRM youth leader in eastern Uganda, describes the CPC as a highly institutionalized party with structures running from local to national levels.
"Under the CPC, there is wider consultation in different party structures about the needs and aspirations of the Chinese citizens. The consultations are aimed at guiding policy corrections or development. This makes people the heartbeat of CPC," Otuko said.
He said leaders across the world should adopt a people-centered approach in their decision-making because it creates participatory contribution by both the citizens and government agencies in the implementation of any development agenda.
"Anything without the people becomes a myth," Otuko said.
A community with a shared future is the most ideal community that communism espouses, according to Todwong.
He argued that China, through its notion of building a "community with a shared future for mankind" and the Belt and Road Initiative, is determined to share its resources with the world for mutual development.
"It's out of this that China has not been selfish in sharing its resources with the rest of the world. Be it medical equipments before and during the COVID-19, Ebola, HIV/AIDS, fights against malaria, maternal health and others," Todwong said.
He said China's infrastructure development, especially in developing countries in Africa, has portrayed the country as a caring world leader.
The two officials were of the same opinion that all these successes cannot be achieved without instilling social and institutional disciplines in government agencies.
Todwong said the social discipline that CPC instilled in the Chinese population has seen the country work hard against all odds.
"Right from the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century, the Japanese invasion and many other upheavals that China went through, they emerged victorious in the face of challenges," Todwong said. "We have a lot to learn from China,"
