Democrat Union of Africa

Mr. Peter MacManu - Chainnan DUA and Chairman NPP Ghana;

Mr. Eirik Moen - Executive Secretary IDU

Rt. Hon Peter Lilley MP - Conservative Party UK

Party leaders and members of DUA

Distinguished delegates,

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning and Greetings in the name of democracy and development!!

Mr. Chairman,

As a leader the host party, CHADEMA and above all, on behalf of my country Tanzania, I am privileged to officially welcome you to Tanzania and to Dar Es Salaam in particular. It is our humble belief that your time in Tanzania will be memorable.

Mr. Chairman,

On another hand, as the DUA secretary, I am bound as a host, again to welcome you in this Executive Meeting.

Mr. Chairman,

In a very special way, I am grateful to welcome the party leaders from various corners of our continent. Some of you are in Government and some in the opposition. However, as a party leader myself, I do understand how political temperatures tends to fluctuate and therefore you are needed to be in your areas of service most of the time. Your presence here today is a testimony of our shared commitment in to this union and the future of true democracy and development in Africa.

I wish also to convey my sincere welcome and thanks to our friends from outside Africa. You have come a long way from the United Kingdom, Norway and International Democratic Union head office in Oslo to support and share with us your experience. We truly value your presence here. Your support to our course is commendable and we thank you so much.

Mr. Chairman,

We are about to start our two days meeting that should give hope to our continent. We are about to start this meeting while a very heavy cloud full of challenges hanging over our heads! Most of the African countries are still under reminisces of state centralization as opposed to people centered governance and development.

Separation of power has remained a serious bottleneck to good governance in most African countries. Most parties in power, typical of my country, are what we can easily call Multi Party Dictatorship. In this case, the opposition political parties are constitutionally allowed, but at the same time the legal and social framework for their growth and survival are often and deliberately curtailed.

These are some of the challenges we should reflect upon as we deliberate the future of Democrat Union of Africa (DUA). Our belief that democratic society provides individuals with conditions for political liberty, personal freedom and equality of opportunity under the rule of law has to be the foundation of African politics.

Mr. Chairman,

I welcome you to this event which is part of DUA mission of providing forums in which Parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organizational interest. In this way, we can learn from each other, act together, establish contacts and speak with one strong voice to promote democracy and centre centre-right policies in Africa.

The new DUA secretariat is committed to this endeavor, since we came into office late last year, the biggest task has been to bringing up the roots of our regional union and this meeting is a testimony of such efforts. We have also been able to establish DUA website (www.du-africa.org) which is going to be launched in the Executive Meeting tommorow. We have initiated the process of formulating our strategic plan and road map; these are to be presented in the course of this meeting. We are also going to deliberate on the DUA constitution, of more importance we are going to receive proposals on how to institutionalize women and youth organizations for/of DUA.

Ladies and gentlemen;

As I welcome you today in this meeting I call upon you to reflect one core problem that is spreading in Africa, GRAND CORRUPTION. Grand Corruption has adverse impact not only in terms of siphoning countries resources away from the people and in most cases away from the countries, but also affects the democracy and political processes in our countries. Africa has the potential for a fast sustainable growth that will significantly reduce poverty and make us attain the millemlium development goals by 2015. Corruption and poor governance waste resources and deny the poor access to services they need. The Radar Scandal that has involved Tanzania government and BAE of the UK is just one of the recent examples. In this regard there is a need for cooperation among institutions that performs oversight functions in various countries including bilateral relations among political parties in addressing such issues. Without controlling corruption the efforts of Africans to liberate themselves from poverty and support from development partners in terms of grants, aids and debt cancellation will not yield the intended results.

With those remarks I once again welcome you all to the DUA meeting. And I now welcome Hon. Peter MacManu - DUA Chairman and Chairman NPP Ghana to deliver the opening address.

KARIBUNI SANA!