KAMPALA, June 26 (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 ingredient in the country's social and economic growth, particularly poverty alleviation.
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.
He said there is a lot to learn from China's fight to eradicate poverty, including timelines through which targets must be achieved.
"Learning from their past experiences, China has timelines within which to test and run a poverty eradication program. Reviews are made, corrections or improvements adopted or new policies developed. In this process, the ideas and concerns of the people are considered to be central," Otuko said.
Otuko said China's segmented approach in different provinces to deal with poverty eradication has yielded results.
The transformation of many rural villages into value chain processing centers, according to Otuko, has boosted people's incomes.
According to official data, China has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty over the past several decades, representing over 70 percent of global poverty reduction.
Over the past four years, China has relocated 9.3 million low-income rural residents to more inhabitable areas, 9.2 million of whom were lifted from poverty as a result, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body, said in March.
Despite the complexities posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese leadership is determined to leave no area or individual behind. The country has a target of eliminating absolute poverty be the end of this year. Enditem
