Dr Sam Jaja,? the Deputy National Chairman of? PDP, has said that the party was working in partnership with the African National Congress (ANC) to strengthen democracy in Africa.
Jaja made the remark on Tuesday in Johannesburg in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria when members of the party's national executive committee paid a visit to their colleagues in Africa National Congress (ANC).
Jaja told NAN that the visit would enable the two biggest political parties in the continent to learn from each other.
“ANC, one of the oldest parties in Africa, is marking 100 years of it existent this year, with the history of the party
dating back to the era of struggle for liberation from the white minority rule.
“PDP is just about 18 years old, so we have a lot to learn from the ANC. But part of what we want to achieve is to strengthen democracy in the continent and promote political party administration through the exchange of idea and interaction,'' Jaja said.
He said that discussions between the two sides focused on party administration, structure, discipline and funding.
“It has been quiet informative, and all of us are well informed about the working of ANC.''
?“This is not a one stop thing, the interaction will be a continuous process and during our discussion we were able to learn about the ANC structure, discipline and how the party is funded.
“They also were able to learn how to conduct the business of the Central Working Committee and the management of party crisis,’’ Jaja said.
He said the focus of the PDP was to achieve full democracy and development in Nigeria.
Ms. Baleke Mbete, ANC Chairperson said the visit of the PDP national executive was a mile stone in the history of inter-party relationship in Africa.
“We had a fruitful engagement, we were able to learn and understand the PDP structure, and this forms the beginning of a relationship between the two biggest political parties in Africa.
“As part of our programmes of interaction, a? retreat between the top members of the parties has been planned to
take place early next year. we would however prefer that the retreat takes place later this year but 2012 is a busy year for the ANC.
“It is the year of our centenary anniversary and election conference, it would be difficult for us to go ahead with the plan for a retreat this year,’’ Mbete said.
In another development, Jaja told the members of South Africa Chapter of the PDP to contribute their quota towards the development of the party.
“The new members of the national executive are determined to be independent of the government to enable us achieve the desire of taking the party from hands of individuals. All members of the party anywhere in the world are expected to contribute ideas and money towards the sustainability of the party,’’ Jaja said.
He commended the executive committee of PDP in South Africa for working for the growth of the party in the Country.
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