The values that members of the SDP share help keep us together.
Patriotism, Good governance, Transparency, Accountability, Equality, Zero tolerance to corruption, tribalism and violence
Patriotism, Good governance, Transparency, Accountability, Equality, Zero tolerance to corruption, tribalism and violence. Respect for ethnic and cultural diversity, Justice, Truth, Popular sovereignty, Respect for the Rule of Law, Respect for Human Rights such as right to life, liberty etc., Innovation.
- Good Governance: Build a participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive governance system which is effective, efficient, fair and inclusive and follows the rule of law. A style of governance that assures corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. A governance system which can respond to the present and future needs of society.
- Innovation: Encourage creativity in entrepreneurship and business innovations, as well as industrial and technological advancements.
- Transparency: This means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement. It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms and media.
- Accountability: The government must be accountable to those who will be affected by its decisions or actions. Accountability must be enforced in conjunction with transparency and the rule of law.
- Life: The individual’s right to life should be considered inviolable except in certain highly restricted and extreme circumstances, such as the use of deadly force to protect one’s own or others’ lives.
- Liberty: The right to liberty is considered an unalterable aspect of the human condition. Central to this idea of liberty is the understanding that the political or personal obligations of parents or ancestors cannot be legitimately forced on people. The right to liberty includes personal freedom: the private realm in which the individual is free to act, to think and to believe, and which the government cannot legitimately invade; political freedom: the right to participate freely in the political process, choose and remove public officials, to be governed under a rule of law; the right to a free flow of information and ideas, open debate and right of assembly; and economic freedom: the right to acquire, use, transfer and dispose of private property without unreasonable governmental interference; the right to seek employment wherever one pleases; to change employment at will; and to engage in any lawful economic activity.
- Common Good: The public or common good requires that individual citizens have the commitment and motivation- that they accept their obligation-to promote the welfare of the community and to work together with other members for the greater benefit of all.
- Justice: People should be treated fairly in the distribution of the benefits and burdens of society, the correction of wrongs and injuries, and in the gathering of information and making of decisions.
- Equality: All citizens have: political equality and are not denied these rights unless by due process of law; legal equality and should be treated as equals before the law; social equality so as there should be no class hierarchy sanctioned by law; economic equality which tends to strengthen political and social equality for extreme economic inequality tends to undermine all other forms of equality and should therefore be avoided.