Dr Isaac Kalua Green/HANDOUT
Dr Isaac Kalua Green has unveiled Green Democracy, a political philosophy that he says seeks to bring citizens closer to decisions that affect their lives.
In a public declaration dated September 23, 2026, Green said the philosophy is built around a central question: “When a decision changes people’s lives, can those people reach the power that made the decision?”
Green said citizens are often heard during elections but kept at a distance when governments set budgets, award contracts and assess results.
He said Green Democracy brings together three duties that politics often treats separately: sharing power, building livelihoods and protecting the living systems on which both depend.
“A government cannot call itself successful if its figures improve while its people lack opportunity or its land and water are degraded,” Green said.
He also argued that democracy should go beyond the ability of citizens to replace leaders during elections.
Green said citizens should also be able to examine decisions made by leaders between elections.
According to Green, the word “green” represents a principle of renewal. He compared the philosophy to a tree that draws strength from its roots and gives back to the place where it grows.
He proposed that public power should similarly be “grounded in people’s lived knowledge, exercised responsibly, and judged by what it returns to society and to future generations”.
Green said Green Democracy does not require every decision to be made at the local level.
He proposed that national leaders should continue to lead, coordinate and take responsibility for national matters. However, he said authority should be placed as close as possible to the people affected by a decision.
Where decisions have to be made farther from affected communities, Green said the reasons for those decisions, the money involved, responsibilities and results should be visible to the people who bear their consequences.
Green proposed four questions to test Green Democracy and anyone using its name: Voice, Visibility, Accountability and Renewal.
On voice, he asked whether people affected by a decision had a meaningful opportunity to shape it. Visibility would require the public to follow the money and see what was delivered.
Accountability would require people to challenge failures and obtain an answer and remedy. Renewal would ask whether a decision improves lives today without taking away future possibilities.
Green said the four questions should apply to decisions ranging from a ward water point to the national budget.
He said they should also apply to his own leadership and the Green Thinking Action Party.
“I invite other parties, governments, universities, communities, and young people to examine, contest, and improve them,” Green said.
Green said he does not claim that the concerns behind the philosophy began with him or that a declaration alone can resolve them.
He said the proposal is to bring them together as “a public test of power” and build institutions that pass it.
“Let the discussion begin where we live,” Green said. “Ask who decided. Ask where the money went. Ask what changed. Then insist the answer belongs to everyone.”
He ended the declaration with the phrase: “Think Green Act green.”
