GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTORAL PROCESS WE DESERVE.


Four hundred years before Christ was born, Cleon, a famous Athenian Statesman called for a rule “of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Wyclif in a 14th century translation of the bible repeated that truism. So did James Monroe in the 18th century, and Daniel Webstar in his famous reply to Hayne in the US Senate in the 19th century. However, Abraham Lincoln tattooed the statement in the marbles of history in his Gettysburg address, with his sheer felicity of expression and flower of sincerity: “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.
“…shall have a new birth of Freedom…” Today, more than ever, Nigeria is yearning for ‘a new birth of freedom’ founded on ‘government of the people’! In less than two months, the Anambra gubernatorial election will once again re-open the festering sore of Nigeria elections. Unfortunately, we need not be witnesses to these Dracula dramas called elections in Nigeria.
I want to add some humble insights that could help us to midwife ‘a new birth of freedom’ that most Nigerians are yearning for. I would like us to examine electoral accidents from these perspectives: Credibility of Electoral bodies; Ballot boxes/papers misappropriation; Penalties for beneficiaries of rigged elections; logistics; Party-Police collusion; Opaque party primaries and penalty for all that are actively involved in rigging.

ON PENALTY: We may never witness true freedom in Nigeria, until punishment for those who benefit from rigged elections is enshrined in our constitution. It illustrates the truth in Solon’s observation over 500 years before Christ that the “law is like a cobweb, it catches insects, but elephants barely notice it”. Otherwise, how do we explain the fact that those who receive stolen goods are punishable under our law, but those who receive stolen votes are allowed to rule, or at worst, allowed to re-contest an annulled election. What Shame! Recidivists of stolen votes are in power at different levels and arms of government. It should be in our statutes, that any person that wins an election that is confirmed rigged by the law courts should be banned from holding any public position for two decades, of course the person will not qualify for re-contesting. Public position extends not just to government agencies but even to typical community groups.
We have to align the interest of political contestants to that of the electorate. I believe that if the political class understands that anyone that wins a rigged election stands the chance of political death, they will employ their vast leverage to thwart anybody that may want to rig on their behalf. We should make Electoral Recidivism highly ignoble! We should also make participating in electoral abortion that does not involve the law court, punishable with jail term. To achieve this, the Evidence Act must be amended to admit electronic evidence! Making electronic evidence inadmissible in our courts is a Judi-Legal sabotage. Also members of the electoral bodies that are involved in rigged election should also be jailed and banned from holding any public office for the rest of their life.

ON BALLOT PAPERS: We must as a matter of survival embrace the use of ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE. It may need to be said here that it is the entrenched political manipulators and their agents, with their deep pockets, who have been most intransigent in their opposition to this innovation. The electronic voters machines actually start combating rigging, long before election day. Its talisman is biometrics. Its secret lies with the voters’ registration. It captures the thumbprint of every registered voter, with their personal data. I may remind you that no two fingerprints are the same, so multiple registration is amputated. Multiple voting is annulled because the fingerprint is recognized only once. It uses battery, it is portable and leaves digital footprint of every single transaction. It is self-contained, and so no case of reprogramming has been reported in its over one decade of use in some countries. Even defeated candidates never blamed the machine, very unlike politicians. It is also cost-effective at about N30000 per machine. Each machine can actually handle voters that make up 4 polling stations in the current INEC arrangement. Over half a billion people recently voted in India, for over a month without much post-election recrimination in the fractious Indian politics. Much to the merit of electronic voting machines. This is not to say that the electronic voting machine solves all voting problem. But it is a quantum leap better than what we are using now to deceive ourselves.

ON LOGISTICS: it is my opinion that all the logistics involved in moving materials and persons involved directly with elections be outsourced. This activity should be outsourced to private, world class firms. These firms (of which there are several) would have shown a track record of global logistics competence, especially in the rickety terrains of developing countries. It is nauseating when INEC, NEC, FEDDECO, etc tell us that difficult terrains are ‘delaying’ results from some places. Especially, but not limited to, the North-East and South-South during National elections. As if the terrains became ‘difficult’ over-night. These logistics companies, with their bankers and insurers should provide Federal and State authorities with indemnity bonds equal to the value of the contractual obligations. Where their performance is adjudged by pre-agreed objective criteria to be below 80%, they will indemnify the state or the federal government the cost of the election or a pre-agreed indemnity sum. Nigeria will be pioneering in this field of electoral logistics outsourcing in developing countries. Firms that build competence in this area could find an annual $50billion global market that is totally untapped. FEDDECO, NEC, INEC failed in logistics management. Lets challenge the ingenuity of the private sector.

ON INSECURITY AND PARTY-POLICE COLLUSION: this is an almost hopeless situation. Why do police and some parties collude in manipulating votes as has been alleged? Is it obedience to central police command? Is it for immediate financial gratification? Is it because they hate good governance? Is it because they are socio-paths? Most Nigerians may agree that immediate financial benefit may be the primary incentive. This leads to the next questions: Who pays the police officially for electoral duties? How much are they paid? Is it on per day basis? Are they paid for that special duty? The answer to these questions maybe at the bottom of the problem. Tackling these challenges may necessitate some novel approach. What if police personnel on duty are paid daily election allowance of N10,000 per person? What if this payment is based on objective performance like nil violence per duty post; enforcement of electoral rules on voting day; reports of party returning officers and observers per polling station? What if this payment is made directly to the police persons accounts by an NGO providing the support funds? This might actually be an opportunity for the developed countries to assist developing democracies concretely by providing the funding for this payment scheme. I believe that independent pay-for-performance scheme on election day will change the behavior of a major and critical section of police persons and soldiers involved in electoral duties. We can even denominate the payment in dollars! After all, the officers and men of the Nigerian police are always decorated for distinguished service when they go on UN postings. Maybe it’s the dollar effect.

ON PARTY PRIMARIES: We need fundamental re-appraisals of party primaries. We should forever abandon the practice of party conventions being used to elect candidates. The conventions, on election year should be used as platforms for presenting candidates that have won the primaries. During conventions, the financial, emotional, and psychological pressure on the delegates are exponential. They are harangued and hassled with money, job offers, and blackmails. Many of them also come to haggle for vote selling. The Electoral Act should clearly define party primary procedures, from who qualifies to vote in primaries to when primaries can be held. All primaries should be concluded at least five months before the particular election. All card carrying member of a party at ward, local and state levels should be qualified to vote depending on if the election affects them. Hence in local government election, all wards in the local government is affected. In gubernatorial election, all wards in the state are affected, etc. The only provision should be that they would have been card-carrying members of the party for at least 3 months prior to the primaries. Also they can no longer vote in the primaries of another party, if they have voted in one already. Contravening this should be a criminal offence. So also should be multiple party membership that is rampant at the grassroots! Also the law should require all parties to submit a register of their members two months to the date of the primaries, to relevant INEC offices. This register should be open to anyone that wants to scrutinize or reproduce it, with INEC’s permission. Party executives or hierarchies choosing candidates should be outrightly banned, except where there is electoral tie in the particular primaries after 10 successive rounds of voting. We must bring back decency to our party primaries.

ON CREDIBILITY: The prime practical approach to the issue of credibility of electoral bodies is that appointment of Electoral body Chairman and Commissioners should be the responsibility of the judiciary at federal and state levels. Our democratic experience makes this an imperative. It does not in any way bestow the judiciary with the snow robes of innocence. It simply takes the reality of party politics in Nigeria as the locus of action. The judiciary is the only arm of government not involved in electioneering. However, the positions should be thrown open for transparent applications by eminent, qualified and interested Nigerians.

ON AD-HOC STAFF: how do you identify and verify ad-hoc staff of INEC or State electoral commission? Which national identification system will you use? Until we have a comprehensive National Identity Card that is authentic, the idea of ad-hoc staff will continue to be a problem. My major concern is identification, not morality. This makes me think that using officers and men of customs, immigration, civil defense, and armed forces as ad-hoc staff may be ingenious. I believe these military and para-military agencies have superior staff identification system than the typical Nigeria institutions. INEC working with them may be a better proposition as opposed to using generally un-vetted ad-hoc staff from all over the place. Most times, you cannot track down an INEC ad-hoc staff after election, due to systemic failure of our nation’s social security meshwork. This is no fault of the electoral bodies, but a little imagination while working with the military and para-military will minimize this challenge.

There you have it. My little contribution from my tiny corner of Nigeria’s socio-scape. Nigeria is not a hopeless nation. Her citizens are not helpless. The intellectual class is not bankrupt. The working class don’t have change phobia. But we may all need to join hands and hearts to checkmate an apparently fossilized political class. So “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.
God bless Nigeria!

By Olisaemeka Akukwe
08057622466, 08067239295
olisaemekaakukwe@yahoo.com