Kehinde Bolaji
17 April 2007
opinion
Lagos — The general elections are here in Nigeria and fears are being expressed by stakeholders about the credibility, impartiality, capacity, and competence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); which have led to pockets of political violence, and potential derailment of the transition programme.
The hope of Nigerians in the electoral umpire appears to be shaky. It is however possible to ensure the integrity of the transition through effective monitoring of the processes leading to the elections, the actual conduct of the elections and the collation of results.
Political parties, security agents and the mass media that have not been traditionally seen as election monitors, can actually play important roles in the monitoring process. The security agents have the role of enforcing electoral rules, ditto for the political parties and the mass media.
However, these different categories of monitors are being confronted with a number of challenges that have to be addressed in the next few weeks, with a view to overcome them.
Political parties in Nigeria cannot be said to be exhibiting signs of being healthy, which constitutes the first barrier in their quest to effectively monitor elections. The parties, which are over 50 in number, oftentimes demonstrate lack of internal democracy and robust political culture while many of them are also politically intolerant.
The type of political culture which has made the parties to become conduits for material accumulation by the elites, violent antagonism from within and legitimisation of corruption, rather than the bastion of ideas and ideals, has also depopulated the parties of knowledgeable membership with genuine aspiration to contribute to national development.
Acute distrust of the electoral process by the parties is another hindrance to value-adding election monitoring. A situation whereby the electoral umpire is perceived to be doing the bidding of the ruling party can expose the monitoring process to ridicule and stress.
This could manifest in the indifference of the parties to compete and ensure fairness at the poll, or the rejection of election results, even in absence of credible evidence of malpractice.
Misdemeanor on the part of party officials can discredit elections without monitor being unable to control the situation. Such misdemeanor could include the typical sharing of money and gifts to influence voting pattern, wearing or displaying party symbols and engaging in other forms of campaign activities at the polling centre.
Security and welfare of the people is the primary pre-occupation of government in all the countries of the world. It is within this human security paradigm that security agents fit into the election monitoring process.
They are to assist in ensuring a transparent, free and fair election, to enforce orderliness and adherence to electoral rules. However, due to previous bad governance of the security sector under military rule, personnel (which include the armed forces, police, and civil defence corps) have been cultivated to demonstrate overt aggressiveness to the civil society.
Against this background, the following challenges have to be addressed if the security agents are to play a credible role in the forthcoming elections.
Firstly, poor civil-military relation in which the military personnel sees civilians as 'bloody' lots that must be subdued, disciplined and in which the civilians look down on the military as mere khaki boys, 'zombies' who are embodiments of corruption and impunity must be addressed.
Secondly, poor logistical supports to security agents, which have characterised previous elections, can only lead to the continued failure of elections in Nigeria. Deployment of personnel, especially in the rural areas and riverside areas of the Niger-Delta could actually pose a lot of challenges in terms of transport and access.
However, inadequacy of logistical support can hinder security personnel from gaining access to remote areas or endanger their lives. The challenge of tackling intolerant and violent-prone political actors and curtailing the activities of corrupt politicians, cannot be over-emphasised.
Issue of discipline for security personnel that will take part in election-related activities is of paramount importance. Election time is not a time to collect bribes from party agents and allow themselves to be diverted by the little pleasures of life.
The Nigerian constitution places on mass media a responsibility of holding governments responsible to the electorate, as contained in section 22 of the 1999 Constitution. The section gives a sacred watchdog role to the media in order for democracy and development to take root in the Nigerian body polity.
To its credit, the mass media has lived up to its appellation as the "fourth estate of the realm" in Nigeria. It can continue to credibly and critically monitor and analyse issues and events in Nigeria's checquered fourth republic. This is in spite of state repression, intimidation, blackmail and the harsh economic situations in Nigeria.
Media practitioners have to firmly and sternly rebuff attempts to compromise them through various so-called PR packages. A vote for integrity in the elections by journalists is a vote for development and good leadership. This will in turn deepen democracy in our body polity.
Professionals in the field need to be careful not to be perceived as serving the narrow interests of the owners of the media houses. It is an open secret that most media houses in Nigeria are owned by politicians and/or people with some political affiliation and interest.
For security agents, money appropriated for the general elections should be released by the government months ahead of the conduct of the elections. In addition, security personnel taking part in election duties should be re-orientated and re-sensitised about the importance of such duties.
The mandate of the security agents should be clearly spelt out, with the set limits while they should be cultivated to be friendly to civilians. Also, the security agents should be reminded that violent reaction should be a measure of last resort to any provocative activity of the parties contesting the elections.
There is need for political parties to educate and sensitise those who would be their agents at the poll nationwide. Such education will help in avoiding a situation whereby party agents engage in all sorts of malpractice. They should also be enlightened on how they can channel their grievances and complaints peaceably and lawfully.
Journalists should be assisted by the development partners and donor agencies to reach the remote, rural and secluded localities in the forthcoming general elections whilst security cover should be provided journalists who are to cover the elections in volatile and conflict-prone areas.
INEC should adopt a holistic and comprehensive code of conduct that will guide the activities of monitors. Stakeholders' forums should be organised for would-be-monitors, especially at the local levels. This will forestall co-ordination problems, mutual distrust and other challenges that they may likely encounter. It is strongly recommended that violators of the code of conduct should be prosecuted after the elections.
Finally, it would not be out of place for INEC within the context of its juridical independence, to assist in enhancing the capacity of the mass media (logistically, financially and morally) to monitor the elections. In addition, journalists should also have un-hindered access to timely information from INEC.
- Bolaji, a public policy analyst, wrote in from Abuja
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
