18 Jan 2007 |
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Democracy as blackmail ONE of the rather disturbing features of the present political process is the regular use of democracy as a tool of blackmail by power centres and powerful individuals. What suffers in the process is the people's right to choose, their right to express themselves. The use of anti-democratic methods to promote democracy is strangely ironic but it draws more attention to the dictatorial tendencies of the Nigerian elite. Democracy includes the right of the people to differ, to dissent, to ask questions, to express themselves as stakeholders. The governance process is best deepened through an analysis of such responses in relation to specific episodes, instead of an attempt to create a synthetic democracy, which is significant more for its rituals than its substance. But this is what is happening: democracy is being used to intimidate the people. To cite a recent example, the governments of Lagos and Abia states have made the possession of a voter's card a pre-condition for the enjoyment of citizenship rights. To transact any business with the state governments in both places, you would be required to show a voter's card, and if you fail to do so, the doors of the almighty state could be shut in your face. You can't transact business. Your children may not be allowed into public schools, and you may not enjoy medical services provided by the state and so on. In Lagos, the Governor himself read the riot act. But it is not only state governments that have turned the voter's card into such a life-and-death instrument. The Catholic Church, Enugu Parish has gone a step further by circulating a bulletin, signed by the Bishop, in the Catholic Churches in the zone. The parishioners are told: "You are advised after collecting your voters' cards to register your names in your zone/ward in the book of record made available by your parish priests. Whoever has not collected the voters' card after February 7, has automatically alienated himself or herself from the community, the church and will not be allowed to receive the Holy Communion and other sacraments". It is a good thing that the Church did not add that those who fail to register as voters will not be allowed to go to Heaven! However, the concern that has been expressed by both the church and the two aforementioned state governments can be defended in principle as an attempt to mobilise the people to participate in the forthcoming elections. There is no doubt that the 2007 elections are important to Nigerians. Given the misgovernance, the trauma, the aborted hopes of the past eight years, one way of returning power to the people of Nigeria is to ensure their participation in the electoral process. The Governors of Lagos and Abia states may not have acted out of altruism, since they are politicians with known ambitions but the Catholic Church of Enugu was quite straightforward and earnest in its protestations. It made the point that the people should realise that their votes count, that they have a "civic responsibility and a sacred duty" to choose their own leaders. It added: "As adults (18 years and above) you are doing great disservice to the Church and the nation if you fail to register." This is quite consistent with the quality work that the Catholic Church in Nigeria has been doing in the area of democracy and good governance. I agree: the more participatory our democracy becomes, the more legitimate it would be. Besides, the people would invariably develop the necessary sense of ownership of the process. Mass participation and the vigilance of civil society can also serve as a form of protection against rigging and other electoral malpractices. But consider that bit about the conversion of the voters' card into a symbol of citizenship and faith? This is a case of constructive discrimination bordering on sheer blackmail. What has the performance of one's civic duties got to do with Holy Communion? The dictatorship of the state and the church on the question of voters' card is questionable. The best approach, which would not result in an infringement on the people's rights would have been public enlightenment and civic education. This is what the people need. There are many Nigerians who nurse a deep-seated apathy about the political process. They had voted in previous elections, but they never saw any difference in their lives. They have seen politicians looting the treasury and making a song and a dance about it. They have seen the growth of poverty around them and in their lives and they know what it means to live in a country that is blessed with resources which are nevertheless mismanaged. To say that many Nigerians are tired of politics and politicians is to put the matter mildly. This category that has given up on Nigerian politics can be found at all levels of society. There are rich and comfortable Nigerians who may collect the voters' card but who have no intention whatsoever of voting. "Let the masses do that", they would say. A few days to the election, they would jump into an aircraft and run abroad, to monitor the Nigerian situation from a safe distance until there is concrete assurance that the democratic process would not end in bloodshed. The poor may hold the voters' card but on election day, many may not feel compelled enough to go to the polling station. The danger therefore is that mere possession of the voters' card on the long run cannot in itself translate into mass participation. Since the people are now being told that the voters' card can be used for other purposes (Holy Communion, tax, education, tenement rate, signing of Certificates of Occupancy), it is not impossible that those who hold the cards may just use it "for those other purposes." This is what we must discourage. Both government and civil society must be more interested in letting the people focus more on the statement that their votes count and that they must vote wisely. After all, it is the use to which the voter's card is put that is important not its mere possession. The point also needs to be made that many Nigerians do not have the voter's card not because they are not patriotic enough but because the voters' registration exercise has been poorly organised. After several trips around town looking for where to register and not finding any, many Nigerians simply gave up. If the exercise were more people-friendly, fewer people will be disenfranchised. INEC did not have enough registration materials. Where the materials were available, there were other problems of logistics. The Lagos and Abia state governments can help direct people to where they can get registered. The Catholic Church of Enugu can liaise with INEC to make it easier for parishioners to register as voters. If this is not done, innocent persons may be prevented from the spiritual blessing of Holy Communion for the wrong reasons. Nigerians take religion very seriously. To be shut out of Holy Communion is almost the equivalent of ex-communication. The church of the poor, of the people, must seek to understand their circumstances even as the clergy seek "to give unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's" If indeed, there isn't much enthusiasm in the land about the 2007 general elections, the politicians and governments at all levels should be blamed. They have alienated the people. And so they only resort to blackmail as a means of interaction. The people accept the blackmail in part because they would rather give democracy a chance no matter how imperfect it may seem. The 2003 elections were flawed, there were reports about gross malpractices, but the people accepted the results because it was the only safe thing to do. The Nigerian people want democracy more than their leaders. And the leaders exploit this. The state Governors are tyrants. They run the states as if they are emperors. This much became clear during the recent party primaries. The Governors insisted on dictating the selection of candidates for the various available positions. Delegates waited until the Governor showed the way before they made their choices. At cabinet meetings, commissioners are not allowed to speak: the Governor is ultimately the wisest man in the entire state. He cannot be challenged. No one can complain because to do so is to lose a position, or privileges or to be branded an enemy of the Governor, with fatal consequences. We have since seen very clearly that it is not only the Governors that are guilty, a similar problem exists in the Presidency where the worship of one man called Baba is the central factor of the last seven years. This is a phenomenon which political scientists need to investigate a bit more closely. The love of too much power, utter disregard for the citizen, and too much desperation in high places: these are the more potent threats to Nigerian democracy. But the people continue to accept it all, we seem helpless, because for us, democracy is now a matter of blackmail. The primary task before civil society is to ensure that power returns to the people, that the people begin to own democracy because it is about their lives, and that the integrity of the electoral process is defended. But civil society must itself resist the temptation of adopting the same dictatorial methods that have been made famous by the politicians. On the question of voters' cards, the governments of Abia and Lagos should have a rethink. The Catholic Church of Enugu should separate the Holy Communion from the voter's card!
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