From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
In the aftermath of the 2023 general elections, there have been increased clamour for a further review of the Electoral Act. Stakeholders say further amendments of the Electoral act will help to increase the credibility of elections in the country.
However, the member representing Enugu East/ Isi-Uzo Federal Constituency of Enugu State, in the House of Representatives, Professor Paul Nnamchi, is advocating the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC), to create an Electoral Jury, amongst others.
The Electoral Jury, according to Nnamchi, would be saddled with the responsibility of taking custody of ballot papers and other sensitive electoral materials, immediately after elections , as well as investigate complaints, arising from the polls and determining, within a specified time, and determining, which cases makes it to the Electoral Petition Tribunals.
The lawmaker also spoke on his agenda for his constituency and other issues.
In the aftermath of the 2023 general elections, there have been calls for a further review of the Electoral Act. What do you think should change in the Act?
The clamour for electoral reform is across parties. Our people deserve better electoral system. On a personal note, I am advocating two things – an electoral jury panel that will take care of the electoral materials and investigate and make findings on the complaint of candidates and/ or political parties. The records of all the serial numbers of ballot papers and results will be kept by them. This jury will take custody of electoral materials; why INEC take care of process.
INEC as it is, needs to be unbundled. And unbundling it will make things easier. Apart from streamlining the process, it also makes things easier.
Upon the receipt of complaints by this jury, it will investigate by looking at the various ballot papers and the results submitted.
Probably this jury will work like the WAEC proposition, the people are swapped. For instance, if you write your WAEC, you don’t know people who mark your paper. If at the end of the investigation, the jury finds that there is need for the complainant to go to court( election tribunal), it will recommend.
We need to look at what happened in Kenya, where the presidential panel finished their job in two weeks. And that ended it. While our own will be lasting for six months, most times one year.
I suggest that in the case of the presidential election, the jury should not come from the same zone with the presidential candidates. And the membership should not be limited to lawyers; but members of professional bodies, but lawyers must be there.
Members of this jury should not have been card carrying members of political parties or playing partisan politics in the last 16 years prior to their appointment and post membership of that jury; they should also not be engaged in partisan politics for another 16 years. So, if you have interest in partisan politics; you shouldn’t be part of it.
Another area, which I am particular, which I think should be looked into is creation of special courts, that doubles as electoral and corruption courts. They will be in charge of drug trafficking, corruption, electoral offences, taxation and inland waterways; so that they will have something doing after electoral season. And they will sit in panel of three.
I am also an advocate that we make electronic transmission of election results compulsory. But when results are transmitted and there is error. You make the system to reject it. For instance, when you have 10 people in a polling unit and the electoral officer is writing 20 voters, it can be automatically rejected.
Also, while transmitting results, names of accredited voters should also be transmitted. Because BIVAS is meant to accredit, after accreditation, the same capturing you did while accrediting should also be transmitted, so that result is not more than accredited voters. That is the easiest way to curb malpractice.
When you have accredited, you have used BIVAS to do accreditation, it records the number. So, why transmitting the results, they should also transmit the record from BIVAS. So, if accredited voters are 10, the result should tally with the number of accredited voters. These are what I feel will control the level of impunity, going on in the system.
What defect will this Electoral Jury you are proposing cure in the electoral system?
It will streamline the electoral system in a way that they are now in charge of results after the elections. INEC is in charge of conducting election; the materials, after the election would be handled by this jury. And also the investigative nature to curb fraudulent litigations in the system.
People go to court frivolously. People go and register that they are contesting elections, when they cannot even vote for themselves. And all in the name of tomorrow we will go to court that our name didn’t come out. Or they go to court that “ha, our logo was omitted. “
Now, people will contest because they want to contest. Because there is a barrier to make them not to go to court frivolously, either because they don’t have that locus to even go to court. But people go to court now, because they say oh, ‘they will negotiate”. They will do this or just to derail the system.
At the same time, it limits people trying to manipulate the system, because you don’t know the person marking your script in this case. You don’t know where the person is coming from. And the jury do not know the person( appearing), until they appear.
What should the people of Enugu East / Isi-Uzo Federal Constituency be expecting from you in the next years?
First, I have to thank my people for electing me. Not just electing me, but finding me worthy to be the one chosen with overwhelming majority of vote cast.
My legislative agenda is many. But I will start with education. Access to education. Coming from the academics, I am an advocate for increased funding and support for public schools, with a focus on improving teachers salaries, reducing class sizes, and enhancing the quality of education. These are also part of the things I will want to look at.
I have special emphasis on underprivileged kids.
Another thing that gives a lot of concern to my constituency is health care access. It hasn’t been easy. We have urban and semi urban areas and they are quite remote that most of the times you don’t have doctors going to them in months. And when people are sick, they travel long distance to be able to access healthcare. I am trying to see how we can improve the pre-existing conditions in the health centers and also to work towards reducing this hardship that are endured by the people.
The world is moving towards sustainability, because we want to leave the world better than we met it. We are also trying to see how we can have reasonable access to clean cooking in the villages; where the girl child is not pushed to the bush to go and fetch water or absent from school because they want to collect firewoods and all that.
We want to replace these things with clean cooking, sustainable energy in those areas. And maybe use it as pilot survey for the country; where everybody have access to environmental sustainability technology and also other renewable energy sources. Because we don’t have electricity in all parts of my constituency and using solar power, you are sure that will be the best way to augment those areas that we don’t have.
And not forgetting the infrastructure development in terms of improvement and investment in road construction. Most times in the rural areas, people walk long distances. Vehicle shun going there, because they feel the roads are not well maintained.
On the same transportation area, I am an advocate that the railway should be extended to the South East. Building a large gauge will enable them to travel and communicate via railway with people in other regions. In other regions, railway has been done and it is remaining that of the South East. I am advocating that that should be looked into. The railway should be reinvigorated again in the South East, because it used to be a travel hub for most people in the South East going to the North and other regions.
You are a member of the Labour Party (LP), how would you assess opposition politics in the country; is the opposition living up to expectation?
I will say not really. But it is also possible and doable. The opposition is the cream of democracy. Anybody that doesn’t have anything that puts him on his toes, tend to realize or over-relax. Sometimes, that can also get into absolute power, when nobody checks you.
The Constitution has provided for those checks and balances. But in the political parties and legislature, they need to be people that will put the leadership on their toes, so that the House will actually be the House of the people. Society needs to feel their impact through the laws that are being made and through the arguments that are being put forward in the House.
Agreed, that the 10th Assembly is still young, though not too young. I believe we are moving towards that. By the time the litigations are over, and people are fully settled, I believe the opposition will start doing better. And their impact will be felt by the public.
How do you think the opposition in the country can do better, recently former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, called for a merger of the opposition to make them more formidable, but your party has said its not interested in a merger.
I am one of those people that feel that you can actually function as an entity, but also towards the same goal. I am not different from my party. I came through the party vehicle. And because the Labour Party is also an advocate of social justice, I agree with them. And I go with them.
If you merge, what about the ideology? Parties that have similar ideology can merge. It is not just about merging but purposeful politics. What is the merger about? Is it about the people? Or it is about selfish goals. If it is about the people fine. If it is not about the people, then there shouldn’t be a merger.
In that aspect, I agree with my party in the direction they are going, until something changes. I hold on to whatever, we have agreed on as our ideology towards social justice, equity and fair play in the society.