By Jaye Gaskia
Our political
parties, like the politicians that have created them are strange animals. From
the very beginning I haven’t had any faith in any of the current political
parties or currently dominant politicians with respect to the possession of any
degree of capability, much less capacity to transform positively, I a conscious manner, the condition of our
country and her citizens.
Not the even the
merger of the so-called legacy opposition parties, and the subsequent merger of
this emergent entity with the New PDP to create a viable, national single
opposition party was enough to convince me otherwise.
And events since the
emergence and ongoing consolidation of the opposition APC on the one hand as
well as the implosion and ongoing disintegration of the ruling PDP on the other
hand have only combined to reinforce my conviction that we are still a long way
from national salvation.
Nothing exemplifies
the lack of any fundamental programmatic purpose of the parties other than to
grab or retain power than the relationship of the parties to their purported
manifestoes, as well as the absence less than four weeks to the general elections
of any concise, documented, known and accessible electoral platforms of the
candidates in general, and the presidential candidates in particular.
Let us examine the
parties and their manifestoes. Of recent the Centre for Democracy and
Development [CDD] has been organising debates between the two main parties [PDP
& APC] on topical issues including the pillars of the economy.
I had honored the
invitation to participate in those processes fully convinced that none of the
political parties have clear cut party, as opposed to the individual positions
of politicians, on any national issue.
Alas, the process of
the debates merely confirmed what I already deduced and knew. For instance
there was a debate on the oil & gas sector, and the PIB as well as the
refineries and importation of refined products came up as hot issues.
What was
the response of the party representatives? The PDP rep accused the opposition
of being responsible for the none passage of the PIB while the APC rep refuted
this by stating that at that time the opposition parties were still scattered
in three parties and did not have enough numbers to have out voted the PDP.
This was true,
nevertheless the real issue has been that all through the PIB process the
parties had no party positions on the PIB that party members in the NASS were
supposed to follow. Instead the divisions that stalled the PIB was rather
geo-political with legislators divided on a North-South line and across party
lines.
Throughout the several years of the debate on the PIB at the NASS, there
was no party position, and if there was, it was muffled and not amplified. The
opposition did not come up with any opposition sponsored amendments or
alternative PIB.
This situation was
again played out during the CDD organized debates recently. For instance only
the APC rep quoted from their party manifesto, and only after being forced to
so do as a result of questions requesting to know the position in party
manifestoes on the issues.
Now this whole
situation exemplifies one of the fundamental inadequacies of the party process
in Nigeria. The manifestoes of the parties have been produced because it is a
legal requirement, and these have actually been put together by select and or
technical committees of the parties.
There were no debates
within the parties about the issues that will go into the manifesto, much less
about the issues that finally made it into the manifestoes.
The manifestoes once
produced are archived, with any reference seldom made to the manifesto in
concrete terms by politicians and leading members of the parties. And when any
reference is made to the manifestoes by party leaders it is in general, broad
and sweeping terms.
It is debatable if up
to 10% of party members are either aware of the existence of the party manifesto,
or have ever seen the party manifesto much less read through it. Furthermore it
will be quite surprising indeed if up to 5% of party members actually
understand what their party manifesto is saying.
The conclusion that
can be drawn from all of the foregoing is that what now pass for party
manifesto is actually neither a well thought out nor a thoroughly debated
position of the party known to and understood by a majority of party members.
As such the party manifesto is in reality not the manifesto of the party, but a
product of a special committee of the party and which has no bearing on what
the party is currently doing not what the party will do after elections.
So as it is, we are
being forced into a context where we are going into a general election with
parties whose manifestoes are neither a reflection of the thinking and action
of the party, nor does it represent the party consensus on issues.
To worsen the
situation we are fated with an opposition party with a real chance of winning
the general elections, the content of whose manifesto is unknown to the
generality of electorates, and that barely three weeks to the elections is yet
to prepare, much less release for public debate any proposed policy frameworks
on any of the major issues and challenges facing the country.
This is why it is up to
us to force the parties to debate issues, to force them produce policy
proposals and to force them to make commitments that we can subsequently hold
them to account on.
But more importantly,
after these general elections the greater work we have to undertake is the task
of reforming the party structure and party process in Nigeria. We have focused
for far too long on reform of the electoral process and institutions without
looking at the parties.
And in this process
of party reforms activists and active citizens must be prepared to play much
more than a sideline role. It is incumbent on us to work together towards
establishing a model party that can become a game changer, significant enough
to force and compel reform of the party process in general.
Along with holding
the next government to account, this task of facilitating the establishment and
evolution of a model party, fit enough to undertake the task of National
Liberation and Social Emancipation of our country and people, is our
post-election duty.
It is our country.
Let us work towards taking it back.
Jaye
Gaskia is National Coordinator of Protest to Power Movement [P2PM], and
Co-convener of Say No Campaign [SNC].
Follow
me on Twitter: @jayegaskia & Interact with me on Facebook: Jaye Gaskia
& Take Back Nigeria
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