Address abuse of incumbency to consolidate democracy in Africa - Forum

Dr Jibrin Ibrahim,
Chairman of the West African Civil Society Forum.

Address abuse of incumbency to consolidate democracy in Africa - Forum

The West African Civil Society Forum has called on Africa to address the abuse of incumbency in order to consolidate democracy in Africa.

Chairman of the Forum, Dr Jibrin Ibrahim, a Nigerian scholar, gave the call at the Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS) 2nd Annual Democracy Lecture in 2011 in London.

In the lecture entitled: ‘Democracy and Development in Africa’, her said that in many African countries, the power of the incumbent party was being abused in many ways to frustrate the wishes of the people.

Creating a level playing ground

Ibrahim pointed out that for the continent to be truly committed to democracy in the 21st century, it must be ready to carry out some reforms by creating a level playing ground for all political parties.

He said: “Reform must be the key theme and the key objective must be to find ways of combating the abuse of incumbency and creating a level playing ground for all parties contesting elections.’’

Ibrahim pointed out that in some countries; state powers and violence were deployed by the ruling parties to block opposition at polls. He noted that in some cases, “political solution’ such as governments of national unity were established.”

He added that such action undermines the franchise and the choice it was supposed to provide to the people.

Commendation

Ibrahim, who is also the Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) Nigeria, also spoke on the state of democracy in Nigeria and commended the electorate for breaking the cycle of electoral `fraud’ during the April elections.

He noted that during that period, the country witnessed the return of integrity into the electoral process, which ensured that the democratic system did not break down.

The organisations’ vision

Earlier, the Chairman of ERIS, Mr Keith Best, had said that the vision of the NGO was to ensure that every citizen could exercise their rights and full potential in conditions of political, social and economic freedom.

Best said: “ERIS is committed to providing assistance and advice of the highest quality through partnerships with those involved in building democracy.’’

ERIS is a UK-based non-governmental organisation, which provides support to democratic institutions, processes and culture in 70 countries, including Nigeria.

NAN/Adekusibe/Williams