NATIONAL CONFERENCE Committee on Politics and Governance Progress Report (Verbatim) The second subcommittee to present their preliminary report was subcommittee on Party Politics, Funding and Internal Democracy. The presentation was done by the chairman of the subcommittee, Chief Olabode GEORGE. REPORT Chief Olabode GEORGE went through the introduction of the topic and dived back into the history of how political parties started. In the subcommittee report, he considered western countries like America and looked at how they started. It was discovered that they came together to form political parties based on their norms and beliefs. The subcommittee also looked at different models, they considered the South African model and how it started. Firstly, it started as a movement and then developed into a party; it was now related to our own political party system. The concept of party politics, party ideology and programmes was also deliberated on. The subcommittee also discussed what happens when people come together to form a party. Chief Olabode GEORGE stressed that it means there will be a body responsible for regulating the parties and that is what we have Independent Electoral Commission (INEC). Internal democracy was another thematic issue considered. Some of the challenges that have affected internal democracy in our political party system were identified. Some of the challenges that he mentioned include; moneybags taking over the system of politics, hand twisting by governors, godfathers in the political parties, amongst others. To avoid some of these challenges, it was noted in the report that primaries must be conducted and delegates must emerge on the basis of fairness and election. He stressed that our university system no longer teaches history and how do we get to where we are going if we don’t know where we are coming from. He concluded that what Nigerians need is economic empowerment, by the time the people are empowered, and then they will be able to challenge the political class. Party funding was another issue deliberated on. In the report, he spotted out some recommendations on how political parties can fund themselves. Some of these include: 1. They must make sure that party members contribute to the funding of their own party and it must be a criterion for membership. 2. Political parties should not allow an individual to own a party. 3. All political parties at their national convention should be made to render the state of their finance to be audited and published. OBSERVATIONS A call for comments and observations by the Co-chairman (Prof. Jerry GANA) Amb. Hassan ADAMU said that he was glad that critical issues like party funding, party ideology and internal democracy was raised. These are the issues that have affected the politics in this country, he added. Parties must practice true internal democracy and observe the rule of free and fair election at all levels. He stressed that Nigeria must do away with the present system of how parties are being funded and parties should focus on generating internal funds that it can use to run political campaigns. Senator Ibrahim M. IDA noted that he is a practicing politician and have contested elections under a party, so he knows the disconnect that exists between parties and their members. He said in the past, he ran under a party that practically left him alone to sort himself out in terms of logistics and finance and it ought not to be so. He pointed out that if Nigeria is to have true democracy, then practical solutions on how political parties can be funded must be recommended. Ray EKPU said the present arrangement for party funding is that when political parties are having fund raising programmes, one person might be allowed to donate only one million naira. What they will now do is that one person will come up with hundred million and say that hundreds of them contributed it and when traced, one will discover it’s just from one person. He also added that we have twenty-six political parties, but we should ask ourselves how many of them are functioning. What are their ideologies? Politics should be separated from governance. Prof. Samuel EGWU dissociated himself from those with the ideology of “We can do without a political party system”. He said political parties are a problem not only in Nigeria, but everywhere in the world. A modern representative cannot function without political parties. Having said that, he went ahead to commend Chief Olabode GEORGE and his subcommittee members for a job well done. He recommended that the section of the report that discusses about the concept of political parties should be discussed in details with recommendations that will serve as a path for the forming of political parties in our country. He reiterated that today, political parties mobilize votes and not voters, which means there is something wrong with their ideology. He stressed that the logic of electoral polity should be used to structure our political system. Senator Adolphus WABARA joined other committee members in commending the work done by the Chief Olabode GEORGE-led subcommittee. But he pointed out that the issue of the godfathers in today’s political party system should be put away in our political system. He said there should be no imposition of candidates at the primary level in any political party. He said when the parties give in to godfathers, what happens is that they become loyal to the godfathers and not to the people. This is a critical issue to be looked at in the report. And that the recommendations that will tackle the issue of the godfathers in our political party system should be clearly written out with a practical approach on how to achieve them. The Co-chairman (Chief Olu FALAE) thanked all the committee members for their contributions and called on the next subcommittee to present their report.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 13:54:55 +0000
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