Former Nigeria President, Goodluck Jonathan, has emerged as the
Chairman of the African Union’s International Summit Council for Peace
(ISCP).
Speaking at the International Leadership Conference in Johannesburg,
South Africa, where he emerged as the chairperson of the newly
inaugurated ISCP, a body made up of mainly African former Presidents and
ex-Heads of State, Jonathan urged the AU to set minimum acceptable
standards for appointing the leadership of electoral commissions.
The two-day conference tagged ‘Africa Summit and Leaders Conference
2019’ has in attendance government officials, former African Heads of
State, clergy and traditional rulers from across Africa.
In a keynote speech titled ‘The Need for Good Governance and Peaceful
Electioneering Process in Africa,’ Jonathan noted that the credibility
and legitimacy of electoral processes, are hugely dependent on the
competence, impartiality and independence of electoral management bodies
(EMBs).
He said: “It is interesting that almost all the EMBs in Africa are
identified with the prefix ‘Independent’, but the jury is still out on
whether these agencies are truly independent as their names imply.
“The AU should, through its Political Affairs Department, set up a
team of electoral experts to study different models and recommend the
system they consider best for the continent.
“Such benchmark should also take cognizance of the need to review the
election of judicial processes to ensure that, where election tribunals
are set up to specifically handle election cases, one judicial officer
do not handle the role of appointing all members of the tribunals.
“Since neutrality of the security services is absolutely necessary in
ensuring free and fair elections, it is also important that the Africa
Union should establish a code of conduct guiding security officials in
charge of elections. All these recommendations should be accommodated in
AU’s procedures for elections that should serve as guidelines for
election observers.”
Jonathan went on to praise South Africans, for the peaceful conduct of last May’s national and provincial elections.
“Once you get to that point where all role players in elections can
express confidence in the umpire and the security systems, you would
have solved more than 70% of your electoral challenges. Sadly, not many
African countries have got to this point. The point where they can beat
their chest and boast of political freedom, inclusiveness, independence
of the electoral management body and credibility of the political
process,” he added.