A MORE WATCHFUL EYE MUST BE PLACED ON GECOM

Nov 15, 2009 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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By Sheila Holder, MP
and AFC Vice-Chair

During the last few weeks I was in Mozambique at the invitation of the Commonwealth Secretary General, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma, to observe the October 28, 2009 National and Provincial elections. The Commonwealth Observer Group, of which I was a member was asked to determine in our own judgement whether the elections were conducted according to the democratic standards to which the country had committed itself. More on this will be said at a later time.

AFRICA IS AWE INSPIRING
I had heard it said many times but could now attest to its truth having visited the continent of Africa twice – Africa is awe inspiring. The first thing that struck me as the Mozambican airline approached Maputo, the capital city, was the symmetry of the green foliage tops of thousands of huge majestic trees that commanded one’s attention from the air. What trees could those be, I wondered, and soon found out they were the familiar mango trees. The mango tree must be indigenous to Mozambique because they dominate the landscape, and are the largest and the healthiest I’ve seen anywhere in the world. Most all of the trees were laden with thousands of green mango fruits.
Next to every house in the cities I visited, mango trees stood like sentinels watching over them. In every rural village I visited, mango trees were too numerous to count scattered around magnificently in large open communal spots and next to every homestead that was constructed predominantly with high-peaked grass roofs on top of traditional mud-brick houses, from an era I thought had long disappeared. It is the way millions of Mozambicans live even as concrete skyscrapers are surprisingly the main accommodation for people and businesses in the cities.
Mozambique was colonised by the Portuguese who left their architectural mark throughout this mountainous ‘red loam’ land of 799,380 sq km. The road design of main thoroughfares is distinctive for their future growth potential of wide streets and avenues that would have been constructed during the period of colonization. The population size is approximately twenty-three million with a literacy rate about 55%.

UNCANNY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MOZAMBIQUE AND GUYANA
I couldn’t help but observe that there were a few uncanny similarities between Mozambique and Guyana from the social, political and administrative perspectives. For instance, the once orderly municipal designs of their cities is being overrun by haphazard construction creating problems for the development of internal community roadways and the installation of utility services.
Even though the economy of Mozambique has shown resilience in the face of the global economic downturn, and boasts a strong macroeconomic stability record with real average GDP of 7.6% for the last four years, in the city of Nampula – where I travelled extensively – there was evidence of poor governance. There were no fire hydrants, and inadequate fire fighting equipment so people stand and look on helplessly while their homes and businesses burn to the ground. Garbage littered the place wherever I went indicating the need for civic education of the people and a more efficient solid waste disposal system. I also noticed that there was limited access to potable water for the three million people living in the province of Nampula, most of whom exist way below the poverty margin. In discussion with the General Secretary of the ruling party, he acknowledged this was indeed one of the challenges facing his government.

THE TWO MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES WERE AT WAR FOR DECADES
The domestic politics of Mozambique have been dominated by the ruling party Frente de Libertacao (Frelimo) and the opposition party called Resistencia Nacional de Mozambique (Renamo) since the peace accord was signed in Rome on the 4th October 1992. The latter is in disarray and appears destined to be eclipsed by the six-month old challenger named Movimento Democratico de Mozambique (MDM).
The MDM is being seen as providing much needed direction and dynamism to Mozambique’s political culture and has been welcomed by the people. However; a concerted effort is being made to thwart its political efforts in an environment of declining voter turnout as a result of the people’s withdrawal from the political process that has failed them since the introduction of a multi-party system.

SIGNIFICANT OBSERVATION BY COMMONWEALTH OBSERVER GROUP
The observer group was comprised of eleven eminent persons mainly from Africa but also one each from Malaysia, Bangladesh, the UK and Jamaica in the field of academia, experts in elections, members of civil society engaged in advocacy for democracy, a youth activist, and two politicians, one from Africa and yours truly. The group was led by Dr. Ahmad Kabbah, former President of Sierra Leone.
In the recently concluded National and Provincial Assembly elections that were run off on the proportional Representation (PR) system, the National Elections Commission (CNE) disqualified the fledgling party MDM from participating in the Presidential race as well as several other parties from participating in the provincial elections. This being so even though several of them had successfully met the electoral requirements in previous multi-party national elections.
In the Interim statement issued on October 30, 2009 by Dr. Kabbah, Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group, it was pointed out that the impact of the limited choices offered to voters for both the National and Provincial Assembly elections was ‘most acutely illustrated by the fact that Frelimo, the ruling party, was unopposed in more than 60 of the 141 constituencies for the 10 Provincial Assemblies’. The ruling party, Frelimo, is expected to win the elections, the results of which have not been declared so far. However, legally, CNE has as much as 23 days to tabulate and declare the results.

GECOM MUST BE WATCHED MORE CAREFULLY
Having witnessed such a development, I believe it would be remiss of me not to remind readers, that here at home, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) remains heavily politicized. According to the Carter/Price formula, GECOM ought to have been composed of Commissioners proposed by parties in the National Assembly but it does not. Even though the Guyana Constitution mandates that the Commissioners be independent, the evidence suggests otherwise.
Given the difficulties the AFC has experienced in getting GECOM to adhere to a High Court ruling on Scrutineer’s funds; to treat with the AFC as an entity in its own right; given it took three years for GECOM to put into effect the replacement AFC’s Region No. 8 Councillor who had resigned; and given the error GECOM made (according to its own Statements of Poll) in tabulating the votes in Region No 10, a more watchful eye must be placed on GECOM – perhaps more now than ever before. In closing I urge you to fulfil your civic duty and collect your ID card as soon as possible.

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