A problematic party nomination process

Today, according to party officials, the ‘consensus candidate’ of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential election next, incumbent Dr Goodluck Jonathan will formally pick the party’s nomination form, priced at 22 million naira.  All the major parties appear to believe that the higher the financial hurdle thrown at aspirants to elective offices, the […]

Today, according to party officials, the ‘consensus candidate’ of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential election next, incumbent Dr Goodluck Jonathan will formally pick the party’s nomination form, priced at 22 million naira.
 All the major parties appear to believe that the higher the financial hurdle thrown at aspirants to elective offices, the higher the quality of the leadership that would emerge. This warped reasoning has no foundation in fact and in commonsense.
The costs are prohibitive and therefore outrageous. Already, members of the House of Representatives have dubbed the practice an exclusive privilege of the elite. In a supposed democracy, it leaves out the vast majority and, along with it, potential game-changing leaders.
In a nation where the World Bank says 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, the cost of the APC presidential nomination form is equal to 127 years’ salary on minimum wage.  Even a gubernatorial aspirant on minimum wage would require 72 years’ cumulative salary to purchase one. Unless he can overcome that hurdle to stealing from public coffers, if he has access to them; most of the big do.
Political parties can determine parameters for aspiring for elective positions under their wings, and they also require recovering administrative costs, but what financial and other specifications these should be, and their cost to the nation, is the question that needs to be considered. The potential impact is that individuals with good pedigree would be excluded from coming forward, and the country would pay a heavy price as a result. The Constitution allows for a minimum of age of 25 years, for instance, in the House of Representatives; where would an aspirant in that age bracket get the millions of naira required to purchase a form?   The claim that high fees serve to discourage frivolity ignores one of the basic principles of democratic participation, that of mass participation.  Aspirants are supposed to join the race in order to improve the quality of legislation, enthrone good governance thereby enhancing the quality of life of the people. In fact, the political terrain is now viewed as a financial investment platform with huge, life-changing returns. And to think that the exorbitant cost of forms is just for “expression of interest”! In this clime of the survival of the richest, the most successful may be the worst of the lot, and the best may just be a bystander who did not take part. The issue is more than a moral one; it questions the entire political structure of the country and the kind of leaderships it produces. In more discerning cultures, the wealthy devote their resources to ensuring the emergence of promising and intelligent political leaders.
 Drastic reduction in the cost of the forms would throw the contest open and provide the necessary environment by reducing the influence of godfathers, sponsors and other manipulators of the process. A deep pocket is given more weight in the current arrangement than character and good breeding and inherent leadership traits that will coalesce by experience. One of the fallouts of this unwholesome procedure is that in order to hide their source of wealth, many aspirants fly the charade that their supporters bought their forms for them by “proxy”. Such short cuts, individually insignificant they may seem, add up to leadership character traits that damage the nation and stunt its growth and development. A system in which aspirants are forced by circumstances to borrow money from the banks in order to seek political leadership does not sound right because it smacks of “cash and carry” politics that must be disdained and abandoned.