INEC and voter disenfranchisement

INEC continues to insist that only those with PVC’s will be allowed to vote, but as the general election approaches millions of cards are yet to be issued. Anxiety among the disenfranchised has led to accusations of bias by opposition supporters and protests at INEC offices nationwide, by angry crowds demanding cards they registered for. […]

INEC continues to insist that only those with PVC’s will be allowed to vote, but as the general election approaches millions of cards are yet to be issued. Anxiety among the disenfranchised has led to accusations of bias by opposition supporters and protests at INEC offices nationwide, by angry crowds demanding cards they registered for. The tragedy is instead of accepting that their ineptitude is the cause of the impending election fiasco, INEC chooses to blame the disenfranchised. When INEC gave a time limit for collection of PVC’s it was assumed that they had the capacity, logistics and organization to complete the task, and convenience to the general public would be of paramount importance. They failed on all counts.
Each PVC requires a citizen to spend personal time and money to register and INEC should be under no illusion that having altered the voting requirements, it’s their responsibility to ensure all cards are issued.  INEC officials glibly agree that logistical problems with the newly introduced cards will cause so many citizens who exercised their voting rights in the last elections to be prevented from doing so this time round.  Their sanctimonious attitude is unfortunate to say the least. Enforcing such a short time frame then blaming the public for failure to comply is completely out of the question. As the electoral umpire does INEC really expect anyone who is declared a loser to accept defeat graciously when they will be able to point to hundreds, thousands, or millions of their supporters who were prevented from voting? Does INEC not know that disenfranchising voters, through no fault of theirs, provides ample grounds for litigation as to the fairness of elections? Does INEC believe that without a massive security presence they can conduct an election in which so many will be barred from voting? Does INEC expect security agencies to impose a curfew in which anyone on the streets without a voters’ card will be arrested? The troubling aspect of the matter is that the only reason voters are being asked to re-register is because last time round Billions were squandered on costly and inappropriate “data-capture” machines which were ineffective! Without any reference to that monumental waste, this time round citizens have been asked to register “biometrically” for “permanent cards”.
Surprisingly there was no evidence of biometrics when cards were been issued. Voters were simply asked to provide an ID card to visually compare their photograph with a printed master list!  As if this poor showing wasn’t enough INEC claims quite absurdly that a “technical challenge of loss of data” resulted in over a million names missing from the electoral register in Lagos State!  It’s increasingly difficult to digest the sort of lame excuses they come up with. Database administration is a routine computer task undertaken by stock exchanges, finance houses, banks, supermarkets, and even social clubs. It beggars belief that with only three months to the elections INEC has just discovered the “data loss” catastrophe, and is making frantic attempts to rectify the situation. Incredulously with all the billions at their disposal they just can’t get it right. Truth be told, they have never managed to conduct elections devoid of logistical problems and internal organizational malfeasance. While the Court of Appeal has overturned many of their fictitious results in Governorship, Senatorial, House of Representatives, and State House of Assembly elections, the Supreme Court has always overlooked their serial shoddiness to declare – although never unanimously – that Presidential elections “substantially complied” with the law.  Admittedly the INEC Chairman is in a tight spot, but the buck has to stop somewhere. It’s been argued severally that the personnel specification for the job is incorrect. As long as the Chairman of INEC is not an expert in operations research, physical distribution management and database administration, those down in the hierarchy who understand these matters well will continue to milk the system for billions each election and make INEC look amateurish and incompetent. Although it’s difficult to believe INEC officials are guilty of intentional complicity as claimed by opposition parties, their intentions are irrelevant. What is relevant is the end result that the bulk of disenfranchised voters are in areas where the opposition has most support.
 It’s no secret that the ruling party has little regard for the niceties of constitutionality and democracy as demonstrated by their own internal problems. Under our Constitution, membership of a political party and casting a vote are the only methods of participating in democracy. Internal democracy and freedom of choice within the political parties has mostly been compromised, and the ability to contest monetized. Consequently the ability of ordinary citizens to participate in democracy rests with their vote which should never be compromised by either fraudulent elections or disenfranchisement. If as INEC claims they have no hidden agenda, then they must seriously re-consider their strategies and act expeditiously to reverse themselves and forestall the impending problems they have created. Whatever needs to be done they must ensure that all Nigerians eligible to vote are given the opportunity to do so in the approaching elections.a