Cleric Gives Recipe For Credible Elections

Worried by the need to enthrone true democracy in the governance of the nation through globally acceptable conduct of  electoral process, Rev. Fr. Maduakolam Osuagwu has challenged Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to play the role of  advocates, demanding INEC, politicians in government and political parties, including law enforcement agencies and the  judiciary, for true re-assurances and guarantees of un-biased and prejudiced electoral umpires as a strategic measure to  guide against future electoral fraud and malpractices.
Rev. Fr. Osuagwu who is the co-ordinator of Provincial Justice Development and Peace Committee (JDPC) Department of  Church and Society of the Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Owerri gave the challenge in Owerri, Imo State capital in a  paper he presented titled, “Conducting Future Elections: The role of the Civil Society” during a one day Group National Voter  Education Workshop for civil society organized by the Voter Education Department, The Electoral Institute, INEC so as to  sensitized voters on activities of the commission on the way forward for future elections.
The Catholic Cleric advised members of the civil society organizations on the need for them to stop appointing  themselves as INEC chieftains who only become robots of electoral malpractices in the  hands of the co-called political godfathers ..
To effectively make INEC truly and fully independent in all the necessary areas of funds, programmes, time-table etc so  as to be honest, upright, fair, credible, transparent and timely in the conduct of elections and settling of election  disputes.
To design, adopt and provide on time, allocation of funds and materials, feasible programmes, agenda, time-table,  electoral system and to outlaw the use of law enforcement agents and party members as law enforcement officers, who end up  being employed to intimidate, harass, threaten and cause confusion and violence during elections.
Other suggestions he gave include; to facilitate the accreditation, preparation and equipment of CSOs and political  parties on time.
He also advocated for the need to produce and publish timely and sufficiently, official electoral and voter education  documents as well as the need to relinquish activities, such as voter education to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and  other relevant groups who are better placed to run them than INEC or the political parties.