Just a few weeks before the Supreme Court rendered its opinion, Dr. Amos Sawyer, Chairman of the Governance Commission Former Interim President suggested that the contentious Code of Conduct be put aside.
As Interim President, Sawyer submitted a Code of Conduct in the early 1990s to the transitional assembly and fought tooth and nail but it was never passed.
The faultiness in this Code of Conduct go against common sense. Elements of this Code of Conduct will be used sparingly, according to narrow interests. It’s the law but will it be implemented?
Another law to consider, is the one that sets the length of the campaign period. People have been campaigning openly every day in the media, conducting campaign events, crisscrossing the country for almost two years.
However, the National Elections Commission continues to warn political parties of stick sanctions for early campaign. The only thing missing are banners and radio spots.
May be this law that squeezes the campaign in a very short period was good in the “old days.” Back then, campaigning was limited to a very few accessible places. Once the “party” picked its candidates, elections were virtually over.
A longer campaign season, one that starts earlier, in the “dry” season would allow candidates to go around the country, when the roads are practicable and there is no conflict with the farming season. From July to October, some parts of the country are almost unreachable.
A longer campaign might be good for the economy. It may also be a way of getting rid of the “brief case” political parties whose only aim is to assemble enough votes they could “negotiate” during the second round in exchange for a job.
The limitation in time is truly meaningless because everyone has been campaigning, minus posters and jingles.
Voter registration timeline laws are another issue that needs consideration. People should be allowed to register to vote anytime and anywhere in the country once they reach the age of 18. This will remove the pressure and all dramas of the Voter Registration (VR) as currently practiced.
Many Liberians abroad want to take part in elections in their country but are barred from doing so with no explanation from anyone. In our 2003, Cllr Varney Sherman, Senator from Cape Mount, said there was no legal reason for Liberians in the Diaspora not to vote, as almost every country in the world allow their citizens to do. He said the Embassy or the Consulate could serve as voting centers.
In 2008, Mr. James Fromayan, then chair of the National Elections Commission, said that the issue was simply logistics. However, he admitted that NEC had done no studies to find out how much it would cost.
Dual citizenship, is the “don’t ask don’t tell” of Liberian politics. Per a law passed under and by the William R Tolbert Administration, those who take up a new citizenship automatically lose their Liberian nationality. Do citizenship and nationality mean the same thing?
No one predicted a war that would send into exile almost the entire educated Liberian middle class. Many adopted new citizenships. Hundreds have returned or plan to do so and are at the center of Liberian politics. American-Liberians work at every level in government.
A member of the Senate Committee on the Executive which confirms Presidential appointees put it this way: “We ask about the candidate’s background, we ask about their capacity to carry out the job and then we ask about their strategy if confirmed.
We don’t really have a nationality or citizenship question, unless it becomes an issue, outside of our chambers, then we raise it.” Many Liberians “holding foreign passports” have been elected or confirmed into high level government jobs, even when their citizenship status was clearly known.
Finally, there is an outcry about “trucking,” where political aspirants provide transportation to people who want to go register and vote in their hometown. Everyone is bent on making it sound illegal.
But what is wrong with someone wanting to go vote in their village or town and another person willing to provide the means to do so? Liberia has considerably evolved since the days of one-party state; however the laws and political mentality survived.
Many of the electoral laws seemed to have been designed to disenfranchise or exclude people. These are issues of common sense and they need no constitutional amendment to be changed. The NEC could decide on many of them.
Abdoulaye W Dukulé , Contributing Writer
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