LC voting deadline is an insult to empowerment of communities

Okodan Akwap

What you need to know:

  • Decision-making. In the interest of participatory democracy, the EC should reverse this decision and allow the polls to remain open from tupuruc (morning) to ebong (evening) to allow as many local residents as possible to vote for the leaders closest to them. Voting should be seen as an important activity involving people from all levels of responsibility in decision-making.

On July 10, I will be racing my scooter from Kumi University, where I work, to Odiding village in Kumi Sub-county, some six kilometres away, where I will participate in local council 1 (LC1) elections. I have to plan carefully for that day. I will leave nothing to chance. The scooter will be fuelled up. And I have to leave the university not later than 10am.

This will give me an hour to be at the polling station by 11am. If I get there later than that, I will not participate in the voting activity. This is because, according to Daily Monitor of June 20, the forthcoming LC1 voting is scheduled to last just 30 minutes. Not a minute longer!
Justice Simon Byabakama, the Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson, was quoted as saying: “It will be 30 minutes for lining up and counting. If you come at midday, you will have just come to witness what is taking place.”

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that many of the grass roots people are going to be mere witnesses to a mass participation activity they last participated in some 17 years ago. I know this because I live among these people. I interact with them on a daily basis.
When I make appointments with them I hardly say, “See you tomorrow at 11am.” I say, “See you moi tupuruc (tomorrow morning) or moi paaran (tomorrow afternoon) or moi ebong (tomorrow evening).

Many of my people have absolutely no concept of time as the elite know it. They tell time by the first and second cock crows. That is around the time to wake up and go to the gardens. They tell time by the way they are too tired to continue toiling in the gardens. That is time to rest. They tell time by the grumbling emptiness of their tummies. That is time to eat.

So, this unnecessary rigidity by the EC is simply going to deny many of these people a chance to exercise their constitutional right to vote. They are not going to be part of a basic instance of community participation in decision-making processes – voting. In other words, the 30-minute window opened by the EC is going to be a practical insult to the whole concept of empowerment.

Empowered communities are those that meaningfully participate in decision-making processes. The United Nations defines participation as “the creation of opportunities to enable all members of a community to actively contribute to and influence the development process and to share equitably in the fruits of development.”

One scholar defines community participation as “a process focused on social progress and an all-inclusive society with a diversity of objectives because community development begins in the everyday lives of local people in the context of sustainable change.” As such, it is important to note that participation is founded on a process of empowerment, which involves the kind of education that encourages people to question their reality. This is the basis of collective action. This is a process built on principles of participatory democracy.

Whoever took this decision to restrict a very important activity such as elections for grassroots leaders ignored several critical factors. First, many grass roots people are illiterate. Many are too poor to have clocks, watches, mobile phones or some other device that can help them pinpoint time. Secondly, July will still be in the middle of harvest time; many people will be out in the fields trying to bring the harvest home. And thirdly, unlike me with my scooter, many will be walking some good distance to the polling stations.

In the interest of participatory democracy, the EC should reverse this decision and allow the polls to remain open from tupuruc (morning) to ebong (evening) to allow as many local residents as possible to vote for the leaders closest to them. Voting should be seen as an important activity involving people from all levels of responsibility in decision-making.

Only by involving everyone more directly in decisions that affect their lives can we appreciate participation as a way of strengthening the legitimacy and accountability of democratic institutions in our country.
Indeed, involving people in local decision-making processes and bringing them together around common causes or interests should be the focus of the EC voter education strategy to empower communities and help build social cohesion. Not issuing ridiculous 30-minute deadlines.

Dr Akwap is the acting deputy vice-chancellor for academic affairs at Kumi University.