Empty Manifestos: A Call for the Enactment of the Recallment Act

As part of the electioneering process, politicians are required to present manifestos – publicly written documents that entail policies, principles and objectives they  will follow – so as to give the electorate a reason to vote them in. This usually involves politicians making specific promises as to what they hope their achievements would be, when elected into office – taking into cognizance the pitfalls of the current state of affairs; that is, politicians look at the current problems facing the state – in whatever sector – and then promise to fix that problem, if elected to office. For example, in Nigeria, power supply is almost non-existent or at best epileptic; so it is common for presidential candidates to promise to stabilize power supply in their manifestos. The problem is that, in Nigeria, most of the manifestos politicians put out are viewed by the larger population with disdain and cynicism because the manifestos of Nigerian politicians only make specific promises, but never involve a time-bound plan on how their promises would be achieved. Almost 100% of the time none of the promises made by these politicians is ever fulfilled, but these men always leave office as fat cows, after feeding off the state’s treasury – a major reason for the general cynicism by the populace. One gubernatorial candidate said he would give all the teachers in his State his salary if they elect him as governor, another said he would create jobs in his State and he would endow an employment fund with some billions; how would this money be sourced? What are the operational logistics involved in achieving this? He did not say. A presidential candidate is promising one year paid employment and internships for young graduates after their NYSC; how would he do this? Where are the jobs going to come from? What new industries would be created to handle such a behemoth task?  He did not say. But he knows by promising this, he might just secure the votes of the almost 35 million young Nigerians – almost 20% of the population. The time has come I believe, to hold these politicians accountable for their failed promises. I call on the Nigerian people to request for the passage of a recallment act. What does this entail and how would it help to hold politicians accountable for their failed promises and state mismanagement? Before any politician is elected to office, he should be  required to produce a manifesto containing time-bound and specific objectives. For example “within the first 200 days of my tenure, I guarantee that there would be stable power supply; I guarantee that in the next 2 years, crime rate in the country would drop by 80%.” Now after stating these time-bound and specific objectives, there would be a negotiation between the candidate and representatives of the people – which would be chosen by certain criteria – on the stated objectives and the time stated for their completion. Every local government chairmanship, governorship, councillorship and presidency candidate would negotiate as to the terms of agreement regarding the specific and time-bound objectives in their manifestos. Then there would be a clause on the manifestos stating that if the agreements regarding the objectives in the manifestos are not fulfilled within the time agreed up on by the candidate and the people – which the political office aspirant and a representative of the people would sign – the candidate would be recalled from office, and his position would be made vacant. The Recallment Act would be a law that states the following: any politically elected official can be called back from office if he or she goes against the agreement made between him or her and the electorate that elected such an individual to power. It is understandable that the political elite would not want to sign into law a bill that could put their positions in jeopardy, so the people could make it clear to them that only the candidates who are willing to sponsor and support this bill at the national assembly would be voted in. Democracy is a system of government in which the people have a say in how they are ruled. In a democracy, the people are meant to be more powerful than the government; the government serves the people. Public office is a burden, because it entails an individual putting his/her own interests on hold to represent the interests of the greater community. It is time we make public office the burden it was meant to be, and not let any one carouse and revel in the perks of power.   About the Writer: Tam Kemabonta is a writer on a wide range of topics and also blog at www.tamalexblog.wordpress.com  

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This article was first published on 27th March 2015

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