Democratic Institute Boss Calls For Youth Participation In Politics

By Adoba Echono

The Director-General National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Nigeria, Professor. Abubakar Suleiman has urged youths in West Africa to participate in political activities.

Speaking at the 3-day high-level parliamentary seminar with the theme, “The Challenges Of Unconstitutional Regime Change And Presidential Term Limits In West Africa – The Role Of ECOWAS Parliament” organised by the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States in Winneba, Ghana, Professor Suleiman said there is need to strengthen the role of political parties, as it has become difficult to identify and differentiate the opposition parties from the ruling party.

He said this was part of ways of proffering solutions to the unconstitutional regime change and survival of democracy in the West African sub-region and Africa at large,

Professor Suleiman declared support for the process of internal democracy in political parties which he said has become major issues and de-emphasized the influence of money bags hijacking political parties.

“Internal democracy has been an issue; most of the litigation arising from election has to do with pre-election matters. How you ensure internal democracy, how do you make sure that no single person or group of people weakens the political structure in a way that hijacks the entire political party.
“The opposition party in Africa or West Africa, have desecrated them on daily basis, they are nowhere to be found you cannot even identify the opposition party from the ruling party.

“The populace must be able to distinguish between competing political parties and not be left feeling that the Political Parties are all the same, which he said is the perception today in most African countries.
“Party reforms should be encouraged from time to time to create room for the inclusion, there must be reform from time to time of party structure, these I believe are the panacea toward ensuring that political parties play their roles in deepening and consolidating democracy in West Africa”.
He further called for a look into the challenges faced by the political parties and democracy in the region and the continent at large.
According to him if all the issues are not looked into, then it is an invitation for military takeover.
“Yes there are challenges that have threatened political parties and democracy in Africa. If all these challenges are not looked into, then while we believe we are having our ways as ruling party, we should know that we are not having our way because anytime the military structure responds, the electorate have to jubilate.
Speaking further, he said ‘that tells us something fundamental is wrong with the politicians, as the ruling party we have what it takes to do anything we like by the time the junta strikes then we are going to be the victim of the scourge of the military.
“We need to look at the challenges, once there is suspicion by the people of the political parties based on the behaviour of politicians, abuse of political process, how election is being rigged, how politicians hijack the whole process, lack of internal democracy, non performance of West African economies under democratic parties, increasing insecurity. All these are threats to party formations in Africa and all these are threats to democracy in Africa.

Professor. Abubakar Suleiman added that “The only panacea toward getting our democracy right is for our politicians to look into all these and see how we can really reform our political parties in a way that they are able to perform the role they are supposed to perform in line with the founders of political parties in a democracy”.
For Mr. Emmanuel Abdulai, a Human Rights Lawyer from Sierra Leone, he believes that it is necessary for collaborative efforts among various stakeholders to promote democratic consolidation.
According to Abdulai, West Africa has made progress with democracy but is faced with difficult challenges like corruption and electoral fraud.
He said Political parties as formal organisations seeking political powers through elections and governance participation, have various roles including representation of mobilisation, honesty crafting, providing voter choices as to what policies are on the table, governance participation and legislative criticism.
He said: “Parties serve as agents for the government by ensuring political stability, facilitating governance and promoting social cohesion among others.
“Political parties in West Africa face challenges such as weak institutions, limited internal democracy and insufficient resources.
Collaboration among political parties and civil societies and international actors is crucial. It is important to emphasize the purpose, strategies and recommendations are not one sided but fits all because the countries are different and can be applied for various countries as at when necessary.
Abdulai cautioned that to overcome the struggles, “Firstly political parties must ensure that there is transparency in disclosure within their political parties, there should be rules and regulations, campaign financing should be reformed and regulated both at national and intra-party level, electoral reforms should also take place at the country level which ensures that the processes are transparent and we must strengthen oversight mechanisms and ensure that public funding of political parties is introduced based on the strength of these political parties.
“It is important to learn from these institutions and it is very crucial for us to tighten the legal and regulatory framework that ensures transparency and accountability for free and fair elections, encourage political parties to engage in constructive dialogue consensus and negotiations, promoting engagement and collaboration with civil society organizations and fostering the culture of inclusive public participation and accountability in decision making.
“There are a number of challenges that undermine the performance of political parties and therefore the viability of democracy in the region. The challenges faced by political parties include adequate legal framework in the region, weak enforcement of the available legal documents and in provisions limited internal democracy within political parties. Funding challenges are the issues as well as matters concerning ethnic and regional issues, organisational and capacity challenges and weak grassroots engagements as part of the factors that are undermining the growth of political parties and democracy within the region”
Meanwhile, Benedict Sannoh, former Attorney General, Ministry of justice, Liberia, who spoke on “Ensuring the demilitarisation of political power and the subordination of the military to legal civilian rule”, said military coups will remain an option for the restless youths in the region and Africa unless the root causes of failure within the government is dealt with outside the traditional methods of handling them.

“The sub-region is changing not only in terms of population but also in the calibre of its citizenry, the bulk of the population is young and restless, many are traveling more extensively within and without the sub region, have seen the development in other countries, many of which have used their natural resources, they want change. Many of the young are restless, without jobs and skills, they are watching, therefore it’s imperative on the ECOWAS and all of us to see the moment and facilitate a change, otherwise change will be imposed the way they will consider as not democratic. Military intervention has so far, remained an attractive instrumentality for change.
“ECOWAS therefore must not delude itself to believing that sanctions and choice of intervention will reverse this trend amidst its being undemocratic. Military coups and military rule remains a viable option for the young and restless unless we deal with the underlying causes of the failures within our government by departing from traditional ways”.
No doubt political parties play a vital role in the survival of democracy in the region; it is a call for effective monitoring of good governance by the political parties in their jurisdictions.