Jonathan emerges Chairman of International Summit Council for Peace

Former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan has urged African Union
(AU) to set minimum acceptable standards for appointing the
leadership of electoral commissions as a means of building citizen
confidence and ensuring credibility of elections on the
continent.

The former President stated this on Friday at the International
Leadership Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he
emerged as the chairperson of the newly inaugurated International
Summit Council for Peace (ISCP), a body made up of mainly African
former Presidents and ex-Heads of State.

The two-day conference tagged ‘Africa Summit and Leaders
Conference 2019’ has in attendance government officials, former
African Heads of State, clergy and traditional rulers from across
Africa. South African President was represented by Mr. Gwade
Mantashe, national chairperson of the African National Congress
(ANC) and minister of mines and energy.

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In a keynote speech titled ‘The Need for Good Governance and
Peaceful Electioneering Process in Africa’ former President
Jonathan noted that the credibility and legitimacy of electoral
processes are hugely dependent on the competence, impartiality and
independence of electoral management bodies (EMBs).

He also stressed that many African nations face election-related
crises in cases where the citizens have no confidence in the
electoral process, especially when they suspect that the election
umpires do the bidding of the partisan appointing authorities.

The former President said: “It is interesting that almost all
the EMBs in Africa are identified with the prefix ‘Independent’,
but the jury is still out on whether these agencies are truly
independent as their names imply.”

As a means of deepening democracy on the continent Jonathan
therefore urged the African Union to establish minimum standards
and benchmarks for constituting electoral management bodies and
encourage member-nations to ratify such declaration.

He said: “The AU should, through its Political Affairs
Department, set up a team of electoral experts to study different
models and recommend the system they consider best for the
continent.

“Such benchmark should also take cognizance of the need to
review the election of judicial processes to ensure that, where
election tribunals are set up to specifically handle election
cases, one judicial officer do not handle the role of appointing
all members of the tribunals.

“Since neutrality of the security services is absolutely
necessary in ensuring free and fair elections, it is also important
that the Africa Union should establish a code of conduct guiding
security officials in charge of elections. All these
recommendations should be accommodated in AU’s procedures for
elections that should serve as guidelines for election
observers.”

Jonathan praised South Africans for the peaceful conduct of last
May’s national and provincial elections, adding that the
credibility of the process stemmed from the fact that all the
stakeholders in the elections had confidence in the electoral
commission and the security systems.

He said further: “Once you get to that point where all role
players in elections can express confidence in the umpire and the
security systems, you would have solved more than 70% of your
electoral challenges. Sadly, not many African countries have got to
this point. The point where they can beat their chest and boast of
political freedom, inclusiveness, independence of the electoral
management body and credibility of the political process.”

As the Chairman of International Summit Council for Peace the
former President is expected to lead the charge for the
association’s crusade for peace and good governance on the
continent.

Speaking further Jonathan argued that “Africa’s leadership
problem has more to do with weak institutions than the case of
leaders serving in office for long periods of time. When the
democratic institutions are strong they will develop firewalls that
will resist attempts to alter the constitution and manipulate
electoral processes for selfish reasons.”

According to the President: “Democracy is not about holding
periodic elections but conducting credible, transparent, free and
fair polls. African elections must meet minimum acceptable
standards for democracy to be beneficial to the people of the
continent.

“African nations must improve their electoral processes by
establishing systems that will support and deliver credible
elections. That is the impetus the continent needs to achieve
lasting peace that will catalyse growth and sustainable
development.”

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