National Confab: Experience from other lands

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Latest Politics Monday, October 21st, 2013

MORE issues are being thrown up over the proposed national conference by administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. KUNLE ODEREMI and DARE ADEKANMBI write on a number of them.

AT the formative stage of its existence, The Patriots, comprising a number of eminent senior citizens proposed a bill for an Act of Parliament to facilitate the convening of a national conference. It explained that the conference would afford Nigerians to prepare a constitution for consideration and adoption by the peoples of Nigeria at a referendum.

The group was then under the leadership of late legal luminary, Chief FRA Williams, who had personally described the present constitution as a lie because of the usurpation of the sovereignty of the people by the crafters of the document (the military). In the bill, the eminent citizens painstakingly cleared the air on issues the antagonists of the conference often labeled as grey areas. These included how the conference should be convened, the mode of representation, individual role and relationship with the existing institutions such as the Executive and Legislative arms of government as well as, approving authority for the final draft Constitution.

Convinced that the 1999 was an aberration as it was decreed by the military, The Patriots said for the purpose of the Act, there should be six zones: North-Central, North-East, North-West, South-East, South-South and South-West with headquarters at Jos, Maiduguri, Kaduna, Enugu, Port-Harcourt and Ibadan, respectively. It proposes also that any public officer at state or national level should not be considered as a delegate, just as it stresses that the “selection of delegates should ensure that as far as practicable, ethnic groups or nationalities indigenous to the zone and shades of political opinion in the area for which it is established are fairly represented…”

Section 7 of the bill provides that the national conference shall “have full powers to deliberate upon a constitution as well as other matters relating to the unity and good governance of the country.” It adds that a total of “420 members be selected across the six zone.” In an unambiguous term, the Bill provides that the issue of referendum should not be compromised because of the fundamental basis for convoking the conference. Thus in Section 16 [1], the bill states, “A referendum shall be held on the question whether the Draft Constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria approved and passed by the National Conference is acceptable to the people of Nigeria.”

The exercise, according to The Patriot, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall be responsible for organising and conducting the referendum and for giving the widest possible publicity to the method for YES or No.”

Many other prominent citizens, including a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anayaoku, have also underscored the importance of a referendum in their clamour for a national conference for the restructuring of the country.

“To return to true federalism, we need a major restructuring of our current architecture of governance,” adding, “We should aim at getting the national conference to reach a consensus on devolving from the centre to the six federating units responsibility for such areas of governance as internal security, including the police, infrastructure, education, health and economic development.” He agrees with those who have consistently canvassed that the people should have the final say on the final draft constitution. “In order to give it legitimacy and better chance of enduring, the outcome of the national conference must be submitted to a referendum of the population of the country,” Anyaoku emphasised.

The issue of legitimacy is critical to Dr Tunji Abayomi , the founder of the Human Rights Africa (HRA) and the Nigerian Movement (NM), who is among the contemporaries authorities on constitutional matters. He was involved in the national conference held in the 1992 in neighbouring Togo. According to him, “A constitution is usually made by the people and given to the government and not by the government and given to the people. In a valid constitution, government is merely an expression of the will of the people as well as their uniform interest and wish. The will of the people is originally expressed in the constitution.” He concurred with Williams, who saw the 1999 as a “big fraud” committed by the military against the Nigerian people. Dr Abayomi stated, “The foundation of this country is not clear.

There is no agreement by the ethnic groups about Nigeria. Until there is an agreement on the basis for co-existence, there will be no nation. It will be worse for our children in the future. The military gave the power to make law to itself under its decrees. But, it lacked the power to make a constitution for Nigeria.” His verdict is that “A constitution must begin with the people in its organic form. In other words to be legitimate, it must be freely initiated, formed, written, published or enacted directly or indirectly by the free will of the people not the will of any group of citizens, civilian or military regardless of how highly placed.”

Francophone African countries
According to constitutionmakingforpeace.org, the best-known national conferences are those that were held in French-speaking Africa, the first being in Benin in February 1990. The subsequent ones were in Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, Togo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Chad from 1990 to 1993. Apart from the influence of France, there was also the reported factor of political reform processes gaining ground in other parts of Africa from the late 1980s in countries like Ethiopia, Namibia, Somalia, and South Africa.

Opposition groups in the French- speaking African countries began to establish national conferences in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mauritania. In all but five of the former French Africa were reportedly submitted to and adopted by the people at a referendum: Benin Republic on December 2, 1990; Burkina Fasso (March 1991); Mauritania (July 12, 1991); Niger (May 12, 1996); Madagascar (extensive revision of its constitution, March 11, 1998); Guinea (December 23, 1990), and Morocco (September 11, 1996). Others include; Comoros (October 20, 1996); Djibouti (September 4, 1992); Congo (Brazzaville , March, 15, 1992); Central African Republic December 28, 1994; Mali (January 12, 1992); Chad march 31, 1996; Togo (September 27, 1992), and Gabon (July 21, 1995). All of them are said to operate a people’s constitution.

There are others like Spanish colonies like Equitoril Guinea (November 16, 1996), Sao Tome and precipice in August 1990
In most cases, the delegates comprised representatives selected by interest groups such as civil associations as in the case of the national conference held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1991 to 1992, which had more than 3,000 participants.

However, the first national conference was pioneered on the continent by the formerly Portuguese São Tomé and Principe, where a December 1989 Conference of about 600 mainly ruling party members had a limited constitution-making role. It made recommendations for political reform to the ruling political party. A result of the experience of French-speaking Africa in the early 1990s, countries from other historical and cultural backgrounds also established bodies with some characteristics of national conferences, with Sierra Leone (1991) and Russia (1993) as typical examples.

English-speaking African countries
There are 17 of them on the continent. According to a constitution expert, Professor Ben Nwabueze, the countries have the tradition of not deriving their constitution from the people. Each of them came into existence as an independent state with constitutions or constitutional amendments adopted before 1990. Nine of the 17 have since break the tradition since 1990 with constitutions adopted by the people in a referendum. These include Gambia, Ghana, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan or through a Constituency Assembly specially selected for the purpose. They are Namibia, South Africa and Uganda. That of South Africa was adopted a referendum by 1,360,223 votes in favour and 691,557 votes against.

The first constitution in Seychelles was rejected, having fallen short of required support from the people. Therefore, only Nigeria, Lesotho and Zambia are seen by experts as having retained the colonial heritage of not recognising the people as the authority to adopt a constitution either directly in a referendum or through a constituent assembly specifically elected and mandated in that behalf. Nigeria’s case is pathetic as it is still being governed with a constitution fashioned and imposed by the military.

Nigeria
No doubt, the proclamation by President Goodluck Jonathan to convene a national conference has raised the bar on the debate for the proposed conference. The issue is no longer if there were be restrictions at least for now. The debate is over the form and outcome of the conference, which many groups have stepped up efforts to present memoranda to the Presidential Committee on National Dialogue, which has Senator Femi Okurounmu as chairman. How similar conferences conducted in other nations? How was the outcome handled? Perhaps, the experience of a few African countries will suffice.

Togo
Political expediency compelled the francophone country to initiate a conference in October 1990. The reform was sequel to public protests against the 37-year regime of General Gnassingbé Eyadéma. The resurgence of public anger against dictatorship and clamour for democracy was championed by young Togolese, culminating in the regime setting up a Constitutional Commission on October 27, 1990. Its mandate was to prepare for a multi-party system, but the resistance remained unabated despite the repressive approaches deployed by the authorities, including detention of protesters.

The government eventually accepted the principle of a general amnesty, multi-party system political parties and the holding of a National Conference. The political parties were founded and joined together to create the Democratic Opposition Front later renamed the Collective Democratic Opposition (COD). Some its demands included the convening of a National Conference and the principle of the organisation of the conference was accepted in the agreements of June 12, 1991 between the authorities and the COD. So, the conference took place from July 1 to August 28, 1991 under the chairmanship of Monsignor Kpodzro. It was held under a tensed atmosphere, but notwithstanding intimidation of delegates by the military, the conference declared itself sovereign and withdrew power and elected a High Council of the Togolese Republic, an interim authority under the presidency of Monsieur Kpodzro and the interim Prime Minister Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, who latter formed a government in September 1991. The interim period was supposed to last one year, but was extended until the general elections of August 1993.

The new Togolese Constitution inaugurated on October 14, 1992, instituted a semi-presidential regime with a two-headed executive. The President is elected for a term of five years that may be renewed just once. He may dissolve the National assembly “after consultation with the Prime Minister and the president of the National Assembly.

The Prime Minister is the chief of government. He is appointed by the President “from the parliamentary majority” and he is answerable to the National Assembly, which can overturn him by a vote of no confidence when he has engaged the responsibility of the government. The Prime Minister has real powers that can lead to conflicts as to who is competent in certain matters in periods of cohabitation.

The parliament has a single chamber and, along with government, has the initiative to propose laws. The 81 members of the National Assembly are elected by secret, direct universal suffrage for a term of five years in a first-past-the post system. They may be re-elected. The National Assembly may pass a no-confidence vote against the government, which is then required to resign. In order to be valid for debate, this motion must be signed by at least one-third of the members of the Assembly and must contain the name of a proposed successor for the Prime Minister. It must be approved by at least two-thirds of the members.

There are six regions (Maritime, Plateaux, Centrale, Kara, Savanes and the Commune of Lomé) following the constitutional reforms. One of the significant achievements of the conference was the enthronement of a multiparty arrangement. It came to effect by the law on April 12, 1991 and today, there are no fewer than 70 parties in Togo, though most of them are said to exist only on paper.

Benin Republic
Benin hitherto known as the Republic of Dahomey until 1975, was characterised by putsch from 1960 to 1972. When he came to power, Mathieu Kérékou, then a Major, enthroned a Marxist-Leninist credo. His Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin (PRPB) remained in complete power until the beginning of the 1990s, when he was encouraged by France and other democratic powers to convene a national conference that introduced a new democratic constitution and held presidential and legislative elections. Kérékou’s principal opponent at the presidential polls, and the ultimate victor, was Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo, whose supporters of Soglo were able to secure a majority in the National Assembly.

Benin is arguably considered as the first African country to successfully effect the transition from military to a pluralistic political system. In the second round of National Assembly elections held in March 1995, Soglo’s Parti de la Renaissance du Benin, was the largest single party but lacked an overall majority. The success of a party formed by supporters of ex-president Kérékou, who had officially retired from active politics, encouraged him to stand successfully at both the 1996 and 2001 presidential elections.

Buoyed by the events surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was said to be a major donor, Benin quickly gravitated from a Marxist ideology by embracing a new constitution in 1990. It opened up both the political space and economy by encouraging accountability, transparency, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, separation of powers, right to strike, universal suffrage (at age 18) and independence of the judiciary. The constitution has been translated into eight of the national languages of Benin.

Burundi
Although Burundi is a country of two main ethnic groups comprising Hutu and Tutsi people, it has gone through a series of political convulsions that have threatened its togetherness. Many of these upheavals broke out since the middle of 1990’s leading to a genocidal war between the two ethnic groups.

After the end of the 16-year fratricidal war which ended Tutsi monopoly of the country’s political space in 2009, the country is still organising national dialogue to strengthen its unity and foster harmonious working relationship within the component parts.

One international organisation that has helped Burundi foster a sustainable dialogue is the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA), which has been working closely with the National Assembly of Burundi since the end of the war. According to the United Nations Office in Burundi, a national conference is scheduled to hold between October 28 and30, this year in Bujumbura. The dialogue is expected focus on preparations for the country’s 2015 general elections, rule of law, governance, regional integration, security, natural resources and others. Next week’s national conference in the country is a follow up to the one held in 2012.

Yemen
After a debilitating civil war that led leading to humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the country has agreed to engage in talks where all component parts will ventilate their opinions and peace negotiated. Already, a National Dialogue Conference (NDC) committee has been constituted to midwife the process to restore peace to the Arab country located in Western Asia.

Part of the terms of reference of the committee is to draw up a new constitution ahead of the presidential election scheduled to hold early in 2014 and this is the most pressing decision being anxiously awaited by the country’s 13.1 million population. Humanitarian News Analysis, an online news medium coordinated by the Office of the United Nations in Yemen, quoted the people of the country as not only looking towards the NDC “manage political transition, but fundamentally improve their lives in a country with deep humanitarian needs.”

A member of the committee, Al-HothefyFuad, who was nominated to sit on the committee as a member of the Youth Revolution Council that took part in the famous Arab Spring against the then president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011, was quoted to have said, “Our objective was to create a new country. Before 2011, wherever you meet anyone in the world they mention Yemen with poverty, terrorism, corruption – all bad things.”

-Punch

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Posted by admin on Oct 21 2013. Filed under Africa & World Politics, Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry