The UK: You haven't arrived just because you now vote Tory

It’s a Parliament not a Presidency

Sometimes, we in The UK want to pretend we have a presidency when in fact we have a parliamentary democracy.

You cannot vote for a party leader except if you are a paid-up member of that party, then, a party leader that can only take office by being a member of parliament.

The Green Party, for instance, has two party leaders but only one is in parliament.

I hear people say they can't vote for Jeremy Corbyn and many of us can't because we are not members of the Labour Party and we are not constituents of Islington North.

Yes, he heads the Labour Party, but if his constituents vote him out of parliament, he is head in name only, he cannot become the Prime Minister because he needs to command the confidence of the parliament.

I am voting for my MP

There was an aberration at the advent of WWII, Winston Churchill was not the leader of the Conservative Party, but with war looming ahead, he commanded cross-party support to form a coalition and leadership was ceded to him.

My constituency MP, Lucy Powell, belongs to the Labour Party, she does a good job, I see no reason to kick her out. I believe Jeremy Corbyn also does a good job for his constituents, that’s why they have kept him as their MP since 1983. Now, there are many things I do not agree with concerning Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership that has necessitated my voting for other parties in the local and European elections.

Yes, he is a pacifist to a fault, he has made friends with a broader spectrum of people I would find utterly reprehensible, yet, I return to Winston Churchill when he said, “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.” I do not eulogise Winston Churchill nor do I excuse Jeremy Corbyn, Churchill did what he had to do when he saw the danger of Nazism, it meant war, but once the war ended, he was one of the greatest advocates for peace in Europe, despite his many other failings.

Tough when it is demanded

Gosh! There was a time Jerry Adams and Martin McGuinness could not be heard on our airwaves because of their links to the IRA, then with much talk, we got the Good Friday Agreement, with that even Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness became best pals in the Northern Ireland government.

I believe Jeremy Corbyn would do what is necessary to keep the UK safe if it means war, but he definitely will not be banging the drums of wars at the first sound of a bang. We probably need more level heads in a world of Putin, Trump and Kim Jung-un.

The issue of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party probably should have been dealt with better, but I do not believe Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite, more has been done and wrought by the schism of Brexit to endanger all minorities in this country, be you European, Muslim, Black, Gay, or even dare I say reasonable. The demonisation of Jeremy Corbyn has been complete whilst the lies of Boris Johnson goes unchecked.

No shame in Boris

This is a person who lied to the Queen to prorogue parliament, who when it came to it did not die in the ditch when Brexit did not happen on the 31^st of October, yet, he gets away with more and more offence and lies without scrutiny or sanction. This inveterate buffoon has nothing to offer this country, but we live in the times when you win regardless of whether you play fair or not.

Tory grandees, former Prime Ministers have risen to say one clear fact, there is no upside to Brexit, it is quite likely if a referendum were held in 1939, people could have been persuaded to go for appeasement and avoid the suffering of war because we have no skin in Europe. It was great leadership that gave us the courage to face war and defeat fascism.

There are no sunlit uplands after Brexit, we are not positioned to achieve anything greater as a minor outpost to the largest trading bloc in the world. We are not transitioning from the British Empire to a Commonwealth of Nations, there are no new lands of opportunity to be conquered. This is where we need leadership and conviction, indeed the people voted for Brexit, it is for their leaders to state the clear facts that it was a bad choice for innumerable reasons. That is what leadership is about.

The Tories are the problem

Boris Johnson took a two-faced approach to Brexit, he wrote two articles, one for and one against as if he was in some Oxford Union debating society, then chose to go for Brexit, just for his own advantage. We have been on this since June 2016, we are on our third Prime Minister and all this came about because of the Conservative Party, the party that gave us austerity and has been in power for 9 years pretending they now have new ideas for our future.

There is no social climbing nous earned from being able to say you now vote for the Tory Party when in reality it is not in your interest or the national interest. These are carpetbaggers and snake-oil salesmen. I would rather put my lot with Jeremy Corbyn than Boris Johnson, but as I said before, I can only vote for my own representative in my own constituency, that is Lucy Powell.

Obviously, I would have preferred a better choice to Corbyn or Johnson, say, Rory Stewart or Yvette Cooper, but we don’t have that luxury. I know Jeremy Corbyn has never been anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, lack in empathy or full of lies, that cannot be said of the apparently well-liked Boris Johnson, he published his views and even under duress been unable to honestly apologise for them.

Beware what you believe

I return to a post I made on Facebook yesterday when a presumed ex-Labour activist appeared to have some friends in thrall helping their confirmation bias. “Like honestly, we can believe whatever we choose to believe, even mine the Internet to find everything to confirm our biases, because there is enough to even convince anyone that if they jump out of the window at the top of a skyscraper, they'll float down and land like a feather.

However, there comes a time where in the cold light of day you have to ask, am I being taken for a ride as I nod like the Churchill dog to everything I am hearing?

Maybe it is time to step away from all this and just consider what is best for you and your community.

No one is going to be persuaded much differently after the stuff this electoral season has produced.”

It is your vote, use it right!

The UK: One Vote! #GE2017

One vote

One vote; that is all it is, that one vote that you can only cast for yourself as one person, an individual, independent, inspired or instigated.

You cannot cast a vote on behalf of your household, when you enter the voting booth, you alone, persuaded by truth or lies, passion or indifference, concern or apathy, duty or routine to exercise a right that much blood has been shed for over centuries. That amazing right of self-determination.

Yet, you also can decide not to exercise that right to vote, leave it to others to decide your fate or fortune, where you have sight you can choose to be blind, where you have hearing you can choose to be deaf, where you have a voice you can choose to be silent.

It is just one vote, but each one vote taken together constitutes a majority for the person who wins against the other who might have won if others who chose not to vote did decide to vote.

A vote that changes things

It is one vote, the doorway to policy that can shape and alter the future for a country, for a people, for a lifetime and more pertinently for each and every citizen, the ones who voted, the ones who didn’t vote, the ones who cannot vote and the yet unborn who will access this world in the circumstances created by that vote.

We can choose to vote as informed people, checking out what is promised against what is possible, reviewing the record of incumbency and projecting that over the possibility that they might or might not have new ideas or we can choose to vote persuaded of soundbite and rhetoric, platitudes and talking points, mantras and slogans, empty boasts that tingle the ears but mean nothing in reality. We have the choice of ignorance and if we boldly embrace it, our folly lays before us.

A moral duty to vote

To vote is not only a civic duty, it is a moral duty, yet there has been no general election voter turnout above 80% since the elections of 1950 and 1951, on average since then, over 30% of possible voters have decided not to exercise the right to vote. [UKPoliticalInfo]

This cohort of ‘can vote – won’t vote’ people can make the difference in the kind of government we elect, clipping the wings of the tyrannical using the dividends of democracy to pursue an agenda that only serves the interest of the few. We are all affected when we vote and we are all affected when some of us do not vote.

Do everything in your power to vote

In the 2015 General Election, I was about to travel to South Africa when the election was called, I was fortunate enough to have ample time to plan to vote that I was able to avail myself of the opportunity of a postal vote, which I did.

I would have like to have a more streamlined process of applying for a postal vote, but the system appears to be a voter suppression scheme that does not lend itself easily to that option, this time around. Working out of Edinburgh I could have let my opportunity to vote pass, it is just one vote, but my one vote is valuable, it is my sight, my hearing, my voice and my full participation in our democracy – the government of the people, by the people, for the people.

My plan to vote

I will not let some people decide for me what I can also get involved in and decide for myself too. It comes at a cost of time, resources and strength, and if you believe in participatory democracy, you will support this view.

I am taking a train to Manchester tonight to arrive home just before midnight, I will be up first thing on Thursday, thankful for the people manning the polling stations from 7:00 AM to vote and then I will be catching a flight to Edinburgh to arrive at work just around 10:00 AM.

That is the plan and I am looking forward to being fully part of this democratic privilege.

It is one vote, one vote from me, one vote from you, all votes taken together become the key to our future, if we choose wisely, we would have a bright future ahead, if we don’t, the prospects are bleak and the pains we suffer today would just be the beginning of a future of more pain and agony. Have you seen nurses at food banks and the homeless on our streets? Those are results of failed policy.

If we are to have a United Kingdom that works for everyone, then it is our duty to go out and cast that vote. On Thursday the 8^th of June 2017, the polling stations are open from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM, change the future by voting tomorrow.

Bisi Alimi: Please Vote for 2013 People's Choice Winner: Asylum - Bisi

The emotion is palpable

I am literally moved to tears with great emotion anytime I watch this short film, the episode of New Dawn with Funmi in 2004 on Nigerian television where a young man Bisi Alimi came out as a gay man during a daytime live broadcast.

The event changed the lives of these people, Funmi Iyanda’s show was taken off-air the next day and Bisi Alimi came within inches of being murdered in Nigeria.

Things ought not to be so, but that is the kind of society that led Bisi Alimi to flee Nigeria and gain asylum for himself in the United Kingdom.

A man of great conviction

Since then, Bisi Alimi has been a vocal and efficacious activist for the rights of gay black men, their access to services and treatments and finding a platform from which gay black men can be proud to be who they are and live without fear or threat to their lives, contributing to society as any good citizen.

Bisi Alimi is in great demand to speak around the world not only on his experiences but on policy, advocacy, human rights and other socio-economic factors that affect gay men of colour all around the world.

He has met representatives and heads of government in Europe, Africa and the Americas challenging people to think different, get involved and speak up for rights, fairness and justice – he is an amazing, jovial, friendly and wonderful human-being – you cannot but be touched by his force of personality which is for good and for right.

Please Vote

This story is told in a documentary entered for the PBS Online Film Festival - Episode: 2013 Festival | Asylum - Bisi

I ask you to watch the film and vote for it here to become the 2013 People’s Choice Winner.

Thank you.

Nigeria: INEC Election Guidelines - Critical Information

Accreditation concludes at 12 Noon

The guidelines [1] for the Nigerian elections in April 2011 have been published and these are the most important points to note by all Nigerians and accredited monitors of the elections.

All eligible voters need to be accredited before they can vote. Accreditation takes place between 8:00AM and 12 noon, anyone not accredited within that timeframe will NOT be able to vote on that Election Day.

Once a voter is accredited, the index finger of his/her left hand will be marked with indelible ink.

Voting commences at 12:30

Voting commences from 12:30 in the afternoon and ends when the last accredited person has voted. No additional accreditation can occur after 12 noon or if voting ends early.

At the end of accreditation, all officials are introduced. Next all accredited voters will queue up in one single line. Where tradition does not allow men and women to mingle in a queue, there will be separate queues for men and women.

All accredited voters are then counted and the number is announced loudly to the hearing of all assembled.

Note: This is presents one opportunity to relay this information to the ReVoDa system [2].

After having the transparent ballot box displayed to all assembled, the accredited voters can approach the presiding office one at a time and obtain a signed, stamped and dated ballot paper.

The accredited voter then moves to the cubicle, thumbprints the space opposite the symbol of the party of his/her choice and then drops the ballot paper in the ballot box, in the full view of all present.

The visible audible count

Once all accredited voters have voted, the count can commence.

The contents of the ballot box are emptied on the table and the ballot papers are sorted according to party symbols then in alphabetical order the ballots are called out and counted with the results of the count announced to the hearing of all assembled.

If the number of votes counted exceeds the number of accredited voters at that polling unit and after thorough verification it remains the case, the results for that polling unit will be nullified and duly announced and published as such.

The facts must go up the chain

The collation chain then moves up the system through the Collation Officer at the Registration Area Center, to the Local Government Area level and then to the State level all monitored by approved party agents, security agents and accredited monitoring agents.

For these elections to be free, fair, transparent, honest and devoid of malevolent influence all Nigerians need to be alert, vigilant, smart and ready to ensure that they votes count and most importantly ensure that no situation arises that would lead to having the votes at your polling unit nullified.

Sources and references

[1] INEC guidelines for the general elections in April 2011

[2] ReVoDa | How it works – Protecting your vote

Nigeria: ReVoDa - Making Your Votes Count

Nigeria: A Primer on INEC Elections in April 2011

Always read the Nigerian #INECRegistration BiDaily for Nigerian and electoral issues.

Nigeria: ReVoDa - Making Your Votes Count

Politicians barred from election monitoring

It appears that on Election Day political office holders as was customarily the case will not be able to travel round their constituencies as unauthorised election monitors [1], thereby exerting undue influence on the electoral process.

Many times we have seen these political office holders with their entourages and coterie of the sycophantic mob arrive at voting centres, disrupt the process and at times commandeer the ballot box and get all registrations put in their docket or cart away the ballot box to be stuffed with votes to give them office.

This time, the situation is different and according to the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo State, Mr. Ayo Adakeja, none of the following people can act as party agents during the electoral process - local government chairmen, members of a local government, commissioners in a state, deputy governor, or governor of a state, minister or any other person holding political office under any tier of government.

Besides this, there are vehicular movement restrictions that apply to everyone on election days, this however becomes concerning if people have registered at polling units distant from their locations of residence or those who have registered in their home villages far away from their locations of residence that they cannot make the journey in time to get to vote on election day.

Banking on their impartiality

However, the issue of monitoring of the elections in April 2011 has in essence become a civic responsibility, everyone has to get involved, the employment of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) [2] rather than civil servants and teacher who were previously pressganged into service, hopes to use the lack of local allegiance of the NYSC members to offer a façade of impartiality on the part of the agents of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) [3].

NYSC members are usually posted to locations other than their state of origin, a huge responsibility for the future of Nigeria is being placed on their shoulders to ensure that the voting process is transparent, free, fair, unhindered by any vested interests.

Making your votes count through reporting

The civic responsibility part comes with the launching of the ReVoDa [4] application produced by the EiE Nigeria's RSVP campaign [5] which allows for every voter who has a mobile phone to report the state of things at their polling unit.

For the first time, fully corroborated reports of activities at Polling Units can be collated to a central location which would include the Polling Unit Number and the name of the reporter of the event or activity and this should be admissible as part of evidence if electoral disputes should arise.

More importantly, it would hopefully serve as a deterrent to criminal activity since immediate citizen reporting can be done and probably would allow a prompt arresting of the situation before it becomes serious electoral malpractice.

RSVP voting without regrets

Having Registered, we are now going through the process of assessment and Selection of those vying for political office; do not commit or give allegiance until you have heard all sides and had your questions properly answered.

In April, you have the opportunity to Vote for your selections and then you need to take the next step of Protecting your vote to ensure that the popular democratic will of your community, locality, state and country is counted as the ballots indicate.

Download and Use ReVoDa

Avail yourselves of the opportunity of downloading ReVoDa [6] well before the electoral season, visit the site regularly for updates and information about how you too can be involved in ensuring your vote is protected all the way to when the results are announced.

ReVoDa appears very user-friendly with lots of drop-down menus to allow you make your reports of the Election Type, INEC Official, Materials Available, Voting & Accreditation, Votes Collation & Count, Result Announcement, Violence, Fraud and the tally of votes per party.

The democratic process in April 2011 is now squarely in the hands of the people and it is up to us to make it work, however, it can only work if every participates in the debates and discussions, in the voting, in the monitoring and in the reporting truthfully of all activities around the electoral process.

Make Your Vote Count and use all the tools you have to ensure they do count.

Sources

[1] » INEC bars govs, deputies, others from monitoring elections - Vanguard (Nigeria)

[2] National Youth Service Corp

[3] INEC Nigeria

[4] ReVoDa | How it works

[5] Good governance and Public accountability: EnoughisEnough Nigeria (EiE)

[6] Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria : ReVoDa – How to download the application

Nigeria: The Revolution has already begun

The cry for revolution is shrill

I have suffered to my hurt and discomfort the many cries for revolution in Nigeria. Everyone seems to have an opinion about change for Nigeria; be it splitting up the country to sending the current crop of leaders to an early grave in order to clear the air for new growth.

Once again, it can be so easy to list all the problems with Nigeria, the great potential squandered by the selfish interests of those who on assumption of power are too intoxicated to walk straight, think right and act determined for the progress of the country.

The spirit of profligacy and kleptomania possesses the leaders to the point that rampant acquisition beyond needs leaves their bank accounts heavier than the treasury of the country – we have been sorely lead and badly served, indeed, something needs to give.

We are NOT like the others

There are some that wish for the clear-out that Jerry Rawlings offered Ghana with the execution of three of his predecessors, it did appear to purge Ghana of some of the poison and rottenness that was engulfing it, but Nigeria does not have a Jerry Rawlings.

The nearest example to that might have been Mohammadu Buhari in the early 80’s but in his zest to improve the country, it was slowly being turned into an Islamic police state, it prepared the way for even worse leadership that has held Nigeria hamstrung since.

One could say that the worst times in Nigeria were during the time of the military despot, Sani Abacha who by the grace of God expired in a sexual orgy which presaged the preparation of democratic rule just a year after in 1999.

Our ruler-ship is not homogenous

However, it is left for one to wonder about the ends of a revolution in Nigeria, we have not been under the cosh of or autocratic regimes like the Arabic states of North Africa where leaders have been in charge forever, chief amongst whom is Muammar al-Gadhafi of Libya. Nor have we suffered the false democracies of Uganda or Zimbabwe there has been a musical chairs of the ruling elite in Nigeria.

In some cases, they all seem to be of the same ilk, it is not like Nigeria has some popular leader of opposition in exile waiting to take the mantle of leadership when the revolution has toppled those in power.

The revolution talk is fraught with serious problems because the leadership clique is not homogenous, it is composed of competing interests regional, religious, political, economic and social.

None seem to have the wherewithal to coalesce for a common good because of egotistical megalomaniacs who only understand compromise and consensus in terms of the former being their lead and the latter being their view, none of which is negotiable.

After revolution comes anarchy

In other words, there might well be a revolution but no leader to reap the fruits of the revolution; we might well end up in anarchy with a rapidly deteriorating state of affairs as these competing interests jostle for position, opportunity, power and the do-or-die grab for the spoils.

We do need reform and change; we need a common goal for the good of Nigeria, preserving the entity and the identity that makes us proud Nigerians.

However, the good people have not stepped forward and for good reason many who might cannot bear the snake-pit of politics to sully their good intentions, plan and possibly progressive policies for Nigeria.

We are not suited for the usual revolutions

Nigeria is by no means ripe for a revolution, there are no components in place to make it the success we desire with blind optimism, we can do well to educate ourselves, participate fully in the democratic process we have, deign to hold the elected accountable and become better and coherent activists that demand positive action or expect the said leaders to resign in disgrace.

We are plagued with leaders of old who have refused to retire, whilst one cannot pray – death come swiftly and take them away, until we rise to assumed greater responsibility we would be belittled and patronised by those who through arrogance and hubris think they are the best gifts to Nigeria when they are in fact the worst things to be inflicted on our long-suffering people.

Your revolution is in RSVP

Pray, if you might, fast, if you will, but until we all take up the mantle of civic responsibility by registering to vote; selecting those we can trust and hold accountable; vote for those who have not tried to usurp the system, whose character is beyond reproach and competence is verifiably vouched for and stood to protect the voice of our collected efforts of choosing our leaders our revolution would be too far away in the future to grasp and too high an aspiration to attain.

Register | Select | Vote | Protect [1] without regrets your revolution by participating in democratic change for great change and accountability – the protection part does not end when the results are declared, it continues for the duration of the term of that elected representative and any other connected interest that should be working for the good and progress of the country.

Nigeria’s revolution is not in the template of marching the streets with civil disorder to upset the as it were status quo, our Green Revolution is in making the best of what we have now, take the democratic bull by the horns and not relenting until the will of the people is fully expressed and accepted in free, fair, credible and viable elections.

Our revolution has started already, are you in the move to change your country for the good?

Source

[1] EiE NIGERIA: Register | Select | Vote | Protect

Nigeria: Seeing RSVP at the PDP Primaries

The convention

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) the ruling party in Nigeria conducted their presidential primaries from yesterday through to the very early hours of this morning and it must be lauded as an historic occasion and probably a seminal event.

After all the politicking, horse-trading and whatever else our cynicism can conjure up they gathered at the great Eagle Square in Abuja, hours late but determined to ensure the business of the day was started and completed.

There were three candidates, a lady, Dr. Sarah Jubril; the former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and the sitting president Goodluck Jonathan – the stage was set for a microcosm of what one hopes would be the play out of the national elections in April 2010.

Each contestant had the opportunity to appeal, persuade or cajole their constituencies and then each delegate was given the opportunity to vote.

Protecting the vote

With 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as constituencies, each had their accredited delegates cast their ballots secretly in ballot boxes assigned to their respective states, after this was done, initially the first 4 states were counted in alphabetical order then randomly.

The count was public, visible and audible, the boxes were for each state were brought to the enumerator’s table, the returning officer asked to certified the accredited delegates and the voting delegates and then each ballot which had handwritten names of the candidates was inspected, called out and separated into piles for each announced candidate after which the ballots were counted and tabulated.

When the last ballot was counted, all the counts were collated and the results announced; from the staging of this historic event, there was very little to dispute apart from the need to ease of voting by using tick boxes and not the writing of names which included one ballot in Arabic script and probably some speed at the job by introducing some technology.

However, this was not to take away from the occasion, it could be termed as the freest and fairest political voting activity ever done on Nigerian soil, it was transparent, open, visible and viewed globally, we all participated either physical there through the news correspondents and via social networking forums as Twitter and Facebook.

RSVP with no regrets

In the same vein, Nigerians are working to create the same quality of suffrage accompanied with free and fair elections exemplified in the Enough is Enough initiative [1] with the acronym RSVP.

This ground-breaking initiative has the ultimate goal of accountable democracy in Nigeria borne of the true will of the people being represented at local government, state and federal levels – it requires at all Nigerians participate in moving from apathy to engagement, involvement and civic responsibility – it is aspirational and should be within our grasp.

The goal is simple.

Register – Ensure you are registered where you should be and validated as a true member of the electorate.

Select – Inform yourself about the candidates vying for your votes, check their policies, their views, their goals, their motives and if given the opportunity ask the hard questions and do not fobbed off with soft answers. Most importantly, you are not for sale or to be used as bargaining chips for ulterior ends.

Vote – Go out and have a say in the selecting the people who will well represent you at all levels of government, exercise the right to seek accountability.

Protect – this is where it all begins to make sense, ensuring your voice is heard, your vote is counted and not stolen by criminal elements ready to subvert the democratic process for their rotten machinations – this is where Nigerian democracy needs to attain the label of free, fair and beyond dispute. Only we Nigerians can achieve this and enforce this, observers can only observe; Nigerians can ensure that the rules, the letter and the spirit of the elections are observed.

What we saw

Now the RSVP arrangement that the PDP Presidential primaries adopted seems to have been read RSVP backwards, there is the pre-electioneering phase of reading RSVP forwards and the post-electioneering phase of reading it backwards.

In conducting a public, visible and audible count of the votes, they Protected to the full, the will expressed by the delegates, there was no dispute about the votes cast, the numbers tallied and the ones voided, any challenge to that spectacle would have been foolhardy at best.

The secret ballots with the writing of the names of the candidates on the ballot papers meant that the delegates had to know why they were in the voting booths and had to identify clearly which ballot box their vote had to go into. The matter of whether it was a vote of conscience, conviction or compulsion is beside the point, there was no coercion at point of the exercise of their franchise, they Voted freely.

What we need

The horse-trading that went into the Selection process can be open to dispute but one thing was evident, despite Atiku Abubakar putting himself forward as the consensus candidate of the North, he lost his home state 71% to his opponent, as far as the results went on to show, Goodluck Jonathan was the consensus candidate for whatever division of Nigeria you are inclined to entertain, but as far as the national delegates of ruling party were concerned, Goodluck Jonathan commanded broad and widespread national support in the entity that is one Nigeria.

The Registration process of the delegates was fraught with powerplays and influence, that cannot be avoided, but Nigerians can prevent that situation when they go to register from tomorrow the 15^th of January 2011 to the 29^th of January 2011 – they should ensure they are informed of what is needed to register, ensure all the unique identifying characteristics that represent them are properly recorded and on review of the register, they should ensure their names are as they should be.

For Nigerians, it starts with registration and may this be the dawning of a new accountable democracy in this great country of ours.

God bless Nigeria!

Sources

[1] EiE NIGERIA: Register | Select | Vote | Protect

The UK: The evidence for radical electoral reform

A difficult poll

Even the mother of all parliaments and one of the world’s oldest democracies is fraught with problems, issues and irregularities.

Yesterday, the citizens of United Kingdom of Northern Ireland and Great Britain went to the polls to elect representatives for their parliament called the House of Commons, however, the people did not give a clear majority mandate to any one political party and with that comes what is know as a hung parliament.

Sadly, there are people who did not get to vote because of the poor logistics of not anticipating the possible turnout such that there were long queues and polls had to close at 22:00 hours leaving hundreds disenfranchised.

Certain councils catered for students quite differently from residents even though all were selecting representatives whose work would affect them locally and nationally – there is no doubt that the system is broken.

Change and reform required

Balloting has to move from papers but electronic ballots must have a paper trail for verification and confidence in the system and there should be more flexibility to extend times of the polls if voters have arrived at polling stations before the deadline.



The most disturbing part of this election is the discrepancy between votes cast and seats won – the leading party polled 36.1% of the votes and will take 47.2% of the seats whilst the third party which polled 23% of the votes 8.8% of the seats.

This is manifestly wrong and does not reflect the clear and express wishes of the electorate; it calls for a radical reform of how our votes are translated to representation with a proper correlation between votes and the acquisition of power.

An expired system

The first-past-the-post system might have worked for past but there is no way how this can be the system for the 21st Century.

Today the Liberal Democrats have the opportunity to demand a change that allows for the people have their wishes fully expressed when they form a coalition with whatever party can garner the support and will to run the country after this election.

Dividends of democracy

In the graphic that shows the rewards of proportional representation, the UK Independence Party and the British National Party weigh in with a possible 32 Members of Parliament between them.

Whilst they constitute a right-wing of almost unsavoury politics, the people who voted for them are part of our democracy and as I did say in comments I made on Facebook, having these parties with representation in the House of Commons is enough a price to pay to ensure that the voice of the majority is heard loud and clear.

All the dividends of a democracy cannot all be profitable but any other system that takes better account of the percentage of votes polled nationally must be better than what we have now – electoral reform is inevitable, the people must demand it and get it.

The UK: I endorse democratic reform

How does your vote count?

For the very first time in a very long time, the elections in the United Kingdom have been gripping, everyone has been offering a message of change but the real change required has not received the airing required.

The parliamentary system in the UK makes politics very local rather than national, you vote for a representative of your constituency who happens to be a member of one of the established political parties and the party with the most representatives has its leader crowned the Prime Minister.

There are ways in which the party leader is the charismatic face of your local representative who might not even be local but parachuted in to represent the party to the people – there, if any of the contestants has a track record in that locality, it is possible that a political upset might arise.

Change from ideology

However, it appears voting intentions might have moved on from political fastidiousness and ideology, personalities might matter and policies are interesting but the force of mandate sometimes allows for legislation that we would never have wanted if we had the choice.

The economy, immigration and public services have been given all sorts of glosses and opinions but no one party seems to have all the answers that would really work for the national as a whole – we need a system that allows for the best people to be called into the service in these tough times regardless of party affiliation.

You have to be a member of parliament (MP) to be a minister of the crown and thereby you are accountable to the House of Commons, however, if you are not an MP, you have to be bumped up to the House of Lords and in some ways, you are beyond accountability to the elected chamber.

The choices are not people

For the first time, there is a possibility that two men younger than I am will take the reins of government, the likelihood is that David Cameron of the Conservative Party will be Prime Minister – after 5 years as Leader of the Opposition, he is hardly representative of change – but he will be a change from 13 years of Labour government.

Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats the usually third party was an absolutely fresh face especially after the Leaders’ debates and I think he won 2 of those three debates – what was refreshing was he addressed the questions, engaged the people and spoke sensibly. He had not become a sloganeering beacon of clichéd sound bites that seemed to sound profound but had no substance.

Gordon Brown comes with baggage, much from the way Labour was swept to power in 1997 through the economic prosperity to the crisis and humongous deficit that the UK now has. He does have experience of leadership that others do not have, but one wonders if he holds the keys to a greater future for the UK.

Democratic reform is what I want

I have no man to endorse of the ones we have to choose from but I endorse radical electoral reform – one that allows for votes to count both locally and nationally, one that moves us from the silos of political ideology to better considerations for all options that might be presented for the good of the people and one that is centred on progress that allows the unity of all talents as war cabinet with representatives of all major parties.

This electoral reform can only come from forcing cooperation between the parties by the strength of the numbers that they poll, their popular support rather than their number of MPs, for instance the Labour Party took a parliamentary majority with just about 35% of the vote in the last election.

That was hardly representative of the 65% that did not vote for the Labour Party but they have held power with an assumedly strong mandate for 5 full years.

Change comes with the Liberal Democrats

Honestly, a strong turnout for the Liberal Democrats holds the key to better electoral representation because it would force reform where we need it in representation, in purpose and in accountability; it is that once in a lifetime for the people to demand and get change in democratic reform.

The Conservatives and the Labour Party benefit disproportionately from the status quo without carrying the full resolve of the majority and the real intentions of the people, for once, a hung parliament might well force the agenda in the direction of what is good for the people at home and abroad and this is why I endorse democratic reform – by consequence it comes by giving the Liberal Democrats your vote.

Nigeria: My real expectations of Enough is Enough

Lessons to absorb

The Enough is Enough campaign of the youth of Nigeria marched on the office the governor of Lagos State today and it comes just within a month of their marching on the National Assembly in Abuja with a whole list of demands.

I felt the march in March was a qualified success in that it was a compelling gathering of note but it did not achieve the essential goal of delivering their letter of demands to the authorities.

This time, I held my peace to observe and then review the results of this march which one of the leaders said was a mixed success.

Indeed, they have now realised that the so-called leaders of our country in the words of one of the organisers “don’t believe that they are accountable to us”.

Select yourselves

They the leaders probably do not but it is laudable that they, the youth, are campaigning to take ownership of the voting process with the R-S-V-P call which reads as Register – Select – Vote – Protect.

We do need a voting and accountable system that counts and reveals the express wishes of the people who have exercised the right to choose their leadership.

One does wonder weather the choices we have to select from really just leave us with the best of a rotten bunch – that would in no way give us the leadership we demand and deserve.

Maybe what the Enough is Enough team needs to realise is that they are not going to effect change by looking in from the outside, then the political entities we have now would not be the best incubators for the range of aspirational and visionary talent and ability these young people represent.

They should take the next step in securing the voting process for the right selections when voting in order to protect the entity of Nigeria and the future we all hope for.

The capable youth

Looking at the poster that accompanied the call to march, this gathering consisted of professionals, celebrities, media, students and activists – definitely, much more from all works of life.

Of these professionals we have entrepreneurs and businessmen that everyday Nigerians trust to run organisations and honourably conduct business in a proper fashion.

The celebrities definitely have proved themselves capable in some sort of endeavour to have become celebrities whilst the media can give an honest, just and truthful voice to the yearnings and aspirations of the young Nigerian.

Students are supposed to be thinkers with amazing ideas and capabilities, the activists have causes that impact on lives all around Nigeria.

The youth can lead

The question then becomes as we realise that the youth make up the majority of Nigerians why these selfsame successful and youthful people cannot vie for the leadership of our dear nation.

There is where I want to see the Enough is Enough movement, a political force that competes honourably and competently for office, shaking up the fossilised body of politics that has hamstrung the nation for decades.

Yakubu Gowon & Thomas Sankara were hardly 30 when they assumed leadership of their countries, whilst it was through military coups in their case, there can be democratic rewards for the youth that take on the system for the good of the country.

Let the majority speak

The gerontocrats have failed us too many times just as the political jobbers have had no interest but theirs to heart in the pursuit of office and the spoils to loot therein.

Let your votes count by young Nigerians taking charge and voting for competent leaders amongst yourselves.

Enough is Enough – Let new blood, fresh blood, young blood in – Enough is Enough, let the youth seize the mantle of leadership and infuse us with hopes and visions that change Nigeria for the better.

That is where you should take the ground and occupy for the good all the majority which just happens to be yourselves.

Are we voting in 8 days time?

A Quite Quiet Dutch Election

In the Netherlands, we are deep into electioneering as the parliament is to be elected on the 22^nd of November 2006.

Unlike the United States where one would have been bombarded with adverts in televisions, billboards, radio and any other communication medium you can think of; I could imagine a time when they would be able to invade your dreams and plan voting thoughts into would make you suddenly break out of sleep in cold sweat reaching for your gun – I have noticed nothing here in the Netherlands.

In fact, we have billboards set up in particular locations where parties and their activists can post their bills, this society could be so egalitarian, and it is scary.

By proportion to a list

Anyway, I received the list of candidates in my mailbox; we have a system of proportional representation, each party has a list of candidates where the person at number 1 is most likely to be elected and the last is least likely, it is a hierarchy but not as we know it.

When the votes are cast, the percentage of the polled votes against the total votes is computed to determine the number of seats gained as a proportion of the total number of seats contested by all parties, the party then fills the seats starting from number one to the fulfilled number.

The party with the most seats gains the right to seek out a coalition of other parties with which to form a government.

I cannot vote in the Netherlands, but I do have the right to vote if as a European citizen from the UK, I decide to chuck in my British passport for a Dutch one, why would I do such a thing?

I already can vote for the local elections and that is fine by me.

Listing all controversy

A number of things are quite interesting about the list; we have the Christian Unie (Christian Union) which is somewhat conservative evangelical that aligns itself with the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij - SGP (Reformed Political Party) an ultra-conservative curmudgeon of repressed religionists.

The SGP made the news earlier in the year and were on the verge of losing government funding for not allowing women to participate in the voting process, they do not believe in female suffrage – yes, we have those types in liberal Netherlands.

The CU however, does have men and women on their list; I would say nothing about hypocrisy in this respect.

Illiberal by personality

Then we have the Liberal Party, the VVD which is in coalition in government with the CDA, the party of the man who used to look like Harry Potter.

I for one cannot find what is liberal about the VVD, being the haven of my most revered Lady Oddjob, the Minister for dis-Integration (sic) and emigration (Immigration), Mrs Rita Verdonk whose antics have caused Dutch politics great disservice without remorse.

She happens to be the reason why we have having early elections having mucked up a number of asylum and citizenship issues that the government had to fall, the circumstances around Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s loss of Dutch citizenship and then the reinstatement of the same brought it all to a head.

Mrs Verdonk has never been elected, only appointed, she contested for the leadership of the VVD and came second, thankfully, but in the process, she has landed herself the number 2 position in the VVD party list which means she would become a member of parliament without fail.

Verdonk the enigma

Her initiatives have included calling for the abolition of the Equal Treatment Commission based on the fact that they ruled that a Muslim woman may decide not to shake hands with men and offer alternative greeting methods – I think that is a sensible assessment of the situation, it is quite different from wearing a veil in a class of children.

I have met devout Muslim women who do not shake hands, I respect that decision, in fact, in one instance, a class mate of mine simply clasped her hands and then extended them to lift my outstretched hand, and observers thought I had been accorded more than anyone had every elicited from her, I was honoured.

Equal because of inequalities

It is not that I have required services from the Equal Treatment Commission or in the case the UK the Equal Opportunities Commission, but those commissions exist because of inequalities in society, discrimination, abuse, bullying and many other things that allow dominant cultures to take undue advantage of minorities.

A democracy can well be the voice of the majority, but it should also protect the civil rights of the minority, we cannot have the tyranny of the majority persecuting and prosecution the minority, it makes for societal chaos where terrorism might be employed to fight tyranny.

Nobody seems to have taken to that kite she has flown, so, we would probably hear no more about it, this is the same woman who at one time suggested that Dutch should be the only language spoken on the streets of the Netherlands.

She has a heart of stone

After much protesting, she had considered sending 2 Iranian homosexuals back to Iran in the light of the fact that homosexuals had recently been hanged in that country – saying she had received assurances that no harm would come to the men.

Or, when her ministry passed on information of asylum seekers to repressive regimes that would have laid wait for deported failed asylum seekers, not to mention the fact that witnesses to a fire in an illegal immigrant detention camp were deported before they could give evidence on the matter, she having given assurances to the investigator that they would be retained till they are not needed anymore.

This is the catalogue of events that makes the Dutch vote her as the most popular politician and an Iron Lady, warped as this might seem, it is difficult for an expatriate like me to convince the everyday Dutch person that Mrs Verdonk is anything but nice.

We should soon expect the bombshell of civilizations, we have been intimated that there would for now be no ban on the burka, if the VVD wins, expect a ban of being a minority.

References

The Verdonk trail

Living with the results of true democracy

In search of Arabian Democracy

The clamour for reform on the basis of democratic change in the Middle East has been so deafening that one is surprised that unexpected news filters through loud and clear.

Part of the supposed goal of winning the war on terror is to help Arabians have more say in the way they are governed and loosen the grip of those potentates that have been in power since the world began.

We, the mortals in leadership

In the last 6 months death has separated four of the rulers from thrones of their fiefdoms; they being, Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Maktoum of Dubai and Sheikh Jaber al-Sabah of Kuwait.

More so, human frailties of health lead the successor to the Emir of Kuwait to give up the throne by the urging of parliament having ruled for just 8 days – Oh! That he be so honoured with a portrait in the chamber of kings – caption “He ruled with great wisdom for a week and a day”.

Apparently, these developments about human mortality and vulnerability might not have been read and understood those who have lead their countries into abject privation in Africa; having plundered resource and reserves leaving legacies of corruption and disaster.

Then there have been ripples of reform in Syria, waves of tumult in Israel with the forming of Ariel Sharon’s Kadima; the cantankerous but interesting pronouncements of the Doctor-Engineer Ahmadinejad in Iraq with the enduring prominence of the Pharaoh Mubarak of Egypt.

New home for the insurgency

One could nervously say that the war in Iraq has brought change on the wings of missiles and laser-guided bombs, as they are enlightened with white phosphorus and the people entertained by the insurgency of emigrants wielding terror who have settled in Iraq from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Now that we are getting what we have wished for, there is a lot of back-tracking that one wonders what we really want for the people.

The White House usually promotes democracy as just the ability to go out and vote; so vote they have done in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Iran, in Egypt and in Palestine.

The people have spoken

The people have chosen their leaders; that is democracy. Democracy does not include the refinement; you are only democratically elected if you will be a stooge of the West or are liked by the West.

It explains why America cannot get on with the popularly elected Hugo “do not meddle in my backyard” Chavez of Venezuela as they definitely did not speak up loud enough about the coup that overthrew him for 4 days.

More so, with Evo Morales in Bolivia, it would be interesting to see how they deal with another popularly elected leader of the people who also happens to champion the growing of coca.

Somehow, the Americans have not noticed that the drug problem is at home in the United States and not the coca growing fields of Central America that are rendered useless for anything else because of pesticides.

Anyway, the West has tried to pre-empt the electioneering in Palestine by warning that an elected Hamas cannot be a partner for peace.

Doers are deserving of government

However, Hamas is a multi-faceted organ of Palestinian desire, they fight for the land through what is commonly known here as terrorism, but known there as freedom fighting – intafada. They are also the only organ apart from NGOs that have done well to provide social services to their people.

Even without having the kind of funds that Fatah and the Palestinian Authority have, hospitals, schools, jobs and daily essentials to alleviate suffering form another platform of their principles.

It is unfortunate that they still look to see the end of Israel and though that is contemporaneously wrong; there is a grievance of deprivation, oppression, exploitation and global diffidence if not indifference to be assessed as it fuels the clash of civilisations that now plague the West.

Indeed, the people have spoken

The fact is, the people have voted for those they think can best represent them and shunned those who the West has feted and befriended without engaging them properly about reforming themselves for electoral success.

This is the case especially for Palestine, though not as clear from Iran.

With Hamas having taken 58% of the seats of the parliament, better than George W. Bush in his second term victory of 51% percent, it can be said that the Hamas has a better mandate than the American president to speak for and govern their people. So, it can be said for the leaders of Venezuela, Bolivia, Iran and even Chile.

Democracy however, would not go scot-free, as work would commence to destabilise ‘so-called’ hostile regimes that are unfriendly to America just because they have refused to conform to that standard that allows the embodiment of their civilisation to be emasculated by markets and ideas that provide no local value.

Read the results out loud again

We hear that the current president of the Palestinian people who happens to have lead the blundering and corrupt Fatah movement is being urged to retain his seat; in the light of not having a legislative base to carry out reforms he could not pass through the erstwhile parliament that he supposedly should have had more influence over.

It makes one wonder whether we all know the many meanings of democracy.

Whilst the last time I looked, it appeared that it was purely the government of the people, by the people, for the people – somehow, the first is right and the last two have gone by way of the wind.

We end up being governed no doubt, but by some people for their pockets.

The Secretary of the Arab League clearly depicts the dilemma of democracy – “America cannot promote democracy and then reject the results of this democracy” [1] – even I cannot fail to see the insincerity of purpose in this one.

[1] BBC NEWS | Middle East | In quotes: Reaction to Palestinian poll