Obasanjo, 3 Former Presidents Meet Over Elections
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, three other former presidents and the ex-chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, discussed issues relating to elections and voting on Tuesday, December 18.
The former presidents opened discussion on how to find a lasting solution to disruptive use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on electoral process in Africa. The report said they also met to suggest models of successful deployment of ICT in electoral systems in Africa to make it easy to sustain democracy.
The leaders reportedly included Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria); John Mahama (Ghana); Ernest Koroma (Sierra Leone), Raila Odinga (Kenya), and Attahiru Jega, former chairman of INEC, met in Abeokuta, Ogun state at a two-day high-level working group meeting on Mitigating Disruptive Applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the Electoral Process in Africa.
Obasanjo noted that ICT had come to stay, but that it could be a good servant or bad master in the conduct of elections. Noting that the meeting was important for the review of the electoral systems in Africa, especially inputs, processes and outcomes, he added that it would also examine the strengths and weaknesses in the use of ICT in electoral systems in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
“About three weeks ago, the Africa Progress Group (APG) which I chair was formally inaugurated and we are delighted that the secretariat of APG is the venue of this important meeting which has to do with the progress of Africa. One of the pillars of Africa’s progress in my five ‘P’s as adopted by APG at its inaugural meeting of November 27, 2018, is politics; the others are prosperity, population, protection and partnerships. This meeting on the election process is within the framework of the pillar of politics. Deficit in the election process will translate to deficit in politics (and vice versa) which in turn will impede sound governance, a much sought-after element in the development of Africa.
“During the course of this meeting, we will be addressing one of the key issues that is at the heart of credible elections in Africa – Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the election process. ICT is here to stay, pervading and increasingly impacting all aspects of our lives, including the conduct of elections. But it can be a good servant or a bad master.”
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