The International Foundation forElectoral systems (IFES) says it is working with African countries to enabletheir electoral commissions to gain independence to ensure free and transparentelections on the continent. IFES, which is a Washington based nongovernmentalorganization, seeks to entrench democracy worldwide by providing expert advice,providing tools to run effective democratic elections as well as workingclosely with civil society organizations to push for reforms in their variouscountries. Four experts from IFES appeared at the VOA briefing room yesterdayto discuss elections and political challenges in the countries IFES works.
IFESregional director for Africa Almami Cyllah tells reporter Peter Clottey thatAfrica has a great potential to transform its image into a democraticcontinent.
"AcrossAfrica, I am hopeful. We have had setbacks of elections, but it's not theelections in many of those instances. It's mostly the announcements of theresults after those elections. And as I said earlier, many African leaderswould not want to leave power and we've been used to election results coming outin favor of those who are in power. If you look at the election in Zimbabwe, itis was stolen. But it's not the election itself. It's the result that thegovernment or the leaders dictate and so there has to be a separation whenpeople talk about elections," Cyllah noted.
Hesaid IFES is working hand in hand with electoral bodies across the continent togain independence from the executive.
"Interms of the assistance that IFES for an example has been giving to electoralcommissions, these electoral commissions have been doing well. But then it getsto the point where also the governments in power or the leaders in power sortof control these elections basically. That is why IFES is really working withelectoral commissions not only giving them the technical support, but alsoencouraging them to advocate for their own independence. We see a very goodindependent electoral commission in Ghana," he said.
Cyllahsaid IFES is working to strengthen civil societies in individual countries topush for changes in they want.
"Weare working with electoral commissions themselves alongside with civil societythat we have been working with. You see, it's not only elections. IFES does a whole slew of electoraldevelopments. For example, IFES provided a lot of support to the electoralcommission in Liberia for the 2005 elections alongside other internationalorganizations. But after the elections, IFES then went in to begin to work withcivil society and the elected officials themselves to get them to understandthe independence of an electoral commission. So we saw a lot of legal reformsso to speak in the electoral process," Cyllah pointed out.
Hesaid the lack of independence of electoral bodies in African countriesundermines their effectiveness.
"Thelack of independence of these commissions. For example they don't have financial independence. Every month, thereare many of these commissions who would have to go to the ministries of financeto get their salaries for their staff. Therefore, you see a lot of exertion ofpower over them by the executive," he said.
Cyllahsaid IFES often encourages various heads of the electoral bodies across Africato share their experience with other countries.
"Wealso have what we call shared experience for example when the Sierra Leoneelections were being held. We took the commissioners from Liberia and weinvited other commissioners from Cote D'ivoire for an example to go and observethe elections in Sierra Leone. But not only to observe the elections in SierraLeone, but to also give support to the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone sothat they know that we are all commissioners and we give each other support.That is a start. So this is what IFES does to make sure that the transfer ofknowledge takes hold," Cyllah noted.
Hesaid IFES is also working with officials of the African union to establish thecontinental body's own electoral monitoring system.
"Forexample with the Association of African Electoral administrators, we at IFESare working with them to be sure that they share experiences like the AfricanUnion office that we do have, which is helping the African Union develop notonly an electoral observation unity, but also electoral administrationprofessionals that would be able to look at various electoral processes andhelp those commissions to move forward," he said.