Africa-Press – Liberia. Former Information Minister, Prof. Lamini Waritay, has opined that only the seven-member National Elections Commission of Liberia (NEC), headed by Davidetta Browne Lansanah, is in a “clear position” to determine whether the outcome of the October elections will accurately reflect the true will of the majority of voters.
He pointed out that this is so because if the seven commissioners are determined to have a credible outcome of the elections and are conscientious, professional, and, above all, patriotic and loyal to the nation rather than any parochial interests, no one can arm-twist them to distort the results of the October elections.
Commenting on the pending elections, Waritay said he knows some of the NEC commissioners personally (Chairperson Davidetta Browne and commissioner Boakai Dukuly), and while he cannot “vouch for their neutrality at this point, after having had no contact with any of them for several years now,” he believes they both understand that the pending elections are consequential for the stability and development of the country and for the consolidation of peaceful and credible multi-party elections for which many Liberians died over the decades.
The former University of Liberia lecturer observed that not only well-meaning Liberians but also very important foreign powers are heavily focused on the pending elections as they view the exercise as a consequential one, particularly in terms of consolidating democracy and fostering peace in a country. He therefore calls on the NEC commissioners and the officials of the incumbent government not to do anything that could “drag the country further down into poverty and reverse the democratic gains the country has managed to make in the past two decades.”
The ex-Minister in the Interim Government of the late Dr. Amos C. Sawyer noted that the legal responsibility and moral obligation of ensuring free, fair, and transparent elections and of reflecting the will of the people at the end of the exercise rest with all the commissioners individually and collectively. Accordingly, he argued, each and every commissioner at the NEC, and not only the chairperson, will be held accountable to the Liberian people if the outcome of the polls is distorted.
He explained that this is because the statute that set up the NEC entrusts the responsibility of conducting efficient, transparent, and credible elections in the country not to only one person or commissioner but to all seven commissioners constituting the Commission. “That is why there are seven commissioners, and NOT one Commissioner,” Waritay stated.
Prof. Waritay noted that the high level of suspicion over the “impartiality, competency and professionalism of the NEC is due to the several instances where the NEC has dropped the ball along the way in respect to pertinent electoral aspects like voter registration, the efficient and timely compilation of the voter roll, and conducting necessary voter education.
He explained that “a viable, competent and effective elections commission cannot be operating under the radar. As an impartial referee, the commission’s activities at every stage have to be open, clear, and beyond suspicion;” adding that “If the government delays in making resources and logistics needed by the NEC, the commission “should propitiously let the Liberian people know, so that they know whom to hold responsible for any delay in meeting timelines.” He also said if any government official is mounting pressure on the commission to do what is not right, the commissioners should be brave, professional and patriotic enough to raise the red flag in this regard.”
He is therefore urging all the commissioners, staff and technicians at the NEC to do the “right thing,” as “these elections go far beyond the interest of one person or one political party.” They are about the “future of the country as a viable, peaceful, democratic and prosperous polity governed on the basis of the will of the majority of the voters,” Waritay opined.
He underscored the point that “This is another time in the history of the country when the people will distinguish between those Liberians who truly love the country, and therefore support the democratic efforts of the country, and those Liberians (including politicians, electoral officials, individual citizens) who are only after their own selfish and narrow interests.”
The former activist and erstwhile President of the Press Union is at the same time urging the collective opposition not to leave the monitoring of the NEC’s conduct of the elections to only one opposition political party or a few groups, as the situation calls for “collective attention and focus” irrespective of political positions or party affiliation. “Voters must be assured that their votes will be counted accurately after they have peacefully gone to the polls,” Waritay noted, adding, “That way, the country will have a soft landing after one of the most, if not the most defining elections in the history of the country.”
Waritay is meanwhile suggesting that given the myriad of problems often associated with the conduct of elections in the country, “any new government that will emerge out of a truly free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive elections in October should seriously consider the need to re-visit the law governing the NEC, especially in regard to the way and manner in which members of the NEC are appointed and constituted.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article published on September 28 had mosquito the author — leading to this republication.
For More News And Analysis About Liberia Follow Africa-Press
