The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed plans to share the commission’s technical expertise with Lesotho ’s electoral body.
Yakubu made this known when he received the delegation from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of the Kingdom of Lesotho in Abuja.
The delegation arrived at the weekend.
The delegation is to understudy INEC’s processes and procedures, with particular focus on the Strategic Plan.
The head of the delegation, IEC’s Director of Elections, Dr. Letholetseny Austeria Ntsike, said the choice of INEC was informed by the success it had recorded in recent time, among other things.
“We could have gone somewhere else, but we chose INEC for a reason. We thought INEC would be an ideal knowledge provider because of its most recent success, relevant experience and diverse experiences. We thought of the familiarity in culture and the institutional context of independence that both of our organisations share.
“We are expecting information from INEC and we look forward to interacting with members of staff of the Commission. There will be discussions, presentations, analytical activities so that we can go back very much learned.”
Speaking at the occasion, Yakubu promised the support of INEC.
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“Over the next four days, I want to assure you that you will interact with all the relevant staff responsible for the formulation of the last Strategic Plan. We’ll make all the documents available to you and we’ll share experience with you on the validation processes that led to the conclusion of the Strategic Plan and the Strategic Programme of Action.
“Beyond that, we’ll also share with you, our experience in formulating our Election Project Plan, developed from the Strategic Plan and the Strategic Programme of Action.”
Yakubu observed that elections were no longer matters of a guess work, just as he insisted that Election Management Bodies (EMBs) must prepare for elections as a matter of course and strategy.
He said INEC developed its Election Project Plan for the last cycle and beyond, leading up to the formulation of the second Strategic Plan in 2016, covering 2017 to 2021.
According to him, with the plan, INEC could determine when elections would take place in the foreseeable future, working on the principle that the general election would hold on the third Saturday of the month of February of the election year.
