UNSBA ELECTION: CRIMINALS OF DEMOCRACY

M

other democracy has created a world of fairness. A world that recognizes human rights. A world where the common man is not adjudged by the power of his arm or pocket but the strength of his critical choices – his vote. Yet in every society, we have elements who infiltrate the El Dorado that democracy envisions.  These are the criminals of democracy.

The UNSBA election has been postponed without warning. The reason for this postponement is not far-fetched: The Dress Code Tribunal, for the first time since the history of UNSBA elections, has decided to make the election contestants appear before them for clearance. This tribunal made up of students is imbued with the authority to disqualify any candidate that falls short of their regulation. It would have seemed a very innocent and dutiful move, but for some suspicious pointers we have come to discover:

1)    Since the inception of the bill, only one student has been indicted twice and he happens to be a contestant in the UNSBA election.

2)    Persons that form the tribunal participated actively in the gruesome UNSBA politics of the last session.

3)    The most active campaigner for this clearance and possible disqualification of some candidates is the Attorney-General – the political messiah of some quarters whose long history of affinity with politics has brought to the limelight.

4)    It is remarkable that the sitting of the tribunal is scheduled a day before the UNSBA election.

Surely, the above are prima-facie pointers to the subjectivity of the tribunal, but the unfortunate chiller would come with an insight into the dark-room practices of the tribunal. It would naturally be expected that in a faculty of law students, the judicial processes would be air-tight and unquestionable, but what we have come to deal with is a tribunal that mocks every principle of fairness possible.

We have a tribunal where accused persons are presumed guilty until they prove themselves innocent (beyond reasonable doubt). What we have created for ourselves is not a courtroom but a battlefield of envy and oppression, and the crudest manifestation of man’s caprice. Where in the world is there a tribunal with no witnesses, save for the Chief Sheriff who witnesses by deposing an affidavit to crimes he, admittedly did not see. Are we not taught of the inadmissibility of hearsay evidence? All it now takes for a sheriff to indict a student is to merely pen down his name. No evidence!

It is not in doubt that appearance before such a tribunal would be inconsistent with the basic principles of our judicature. Very few leave this tribunal without being indicted, even in the absence of evidence. How would we be put to honour a tribunal that honours not justice? Remarkably, a non-appearance at the tribunal amounts to admission of the crime and a plea of guilt. Isn’t this a contravention of the criminal law principle that states that non-appearance or silence of the accused would be taken to be a plea of “Not Guilty”?

The intendment of the faculty is simply for dress code to be adhered to; this, we are firmly in support of. Such a noble intent may however be continuously undermined if such authority as to indict and disqualify resides with students. They have driven the Bill to a territory the Faculty never anticipated. Impartiality would be nearly impossible where students are made to determine the fate of their fellows.

In closing, I fear that this tribunal does not have the ethical authority to decide who to or not to contest and any seed of victimization planted within the four walls of the tribunal would grow to bear unfortunate consequences. Who knows if one or who is being targeted by the tribunal? Who knows if one or who will be targeted tomorrow?

The main stake involved here is a peaceful admission of the current first year class into the bar. This may be defeated by this reign of terror and defeatist politics. We must move to ensure that this political virus that we have cared to ward off since the last UNSBA election does not infect us again, nor the junior class. We believe we are entitled to ask for a peaceful election. May we please vote for the candidates of our choice? And for the criminals of democracy, may the shadowy clouds that have carried them thus far bid them goodbyes and not overshadow our judgment.

BY NNAMANI CHIEMERIE