Build AIDS resilient Governance Structures - IDASA

FROM Pelekelo Liswaniso in Cape Town, South Africa

AFRICA’s growing and in some cases fragile democracies could collapse unless the dreaded HIV/AIDS pandemic is addressed in the continent’s electoral system and governance structures.

This fear came to light at the on-going 2nd Governance and AIDS Forum under the auspices of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) at the Southern Sun hotel, in Cape Town.

Delegates drawn from various institutions dealing with governance issues across Africa including members of parliament agree that there is need to build AIDS resilient democratic institutions and communities if the continent is to move forward in the wake of the pandemic, which is devastating all sectors of human development.

For the past four years, IDASA Governance and AIDS Programme has conducted innovative studies to investigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the electoral systems and processes in Africa to assist African governments to deal with political and economic consequences of the pandemic that have until now been based on assumptions.

The research was conducted from the perspective of democratic governance and has profiled information highlighting numerous political, civic and economic issues that urgently need to be addressed in response to the pandemic.

The evidence which was generated from the research makes it possible for decision makers to plan more concretely to address the many challenges posed by HIV/AIDS.

Research
The study was carried out in Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal and Zambia and presents the first insights into the implications for a sustainable democracy in the face of the continuing onslaught of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The research provides insight for the implications of HIV/AIDS on sustainable democracy, the consequences of depleted leadership pools and the rising economic costs associated with replacing deceased elected representatives.

Delegates were informed that HIV/AIDS was eroding leadership pools of legislators and other high profile political leaders in parliaments.

The stigma associated with the disease has made many leaders to avoid going for Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) while others die without accessing Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART).

It was not easy to know leaders whose lives could have been claimed by AIDS, but the costs associated with replacing such leaders through by-elections were high.

The research further addresses the capacities of strategic political institutions such as parliaments, political parties and electoral management bodies to sustain healthy democracies. It also looks at the effect of stigma and discrimination on citizen participation in democratic processes like elections.

The outcomes suggest that HIV/AIDS could place further burden on national treasuries and poor management of the pandemic could potentially weaken the quality of governance in Africa but also suggest that most of the effects could be managed if governments adopt appropriate strategies.

IDASA Governance and AIDS Programme Manager Kondwani Chirambo said the multi-country studies were undertaken by the Centre for Social Research (CSR) at the University of Malawi, the Namibian Institute for Democracy (NID), the Economic and Social Research Foundations in Tanzania (ESRF), the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) in Zambia, the Southern African Centre for Policy Dialogue and Development (SACPODD) in South Africa and the Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Cheik Anta Diop in Senegal.

Key findings
Mr. Chirambo who reviewed key findings on the impacts of HIV/AIDS on the electoral system in the region pointed out that a pilot study undertaken in 2003 in Zambia which uses the First-Past-the Post (FPTP) electoral system, indicates that between 1964 and 1984, the 20-year period before the advent of HIV/AIDS, a total of 46 by-elections were held, 14 of them as a result of death by illness and accidents combined.

However, over an 18-year period, from 1985, the year the first case of AIDS case was documented in Zambia, to February 2003, a total of 102 by-elections were held and 59 of those were due to death by disease.

Most of these by-elections, altogether 39, were held between 1992 and February 2003, which are the years in which the HIV/AIDS pandemic peaked in Zambia.

The majority of the deceased fell into the age group of 40-60, which is the most susceptible to HIV/AIDS and sexually active age cohort. There were no MPs below the age of 40 at the time of the study.

While there may be no specific information on the nature of the illnesses that led to the deaths of people’s representatives, trend analyses can be indicative of the influence of the pandemic, Mr. Chirambo said.

FODEP Executive Director Elijah Rubvuta and University of Zambia lecturer Derrick Elemu, in a joint presentation, stressed that there was growing understanding that the epidemic was having considerable impact on governance in general and electoral processes in particular but that governance and elections had largely been left out in the national HIV/AIDS response.

Mr Rubvuta pointed out that the electoral system in Zambia is very vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS era, especially on the replacement costs for elected leaders.

“The impacts can be disruptive both in the economic and political sense,” he said, adding that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), which has been tasked to oversee the country’s electoral system, has not been spared either.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has adversely impacted on the ECZ in many respects, although the exact extent is difficult to establish due to unavailability of the relevant information.

“The problem of attrition is more disruptive at provincial and district level where the ECZ depends on other government ministries and departments to administer elections.

The Ministry of Education, upon which the ECZ depends for most of their grassroots personnel, has particularly been singled out as one ministry in Zambia that has been adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and statistics are easily available.

Furthermore, the electoral reforms which have been tasked to re-assess the operations of the ECZ and other critical electoral institutions have not taken on board the implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for good electoral management and administration, Mr Rubvuta said.

ECZ Deputy Director for Elections and Voter Education, Ms Priscilla Isaacs who was also in attendance and chaired one of the sessions explained that the commission was in the process of developing an HIV/AIDS policy and would also consider the issue of regularly updating the voters register by removing voters who have died through collaboration with the National Registration department.

This would be done under the continuous voters’ registration which will provide for the daily registration of voters.

FPTP Electoral System
The FPTP electoral system appears to be the most vulnerable system in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This system is likely to be even more expensive to sustain as the epidemic spreads further, Mr. Rubvuta said.

“There is therefore need to reconsider Zambia’s Electoral System in order to take on board the implications arising from the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” he said.

He noted that Government has now widely acknowledged that HIV/AIDS is negatively impacting on the legislature in Zambia.

In the same presentation, Mr Elemu explained that HIV/AIDS is causing MPs, key legislative personnel and administrators, and other support staff to fall ill and or die, leaving gaps in different positions, skills, experience and talent.

Mr Elemu, giving the latest findings of the study pointed out that the frequent deaths of MPs and other political representatives as a result of illness have only become common in the last ten to fifteen years in Zambia.

The number of by-elections as a result of death of incumbent MPs and councillors has also increased during the last 15 years.

While there were only 46 by-elections between 1964 and 1984, with only 6.4 per cent resulting from the death of the incumbent, there were 146 between 1985 and 2005, with about 60 per cent of them due to deaths of incumbent MPs.

Power shifts
HIV/AIDS has made political parties very weak in many respects, Mr Elemu said. The epidemic continues to deplete dependable personnel both in terms of organization, mobilization and financial support, most opposition political parties have become relegated to what was termed “ad hoc assemblies that only become alive for election purposes.” Mr Elemu said.

Opposition parties he said have generally been losing the majority of the by-elections, mainly because they have not been able to compete with the well-resourced ruling party.

Election fatigue:

The high frequency of by-elections has contributed to election fatigue as evidenced by the low voter turnout during by-elections.

The tendency by contestants to engage in electoral corruption also kills the value and essence of elections being the ‘free expression of the will of the electorate’ due to such vices as bribery and other enticements that are rife during the by-elections.

Mr. Rubvuta said that parliament was well positioned to positively influence HIV/AIDS policy.
He said some HIV/AIDS programmes are going on, but that a lot needs to be done to have significant impacts.

“Most of the responses are donor-driven rather than internal to Parliament. Parliament has not done well in eliciting appropriate policies for HIV/AIDS or People Living with HIV/AIDS. MPs as individuals are also not doing much in HIV/AIDS in their constituencie, Mr Rubvuta said.”
He noted that in spite of the fact that Parliament has been in the process of setting up the HIV/AIDS response for a number of years, little progress has been made so far.

Mr Rubvuta said research had shown that MPs and support staff were not keen to test and know their HIV status, and that few have gone for VCT.

Notification or disclosure of their HIV status is seen as suicidal due to the stigma that follows. Infact the associated stigma and discrimination is perceived as the main reason for poor VCT and disclosure by members of Parliament or councillors.

As regards access to treatment, at least in theory, there are efforts at Parliament towards treatment and care services. However, these have remained inactive and ineffective, they said.
Delegates here have agreed that to have an AIDS resilience Africa demands not only improved management of the pandemic by state institutions such as parliament, but the existence of thriving democratic communities, able to confront the epidemic and its consequences, with confidence, looking towards a more hopeful future.

IDASA through its Governance and AIDS programme has instituted an ambitious campaign to promote democratic governance on the continent by creating a culture of collaborative problem-solving involving states and non-state actors, which can lead to the unlocking of resources across communities to deal with HIV/AIDS and promote development.

Recommendations
IDASA has recommended that stigma and discrimination is weeded out at all levels of society in Africa as citizens recognize each other’s democratic roles.

Furthermore, democratic institutions should be strengthened and take full account of the political and organizational implications of the epidemic and plan strategically.

“Elected leaders and top officials in government at every level should be seen to be actively involved in addressing HIV/AIDS, while acknowledging that they cannot fight the pandemic on their own, without the collaboration of citizens across the society, including people living with HIV/AIDS,” a communiqué issued here said.

IDASA Executive Director Paul Graham and Professor Nana Poku from the African Studies of the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in UK, called for a more strategic approach in dealing with the complexity of HIV/AIDS in the governance process.

Ben Botolo from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development in Malawi said participation in leadership should not be based on one’s HIV status. Policies and development plans should treat HIV/AIDS as a continuing priority, while focusing on building democratic hope and empowering citizens to shape and create a society of the future.

South Africa’s Transport Minister and acting Minister of Health Jeff Radebe, who officially opened the conference, said the challenge for Africa was huge and that there was need for a multi-sectoral response to the pandemic and that there must be no leadership vacuum in the HIV/AIDS fight.

“We need to ask the question why individuals and the environment make sub-Saharan Africa the epitome of HIV and AIDS in the world,” Mr. Radebe said adding that while everyone is at risk of HIV/AIDS, the groups at higher risk are poorer populations especially young women in the age-groups of between 25-35 years.

HIV/AIDS has posed serious health system challenges on the continent including shortage of human resources and inadequate infrastructure.

Access to affordable and quality medicines and limited social security for the poor constitutes the majority of the population, also remain a serious challenge.

“There is no better opportunity than now, at a point where we seem to have reached the peak of the HIV prevalence. What we do in various countries in the region will determine the extent to which we effectively leverage on this natural trend,” he said.

Mr. Radebe agreed that an effective national response to HIV and AIDS cannot be the responsibility of the health sector or the state alone. There must be democratic governance and a culture of collaborative problem-solving in national response to the pandemic.