Afghans Demand More of Their Politicians

Afghans levelled harsh criticisms against their elected political representatives in a series of IWPR-organised debates held in three southeastern and eastern provinces.

Many participants said they would be holding local candidates to higher standards in the parliamentary election due next year. They said it was unacceptable that no minimum educational criteria were set for aspiring politicians, and that some current parliamentarians were unfitted to do the job.

At a November 26 debate in Qalat, the provincial centre of Zabul province, tribal elder Mohammad Ismail Zabuli said members of parliament did not meet their constituents or try to find solutions to their problems. Instead, they looked after their own personal interests.

“We put together all the problems we have in Zabul and go off to Kabul, but when we get there, our representatives won’t answer,” Zabuli said. “They hide from us.”

Asadullah Kakar, a member of Zabul’s provincial council, agreed that members of the national parliament were sometimes negligent. At the same time, he said, people should be realistic about what politicians could achieve.

“Our people aren’t aware what powers their representatives actually possess. They make demands from them about things that don’t lie within their remit, and that creates misunderstandings,” he said.

His comments were disputed by audience member Rahmatullah Darwesh, who asked, “If we demand schools, teachers, universities, hospitals and roads from our representatives, are these things outside their authority?”

Darwesh said elected politicians were under an obligation to communicate their constituents’ concerns to state and government institutions.

Civil society activist Nur Agha Nuri said members of parliament had the power to hold government to account.

“Members of the lower house have the authority to summon officials for clarification if the performance of their institutions is deficient,” he said. “If the officials are to blame, members have the power to pass a vote of no confidence and remove them from their posts.”

Abdul Muqim Afghan, head of the information ministry’s Zabul department, tried to clarify the role of parliamentarians.

“National Assembly representatives have three main responsibilities – first, drafting laws and policies; second, monitoring the government’s performance; and third, finding out what problems local people have and sharing these concerns with senior ranking state officials,” he said.

In a debate held in the Khas Kunar district of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan, participants said aspiring politicians should have to meet certain basic standards.

Taus Khan, a tribal elder, said some members of both the previous and current parliaments were so poorly educated that they should never have been elected. Some had even forged their exam certificate, he claimed.

“The first precondition for becoming a parliamentary candidate has to be having an education,” he said. “A member of parliament must at least be a law graduate, since their business is lawmaking, which requires specialist professionals, not illiterates.”

The acting head of the information ministry’s branch in Kunar, Janat Fida, said most Afghans were still more concerned about regional and tribal matters than national politics.

“If 30 per cent of people are politically aware, the other 70 per cent don’t it. For this reason, there were people elected in the last parliamentary election who actually harmed the country,” he said. “If the public had a more developed political understanding and voted for more capable individuals, the result would be a prosperous, rebuilt Afghanistan.”

One audience member in Kunar, Israil Ghairat, asked why strict rules had not been put in place to prevent illiterates and individuals accused of crimes from being elected.

Sadat Mirza, head of public outreach with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) in Kunar, answered, “We too would be happy if the criteria for election were made harder, because that would assist our work as well. I am confident that the criteria will be made tougher in future.”

Another member of the audience, Abdullah, asked whether tribal elders should continue to back the current crop of parliamentarians from Kunar given that they had been a disappointment.

Sadat said that the public needed to take responsibility and make better choices at the ballot box.

“People should vote for someone they think is capable of solving their problems,” he said.

The IEC also came in for criticism during a debate in the Khair Kot district of the southeastern Paktika province.

Zar Khan Katawazi, a tribal elder, said people distrusted the commission as well as the wider election process. There was a perception that candidates won either through bribery or because they backing from outside Afghanistan.

“There is a need for deep changes in the election commission so as to restore people’s faith in the process,” he said. He suggested measures such as electronic or computerised identity cards, improved security arrangements, clear indications of official impartiality, and rigorous election monitoring.

Zabihullah Wagarai, the IEC’s head in Paktika, rejected the accusations made against the commission. IEC staff were not to blame when what was needed was a complete overhaul of the electoral process.

Hajji Qadir Kharoti, who represents Paktika in the lower house of parliament, acknowledged that some of his peers were less than ideal, but said it was up to voters to find out more about candidates.

“People need to vote for a candidate who has a proper education, because an educated person has a better understanding of various aspects of law than someone who is uneducated,” he said.

Asked whether the IEC should be reformed, Kharoti said it would be a good first step.

This report is based on an ongoing series of debates conducted as part of IWPR’s Afghan Youth and Elections programme.