Association of political consultants holds summit in Kenya

THE Association of Political Consultants-africa (APCA) has called on political parties, governments and individuals aspiring for political offices across the African continent to leverage on the competencies and experiences of members of the association in fulfilling their political aspirations. President of the association, who is also the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kehinde Bamigbetan, made the call yesterday at the opening of the third Africa Political Summit taking place in Nairobi, Kenya. Bamigbetan stated that APCA had been in the forefront of nurturing healthy relationship with political parties, governments and political aspirants by drastically reducing political violence, voodoo and intolerance, ills which had hitherto plagued the political process in Africa.

He said: “Our association is determined to wet the ground by nurturing healthy relationship with political parties, governments and candidates in Africa because we believe there is still a lot of ignorance about the jobs that we do and the huge value we can add to the outcome of elections in particular and generally to governance in African countries. We believe that the success of our mandate will drastically reduce zero- sum politicking that encourages violence, voodoo and intolerance, ills which currently plague the political process in Africa.”

Bamigbetan said the coming general elections in different African countries in 2019 presents opportunities for political consultants within and outside Africa and thus leaves a gap for the Association to provide platform for parties and candidates to use their skills and expertise to assist political office seekers achieve their ambition to be elected. He said: “In 2019, 18 election cycles will be taking place across African countries. In my country, Nigeria, governorship, legislative and presidential elections are expected in the first quarter. Similar general elections are scheduled to hold in Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malagasy, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. Next year, the citizens of Algeria, Guinea-bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Tunisia will elect new presidents. New lawmakers will emerge from the legislative elections in Benin, Chad, Guinea, Mauritania and Tunisia.” He also noted that no fewer than 17 election cycles fell due in Africa this year, saying that at the end of this month, 14 of them would have been concluded across the states of Africa.