The House of Representatives on Thursday disclosed that any person already convicted by a competent court of law for corrupt practice would be disqualified from contesting political office in the 2011 general elections.
The recommendation was contained in the report submitted by the ad-hoc committee on the review of the 1999 constitution headed by Usman Nafada, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.
Ita Enang, chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, who gave the hint while giving update on the legislative activities of the House to newsmen in Abuja, also reiterated the commitment of the House towards speedy consideration and passage of the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act and 1999 constitution ahead of the 2011 general elections. Enang explained that the Nafada-led committee decided to delete certain sections of the Electoral Act on the issue of "indictment by a panel of inquiry or administrative panel of inquiry" in order to avoid it being used as "a weapon against perceived political enemies" by any sitting government.
The lawmaker, who assured Nigerians on the passage of the proposed amendments to the 1999 constitution, allayed fears that the ongoing exercise may not see the light of the day like the previous attempt, adding that contentious issue on third term clause which led to the failure of Ibrahim Mantu's committee on constitution review was not part of the ongoing exercise. Enang maintained that the "'third term clause' which past members usually referred to as 'that thing' was infectious, acidic and considered undemocratic. It was the matter of 'that thing' that killed the last process. We are pledging to conclude the amendment in a manner that INEC's proposal to have election months before swearing in is achieved. We are conscious of the time."
He noted that other provisions in the 1999 constitution including Sections 66, 107, 137 and 182 also provides conditions for the disqualification of any persons indicted by administrative panel, or other bodies established for inquiry.
While reacting to the recent provisional time-table released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2011 elections, Enang noted that the commission would make use of either of the two timetables based on the outcome of the ongoing amendments of the Electoral Act before the National Assembly.
According to Enang, the House had to adjourn plenary for three weeks to give room for the coding of members' identity cards, fitting and test-running of the electronic voting machine in the chambers, as members would be engaged in the clause by clause voting on the proposed amendments soon after plenary resumes on April 20, 2010.
On the performance of the House from June 2007 to date, the lawmaker explained that a total of 383 bills were introduced within the period under review, out of which 303 bills were private members' sponsored bills, while 64 were received from the executive arm.
From the bills, the House has so far passed 19 bills and received 17 bills from the Senate for concurrence while the House also transmitted 54 bills to the Senate for concurrence.
According to him, total of 106 bills have scaled through the second reading and presently undergoing further legislative processes before various standing committees.
The House also considered eight petitions received from members of the public and passed total of 40 resolutions on various motions sponsored by House members.
Convicted persons can't contest 2011 elections – Reps (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9767:convicted-persons-cant-contest-2011-elections--reps-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
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