Hunger stalking the land and LG polls - EDITORIAL

Over the past weeks, nay month or so, we and our fellow countrymen and women have been held in thrall by the demand by opposition parties in parliament for the holding of local government elections.
Particular political party leaders have threatened to take to the streets in the event elections are not held in a timely fashion. To emphasize a point, one party leader went on to boast - to school children - he used to come last in his class.
We do not contest the veracity of his statement nor pretend to know the reason behind such ‘transparency’. Unless of course it is to explain why, particular demands are put forward in times such as these.

Suffice to say, the demand to conduct LG elections is being made at a time the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is reporting that 6.2 million of our people are facing acute food security. In other words, one in every four of our people have no idea where their next meal is going to come from. 
As though this was not bad enough, yesterday’s Daily Mirror carries a huge graphic which reveals, that of the 384 drugs termed ‘essential drugs’ and 130 of these are in short supply, so-much-so the World Bank has been forced to deliver US$ 22 million worth essential drugs to the ministry of health in the country.

The country’s cancer hospital is one of the institutions facing this problem and the patients, unless they have private resources, are not able to purchase the much- needed drugs. 
According to the FAO essential medicines, medical supplies and nutritional supplements are urgently needed to strengthen health resources of the country, while UNICEF reveals 1.2 million children and women are accessing primary health care. 430,000 children receive micronutrient powder, 665,690 children receiving individual learning materials and 121,769 households are funded via humanitarian cash transfers.

The primary problem of more than a quarter of our population is therefore where they can find their next meal. For those who are ill and facing medical problems, their primary concern is where and how they are going to either fund their medical requirements or what they can do if the same is not available locally.
But the 225 men and women in our parliament are not among the members of the dispossessed and are unable to feel the pain and realities of the hunger and other shortages faced by the majority of our people.
We do not deny elections, they are important milestones in a nation’s democratic life. But elections and electioneering cost money, and that particular ingredient is what this nation does not possess. 

For instance in 2017, the Election Commission announced that elections to all 341 local authorities would be held on February 10, 2018. Around 13,000 polling stations were used. That election was expected to cost around Rs. 4 billion and required 300,000 staff, including public sector employees. 
In addition, each individual candidate (under the present electoral system) will need to spend at least a million rupees or more individually, to be even able to compete in the electoral system itself.

Most ordinary people do not have the resources (money) needed to participate in the hurly-burly of an election. Candidates are therefore forced to look for ‘sponsors’ to meet election costs. After election its payback time and ‘sponsors’ are repaid ‘in kind’ via various contracts and other equally corrupt practices. The present electoral system itself promotes corruption.
It is definitely necessary therefore to perhaps take a re-look at the electoral system which prevailed prior to the introduction of Proportional Representation (PR) System and its handmaiden - corruption.
But that is another story. Today most important problem to the people is the sky-rocketing cost of living and shortage of essential drugs. In short, their focus is on keeping body and soul together. 

Fresh local government elections will not help bring down the cost of living, essential drugs and/or cheaper fuel and gas or bring down the cost of electricity. Elections are a priority for only political parties and political leaders. 
Hunger, malnutrition and deprivation stalk our land. The local government election is a constitutional requirement. The expenditure of over Rs. 4 billion on the election will divert a huge sum of scarce resources away from essentials.
It begs the question ‘What is to be done?”