National Initiative for Civic Education

As a part of its delegated mandate from the Electoral Commission (EC), all NICE district offices throughout the country played a critical role in organizing and coordinating civic and voter education debates on the various electoral processes leading up to the May 2009 Presidential and Parlamentary Elections. In this task, the NICE political debates were innovative, efficient and cost effective in conjunction with various key partners such as District Assemblies (DAs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs).

The topics covered ranged from democracy and its transparency through anti-corruption inititatives, the public accountability of elected officials, and also how they were expected to support the community’s daily needs after the elections.

The general objective of the political debates was to contribute to the promotion and enhancement of democratic values and principles through the conduct of free, fair, accessible and credible Parlamentary and Presidential Elections. The debates were thus aimed at mobilising the eligible voters and the general public to get to know their candidates and what their development agenda of the constituency entails.

The NICE presiding officers, Traditional Authority representatives and the District Commissioner, not only selected a moderator to oversee and manage the dialogue, but also trained the candidates prior to the debates on the code of conduct, the debate style and also introduced them to the debate topic of the day. Individual participants were also  identified from the community to ask questions throughout the course of the debate. During the debates, community activities like drama and traditional dances were also incorporated to deliver civic education meesages pertinent to the debate topics discussed.

The various community debates were successfully implemented for a period of three months prior to the May 20th Elections and were generally perceived to be peaceful and vital to the voter awareness and education process.