Using EDMS in 2011 to Expedite Hearing of Election Petitions

Emeka Maduewesi

Would it not be wonderful to dispose of election petitions within three months of the announcement of the results? To achieve this I suggest that the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) should be encouraged or even mandated to use Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) to expedite the hearing of election petitions in 2011. This is because the unconscionable delay caused by INEC in the storage, copying and distribution of documents needed by INEC, lawyers and the courts.

ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EDMS)

An Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is a computer system that stores and tracks electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. The system captures documents and provides indexing, storage, versioning, metadata, security, and retrieval capabilities. In its basic form, an EDMS provides amazing work-flow and collaborative capabilities, allowing documents to be retrieved and worked on by an authorized user.

An internet enabled EDMS is very collaborative. When documents are deposited therein, anybody with internet access in any part of the world, who has been issued with valid credentials by the Administrator of the EDMS, may access the system to read, review, download or copy the documents. Documents may be “non-erasable, read-only” and not even the administrator has the power to modify the contents.

When a document is deposited in an EDMS, the system captures the document’s contents and the metadata. Metadata may be defined as data about data, the DNA of the document. Elementary metadata captured by an EDMS usually includes information about when the document was created, who created it, when it was last updated, the size and the file extension. The system will also issue the document with a unique ID number.

The proposed INEC EDMS should have the capability to tag every document used in the voting process by state, local government and polling station. This means that each document must have a unique alpha-numeric identification code to show precisely where it was used. For example, a document used in polling station number 47 in Nnewi North Local Government of Anambra State may be identified as follows: AN/NNLG/47. This makes it easy for the system to organize ALL the documents at states, LGAs, and polling stations levels. This system will drastically shorten the time for the hearing and determination of election petitions. I will explain.

ELECTION REPORTS AND WITNESS REPORTS

Whoever was in charge of a polling station should file a report of the conduct of the election within 48 hours of the close of voting. Also, anybody who desires to be a witness in any judicial proceedings regarding the conduct of the election in a polling station must file a witness statement in the prescribed form within 48 hours of the close of voting. These reports must be filed whether or not the final results of the elections have been announced. The reports must bear the alphanumeric code of the polling station.

DEPOSITORY, ACCES TO, AND USE OF DOCUMENTS

All the documents would be scanned and deposited in the DMS which shall maintain them in both the native and HTML formats. INEC staff trained shall tag ALL the documents in the system according to state, local government and polling station. The beauty of this system is that INEC would be saved the burden of copying and transporting documents needed by the parties and the court for the preparation, hearing and determination of election petition. INEC shall not delay in granting a request for access to the EDMS.

Any lawyer retained by a candidate on filing a notice of retainer with INEC shall be issued with a login and password for access to the DMS to download and make copies of any document relevant to the lawyer’s case. Once an election petition panel is constituted, the clerk of the panel shall be granted access to download and make copies of any documents relevant to any petition filed before the panel and make them available to the judges.

Part II of this essay shall design a calendar of events in an election petition and suggest a method for hearing election petitions so that the disposition of petitions shall not exceed 90 days from the date of filling to the date of final determination by the Court of Appeal.

Your comments are always welcomed.