Politexting: Using Mobile Technology to Connect the Unconnected and

Expanding the Scope of Constituency Relations –

Deji Olaore

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the face of the world, and its impact is manifest in every facet of our lives. The introduction of ICT into the democratic process, and the use of new technologies by politicians and public officials is no exception. Access to information is crucial to effective citizen participation in the democratic process. The shift in the technological innovations offers the political class, those seeking public office and elected representatives considerable scope to improve their communication strategy, and information management. Furthermore, the potential to improve communication and information flow between public officials and citizens has greatly increased. Many African legislatures struggle with constituent relations due to costs, lack of resources, or other priorities and several other challenges facing the legislators. Barkan, Mattes, Mozaffar and Smiddy (2010) observed that in African countries, both citizens and Parliamentarians place a much higher emphasis on representation and constituency service than on legislating and oversight. However, there are several challenges such as cost, access, time constraint, resources, and lack of human capacity among others that hinder legislators from performing their representation roles effectively. But the advent of ICT, particularly the use of (SMS) has increased representatives' contact with constituents by lowering information costs, provides real time contact with legislators, gives voice to the voiceless, thereby changing the representation role of legislators in Africa. SMS technology has been used by elected representatives in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia to communicate with their constituents. Using Nigeria as an important case study; SMS has changed the face of constituency relations both at the national legislature, and in State House of Assemblies. This essay shows how SMS technology has been utilized to increase citizens’ access to elected officials and significantly improved elected representatives’ constituency outreach efforts.

1. Introduction

In any democratic society, being informed, combined with the capacity of citizens to participate freely in the political process are both necessities and rights (Mulder, 1999). Kakadadse, Kakadadse, & Kouszmin, (2003) argued that democratic potential is the capacity of citizens to participate effectively and knowledgeably in socially constitutive processes. Democracy and good governance require citizen’s participation. Similarly, access to information is vital for transparency, accountability and inclusiveness, yet the voices of the poor, women and minorities often times go unheard, especially in developing democracies. The shift in the technological innovations offer elected representatives, and the political class considerable scope to improve communication and information management between them and the people (Williamson, 2009).

One of the crucial preconditions for any successful and effective democratic system of government is citizens’ participation in the political process. Critical to participation are the twin values of freedom and equality of access to the democratic process and institutions (Lyons & Lyons, 1999). There are three branches of government in a democratic society, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Balkan (2008) observes that legislatures are the institutional mechanism through which societies make representative governance real on a day-today basis. He explains that the legislature is the institutional arena in which competing interests articulate and seek to advance various objectives in the policy making process. One of the key functions of legislators is representation. Members of a parliament or legislature are the representatives of the people.

As representatives, they are responsible for establishing a linkage between themselves and their constituents. This linkage will allow for a two-way dialogue and exchange of thoughts and ideas between representatives and the people they represent. Democratic governance is therefore strengthened when citizens have the will and the ability to engage meaningfully in the policy/decision making process through easier and more frequent communication with their elected representatives (Fitch & Goldschmidt, 2005; Coleman, Taylor, & Van De Donk, 1999; and Lyons & Lyons, 1999).

In addition, effective communications between Representatives and their constituents contributes to avoiding disconnect between voters and the Representatives. One of the important roles of legislators is to articulate the views of their constituents and serve as liaison between government and citizens. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (1997), the very notion of representative democracy assumes that public participation in the decision-making process improves the quality of decision-making. Kurtz (1997) further argues that effective communication between legislators and constituents and between the institution and the general public can help to build democratic traditions and institutions. Therefore, placing emphasis on the linkage function of representatives educates both citizens and legislators about their roles in a representative democracy.

In their report on Online Town Hall Meetings Exploring Democracy in the 21st Century,

Lazer, Neblo, Esterling, & Goldschmidt (2009) recommend that in order to “enable Members of Congress to balance constituent input and their own policy judgments and to effectively communicate and gain support for their policy decisions, they must use what is called a Madisonian or “republican” feedback model” (p. 3). Lazer et al (2009) explained that a Madisonian model is a cycle of deliberation that allows citizens to cooperatively formulate and communicate their interests to their Senators and Representatives. Legislators in turn will debate and craft legislations to advance those interests and then persuade constituents of their actions in order to generate popular support for them, this process repeat itself in a cycle of feedback.

The Madisonian Feedback Cycle copied from CMF report on Online Town Hall Meetings

The Madisonian cycle underscores the importance of effective communication between legislators and their constituents, this can be achieved through a wide range of methods of communication such as face to face meetings, town hall meetings, e-mail, telephone calls, text messaging, letters, newsletters, social media and others.

Regular dialogues and feedback keep citizens and elected officials in close contacts. The value of such engagements combined with new technologies have the capacity to enlarge the scope of political dialogue, and serve as educational process that brings issues into the public focus and allows them to be defined (Kakabadse, Kakadadse & Kouzmin 2003). Coleman, Taylor & Van De Donk (1999) argued that the stronger, and clearer the flows of information between citizens and their representatives, the better is the health of democratic system. In this new information age, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) were one of the elements heralded as capable of assisting elected representatives and public officials in reconnecting with the public (Lusoli, Ward, & Gibson, 2006). Based on its transformative power in business, commerce, education, health and other sectors, it is therefore important to investigate how ICTs are being used by elected representatives in performing their legislative functions, particularly their representation role.

ICT tools have been credited with empowering people to take active role in political decision making process including open debates that are essential to sustain democracy and pluralist society. Politically, the ICT revolution has created new avenues for democratic participation through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Online Town Hall meetings and text messaging (SMS). Text messaging has also been used for other purposes such as election monitoring, banking, economic transactions and health. The purpose of this essay is to examine the use of technology of politexting for constituent relations by elected officials, specifically to see if it increases the scope of contact, and improve accountability to voters. This essay draws upon a three year (2010-2013) field research in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The result of the field study shows that elected representatives have been using politexting technology (SMS) to communicate effectively with their constituents, engage citizens in political dialogues and thereby increasing citizen’s access to information and political debates.

Therefore, the overarching goal of this essay is to examine the impact of new information and communication technology (ICT), especially the ICT tools used by elected representatives in emerging democracies (with particular focus on Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia) in communicating with their constituents. I utilized interpretive methodology to examine comparative communicative experiences of elected representatives in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The study revealed that mobile technologies have become ubiquitous, and potent political communication tool by elected representatives in these emerging democracies with focus on the use of text messaging, a phenomenon described in this study as Politexting also known as short messaging system (SMS) – the use of text messaging in political communication.

The scope of this research was limited to a one-way communication from elected representatives to the constituents. This aspect of one-way communication also includes interpersonal communication with each constituent and the communication with organized groups, communities or associations. The decision to limit the scope of this study to representative-constituent one-way communication system was based on limited resources and the amount of time required to undertake such a study. Researching a two-way communication between representative and constituents in these countries (Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria) will involve not only a considerable amount of time, but also substantial resources to travel to different constituencies throughout the selected countries. I also found conducting interviews with the elected representatives very challenging, but at the same time an interesting endeavor in an attempt to understand the concept of constituency relations from legislators’ perspectives.

Methodologically, this study focused on comparative communicative experiences of elected representatives in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone, using information technology in communicating with their constituents with great emphasis on Nigeria. Nigeria is an important case because SMS has changed constituency relations both in the national legislature, and in state legislatures. The SMS technology has provided a significant opportunity for elected representatives to reach their constituents and also be reached by the constituents. In all, 75 participants (MPs and legislative staff) took part in the study. Nigeria has the largest number of participants with 62, followed by Sierra Leone 8 participants, and Liberia with 5 participants.

2. ICT and Democracy

The importance of technology in political communication has stimulated interesting discussions among scholars in response to alleged crisis of representation due to public disenchantment towards democratic institutions and practices. Representative institutions varied because of political culture, tradition, and history. This makes it difficult to assess the broad-spectrum effects of technological advancement on political institutions. In addition, the adoption and application of technologies differ from one political culture to another. While others perceived new technologies as disruptive to traditional practices; some viewed it as a means to enhance productivity, efficiency and social accountability.

Coleman and Spiller (2003) observed that representative bodies have come under increasing pressure to either connect more directly with citizens or risk becoming marginalized. Lusoli, Ward, and Gibson (2006) reported that it has increasingly become commonplace to talk of crisis in parliamentary representation in the United Kingdom as a result of an increasing gulf between the Parliament, its members, and the British public. “Citizens know less about MPs and the Parliament than was the case in the past. Only 42% of the public can correctly name their MP, a 10% decrease from early 1990s” (Lusoli, Ward, & Gibson, 2005, p. 26).

Similarly, The Hansard Society, a leading independent, non-partisan political research and education charity based in the United Kingdom in its briefing at the House of Lords in December 2008, on Enhancing Parliament’s Ability to Communicate with Members of the Public highlighted the increasing gap between the British Members of Parliament (MPs), and the public. The group (Hansard Society) reported that just 32% of the people agree that they have a good understanding of the way Parliament works and only 19% of the people surveyed agree that Parliament is working for them. These statistics show increasing citizens’ disengagement or lack of trust for the Parliament and/or the parliamentarians. Many studies (Coleman, Taylor, & Van De Donk, 1999; Leston-Bandeira, 2007; Lyons & Lyons, 1999; Mulder, 1999; and Williamson, 2009) recognized that digital technologies may provide a way of making representatives more accessible to the public. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had an important and growing impact on the work of elected representatives. In a study on Communicating with Congress, Fitch & Goldschmidt (2005) concluded that members of Congress have more opportunity to interact easily with many people as a result of the new technologies. Similarly, Hysom (2008) noted that with the advent of the new technologies, the public has the capability to be almost as informed as Members and staff about topical issues in the Congress. “Now, it is not only the Member educating and updating the constituent, but the constituent is bringing new information to the Member as well” (Hysom, 2008, p. 39).

Transformative Impact of ICT in Representative Democracy

In their study of how the Scottish Parliament has been transformed with the adoption of the new technology, Smith & Gray (1999) stated that the Scottish Parliament represents an unparalleled democratic innovation in governance with the adoption, and incorporation of Information and Communication Technology into its legislative business. They argued that Scottish Parliament represents an opportunity for democratic renewal which cannot be underestimated, and the role of technology in supporting the renewal was well articulated and implemented. Information Communication and Technology (ICTs) were credited with transformative potentials that not only support the operations of the parliament in terms of representative democracy, but it also shifts the nexus of political engagement away from pure representative democracy towards actual participative engagement in the political process.

Lusoli, Ward, & Gibson, (2006), identified Information Communication Technology (ICTs) as one of the elements capable of assisting the parliament in reconnecting with the public. In a study of United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentarians and the use of the Internet to reconnect with the public, it was discovered that the desire of the UK Members of Parliament, and the House of Commons (HoC) to connect with the public via electronic means is palpable. The study found that among the growing range of channels available to citizens to contact their elected representatives, telephone is reportedly the medium of choice. Lusoli et al concluded that new technologies have potentials to attract new citizens and deepen people’s engagement with the parliament.

Mobile technology, (especially text messaging) is another new ICT tool credited with changing the political communication’s landscape. According to a Pew Research Center study (2010), cell phones have become an essential communication tool for American adults. The Pew study stated that 82% of American adults say they have cell phones, and 71% of them use text messaging, and 26% of Americans used their cell phones to connect to the 2010 mid-term elections. Dale and Strauss, (2007) in their study on text messaging as a youth mobilization tool conducted during November 2006 United State elections, found out that text messaging is a powerful tool to reach new voters and drive them to the polls. The result of the study indicated that text message reminders to new voters increased an individual’s likelihood of voting by 3.2%, a strong margin that could change a close election.

Graff (2008) observed that text messaging has becomes the tool of expression for those dissatisfied with the political status quo around the world. For instance, in 2001, protesters organized themselves through text messages to overthrow President Joseph Estrada of Philippines. Graff (2008) also indicated that text messages helped toppled Jose Maria Aznar’e government in Spain, after the Madrid train bombings in 2004. Similarly, Celdran (2002) argued that text messaging has altered the traditional rules of political communication and mobilization with far-reaching implications for the nature of citizenship in an age characterized by rapid innovations in information technology. Celdran (2002) further explained that the most impressive characteristics of text messaging are network connectivity, speed, cost-effectiveness, mobility and confidentiality. He submitted that when these same characteristics are in tandem with external social forces, text messaging becomes a potential tool for mediating political information and accelerating the process of political change as witnessed in Philippines.

The growing influence of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), in particular mobile phone technology, on many aspects of life is significant, and its remarkable impact on politics and political communications is manifest around the world. According to the Pew Center study (2010) “mobile connectivity has become a growing feature in all kinds of communication and information exchanges-including politics- and mobile connectivity is becoming a regular feature of political campaigns” (p. 3).

The use of text messaging was not limited to political campaigns and citizens’ mobilizations. Nonpartisan election monitoring organizations in countries like Albania (2007), Bahrain (2006), Indonesia (2005), Montenegro (2006), Sierra Leone (2007), Ghana (2008), Nigeria (2011), Zambia (2011) and Kenya (2013) have also adopted SMS as a communication tool to monitor general elections. Schuler (2008) observed that “the speed of communication and processing, the flexibility, and the coverage SMS can provide gives monitoring organizations a powerful tool for organizing volunteers and responding instantly to an evolving election environment. When combined with a reporting methodology that utilizes a representatives sample of polling stations, SMS reporting contributes to a deep understanding of how elections are conducted across a country and whether the results reflect the will of the people” (p. 154). Text messaging is becoming a tactical communication and mobilization tool. Also in Africa, text messaging is a breakthrough communication tool that cut across business, politics and social interactions using mobile technology. Bratton (2013) observed that while relatively few Africans use computers – even in technologically advanced countries like South Africa and Kenya, almost everyone uses a cell phone.

Williams, Mayer and Minges (2011) observed that “Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been a remarkable success in Africa. Across the continent, the availability and quality of service have gone up and the cost has gone down. .. In just 10 years – dating from the end of 1990s – mobile network coverage rose from 16 percent to 90 percent of the urban population; by 2009, rural coverage stood at just under 50 percent of the population” (p.1). Williams et al (2011) observed that though the Internet is still in its infancy, however, “the explosion in access to telecommunications services has been most prominent in the mobile market, in which the number of users grew by more than 247 million between 1998 and 2008. The mobile penetration rate increased from less than 1 percent of the population in 1998 to almost one-third by 2008 and since then has continued to increase” (p.3). However, the increasing growth witnessed in the mobile telephone service is yet to impact on Africa’s internet usage. According to Internet World Stat report (2012), less than 20% of the population in Africa has access to internet. The report further stated that the internet penetration in Africa is just 7% of the world internet usage.

As at June 2012, the Internet usage in Nigeria (the most populous country in Africa) is 48 million or 28% out of a population of over 160 million people. As at the same time, Sierra Leone’s internet penetration was 1.3% of the population, and that of Liberia was 3% of the total population.

Similarly, a report by McKinsey Global Institute released in November 2013, stated that the Internet’s contribution to Africa’s GDP remains low, at 1.1 percent—just over half the levels seen in other emerging markets and well below the average of 3.7 percent in developed economies. The McKinsey report acknowledged that Mobile telephony has already had an outsized effect in Africa as it connected people who previously had little or no access to telecommunications due to the scarcity of fixed-line infrastructure.

Over all, the use of new technology as potent political communication, and mobilization tool was demonstrated in the Arab Spring that engulfs North Africa and Middle East since the beginning of 2011. Cell phones and text messaging were also used as powerful tools of mobilization during the Nigerian fuel subsidy demonstration of January 2012. In these cases, a combination of social media including the mobile technology has increasingly empowered the people to be connected together. This connectivity enables the citizens to create communities engaged on single issue, and bounded together by a common goal, which has caused unparalleled political revolution especially in North Africa and Middle East. But despite the transformative impact of ICTs, there are still concerns over lack of access, affordability and digital divide between those who are connected and those who are not.

3. Challenges of ICT and Representative Democracy

While ICTs have been recognized as a positive force in enhancing participatory democracy, this “utopian” perspective of information technology has been challenged. According to Tettey (2001), “ICTs will just produce a façade of democracy and popular participation because the elite manipulate information technologies to fit their institutional and personal agendas” (p. 137). This school of thought argues that the new technology only serves the interest of those who dominate the prevailing power structure and influence. Coleman and Spiller (2003) in their submission on the effects of ICTs and democratic process contended that the accounts of the democratic impact of new media have been problematic in three ways:

“Firstly, they have tended to be over-deterministic about social consequences of technological adoption. Secondly, they have often displayed theoretical naiveté about the scope for transcending representative structures and institutions. Thirdly, they have been methodologically preoccupied with narrow empirical questions, such as the number of representatives with websites or email accounts, rather than more sophisticated analyses of the nature and practice of political representation” (p. 3).

Coleman and Spiller (2003) argued that deterministic accounts of the democratic potential of the new media assume that technologies are historically independent forces, which they are not. They stated that instead of addressing other crucial factors such as constitutional, institutional and socio-demographic contexts, some commentators have tended to be obsessed with the models of direct democracy and other techno populist scenarios. According to them, the assumption that new models of policy formation and decision making are simply dependent upon innovative techniques of communication, not only perpetuates the fallacy of technocratic determinism, but moreover vastly understates the temporal, cognitive and aggregatory rationale for democratic representation. Similarly, Braton (2013) argued that ICT is not automatically a ‘liberation technology’ therefore, cell phones may either promote or undermine democratic citizenship. Coleman and Spiller (2003) concluded that the new media posses a vulnerable potential to invigorate democratic communication. However, media effects are never deterministic, they often times develop counter to expectations and always in relation to wider environmental and cultural factors. It is therefore not useful to think about technologies as producing autonomous effects.

With particular reference to Africa, Tettey (2001) argued that in the case of Africa, there is failure to take into account the presence or absence of certain enabling circumstances that will allow the representatives and citizens to use the technologies effectively. Prominent “among these factors are economic status, geographical location, education attainment, gender, and literacy in the dominant language of the technology” (Tettey, 2001, p. 138). Obijiofor, Inayatullah and Stevenson (2005) also observed that some of the inhibiting factors affecting the widespread introduction and use of the new technologies in Africa include: endemic poverty level which leads to the perception of computers, for example, as alien and luxury acquisitions; poor infrastructural support base, examples include inefficient electricity and telephones systems; illiteracy and lack of basic computing skills and perception of the technologies (example, computer) as a status symbol or statement of one’s hierarchy in society. With this development, it means that not all citizens can participate in the political process on an equal footing.

Another significant factor that constraints access to and the use of technologies in the political process in Africa is the low level of infrastructural development. Ezekwesili (2009) observed that 30 African countries experience chronic power outages and around 560 million people in Sub-Saharan African lack access to modern energy. However, the situation is fast changing, especially in the telecommunication sector. According to the Internet World Stats report (2012), the growth in Africa’s Internet and Broadband sector has accelerated in recent years due to improvements in infrastructure, the arrival of wireless access technologies and lower tariffs. Similarly, Williams et al. observed that institutional reform has driven the radical change in Africa telecommunications sector. As a result, “markets have been liberalized, and regulatory bodies have been established. The resulting increase in competition has spurred investment and dramatic reductions in prices” (Williams, Mayer and Minges, 2011 p.1). Similarly, a report on ICT Infrastructure by African Business (2013) stated that Africa’s ICT infrastructure has transformed dramatically over the last few years. The giant strides and the transformative developments witnessed in the areas of ICT infrastructural development in Africa in the last decade is arguably better captured by the phrase used by McKinsey report: “Lions go digital.”

4. Expanding Political Communication through Politexting

Overwhelming majority of the participants in this study identified mobile phone as the ubiquitous Information and Communication Technology tool used by elected representatives in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia to communicate with their constituents. For instance, the rapid transformation of Nigeria’s telecommunications landscape coincided with the country’s transition to democracy in 1999 when the government licensed three Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) networks in 2001 to provide mobile phone services in the country. Since then, the growth in the telecommunication industry in Nigeria has been exponential. As pointed out by one of the participants:

With the advent of the cell phones, and the ever increasing expansion of different networks that are all over the country, we are able to communicate with our constituents, and they are able to get in touch with us. They either speak directly with us or send us text messages. Virtually in every nook and crannies of my constituency, we have access to the people through the cell phones.

From the accounts of most participants, cell phone usage has become a common phenomenon and the most effective communication tool used by elected representatives to communicate with their constituents in the three countries studied. One participant explained that:

The most commonly use communication tool in this office is cell phone. The cell phone revolution is just taking over and it is so much easier for people in the constituency to call. Everybody has access to a phone, and the Honorable is very generous with his numbers, he makes his telephone numbers available to every member of his constituency. There is no phone call from any constituent that he would not take as long as he has his phone with him, if not, we take the call. We try to find out what the problem is, and if it is something we can deal directly with on the phone, we do it. We work on it and we call them back and say we’ve done this or we’ve done that. So, cell phone has become the most effective tool of communication with constituents

One participant stated that “cell phone is the most often used tool to communicate with my constituents. It is very effective in the sense that, in this IT age, there is no part of my constituency that does not have a telecommunication facility” Another participant simply said “Cell phone is the most commonly used communication tool I utilized in communicating with my constituents. It is easy and fast” Aside from using cell phone to communicate with individual constituents, some participants further explained how they have explored the mobile technology to communicate with more than one person at a time. One participant recalled his experience:

When communicating with members of my constituents, I talked to them more on phone and I go to my constituency at least twice a month. I do telephone conference with them if I cannot go home. I called them and they put the phone on the speaker so that I can discuss with the people.

Another participant explained that “Several times we have used the cell phone to communicate with more than one person at a time. If there’s any meeting that needs my boss’ presence and he was unable to attend, the Constituency Officer goes there to represent him and while he is there, we put the phone on the speaker for him to make his contributions”. Cell phone is not only the most commonly used communication tools, majority of the participants also acknowledged its effectiveness and usefulness in carrying out their legislative duties. One participant stated that “The mobile communication has brought tremendous improvement in working here in this office as a legislator” Another participant from Nigeria summarized his experience this way:

It is obvious that the advent of cell phones changed the communication landscape at the National Assembly and Nigeria as a whole. Cell phone is the most commonly use tool of communication between the staff and Members of the House of Representatives. For those of us that have been in the National Assembly for some time, we can see the changes that have happened over the past 10 years since the introduction of GSM. The cell phone technology has facilitated improved communication between Members and the staff, and Members and their constituents. Before the introduction of cell phone, it was very difficult for Members to communicate with their staff, and it was even more difficult for them to communicate with their constituents, however, that has changed in the last 8 years.

One significant finding of this study was that the mobile communication was easily accessible to the people irrespective of their location, age, gender or status. One participant observed that:

Cell phone cut across the elderly, the middle age, everybody has a cell phone in Nigeria. The unemployed have a cell phone…it is beautiful in Nigeria because you can go under a mango tree, there’s always somebody with a cell phone...you can quickly make a call…. I do say that the cell phone has revolutionalized communication in Nigeria and it has helped the lawmakers to reach out to their people, to be there for them.

Participants from Sierra Leone and Liberia shared the same view. For instance one participant from Sierra Leone said:

The availability of cell phone in nearly every part of Sierra Leone has made it easy to communicate with people in my constituency. In the past, I have to traveled for over 8 hours on bad roads (from Freetown) or send someone to them before I can communicate with the people. But that has changed; I can call people directly or call my staff in the constituency.

Another MP from Sierra Leone recalled, “cell phone is the major means of communicating with the people when I’m not physically with them. They call me to inform me of the happenings in the constituency and seek my opinion or inputs. For instance, during the last elections, I received some urgent phone calls from my constituency that required my immediate attention, if not for the cell phone; there was no way the people could have reached me within that short period.”

Though the above accounts were significant, and they were corroborated by other participants. However, a particular experience shared by one of the participants revealed that text messaging has becomes the nucleus of the communicative experiences of elected representatives:

What I also noticed was that with cell phone, it reduced the number of letters coming from the constituency, people just call. When you tell them oh! You know what; you could’ve written it down, they would rather text you the information. If there is a problem that they need help on, or they are looking for information at the Federal level, they prefer to text you and say look, we have this problem, can you help contact the Ministry of Environment, can you reach this or that. They would text, they do not write. I guess it is easier, it is faster, and it is cheaper. And because like I said, the computer literacy level is low and people do not actually walk around with the laptops, it just makes sense to text.

The above statement summed up the communication process between legislators and their constituents. Another representative confirmed that receiving text messaging is easy and convenient for her, she stated that: “Those who cannot get me during the day can send me text messages and when I resume in the office I usually call one of my staff to retrieve all the messages in my cell phones and we reply them accordingly”.

This experience actually emphasized the convenience and accessibility of text messaging. Unlike cell phone, text messaging does not constitute any hindrance to legislators’ functions. When representatives are busy with other legislative functions, and they cannot use their cell phones, they can always retrieve their text messages at a convenient time.

One of the participants explained that “Almost six out of ten people you meet in my constituency know my telephone number, they call me, and they send text messages”. Most of the participants interviewed agreed that they receive several text messages from their constituents every day. Another legislator said: “if I opened my text message box, you will discover that over 75% of the messages therein have to do with communication from my constituents” Though participants agreed that most of the text messages they received from their constituents were mainly personal demands for one form of assistance or the other. Despite these challenges, participants agreed that text messaging is more convenient for them to deal with than direct phone calls.

Some of the unique characteristics of the mobile technology as identified by participants include: convenience, portability, low cost, potential for massive distribution of information and it is readily accessible. The study revealed that text messaging holds a greater potential for representatives to be connected with their constituents, to engage with citizens in political dialogues, and decision making process, especially those who are living in remote (rural) areas. From the participants’ personal accounts, one can infer that text messaging technology is an important communication tool for the elected representatives in emerging democracies, and it is a growing phenomenon, which I described as Politexting. One of the legislators captured the text messaging phenomenon this way:

I can’t imagine if we don’t have text messages. If we don’t have telephone services, I can’t imagine what would have happened. There isn’t much use of email because not very many people have access to computers or internet. I could imagine if there is absence of cell phone, the challenges could have been much more. But it’s very convenient and very effective to communicate through the cell phone and most importantly via text messages.

One can safely conclude that Politexting (i.e the use of text messaging in politics) is a breakthrough communication tool, and an increasing potent technology in political communication. With today‘s technology, text messaging gives one the ability to retrieve messages from other cell phones immediately. It allows individuals to review their messages at their convenience- anywhere, at any time. Participants in this study confirmed that text messaging allows them to receive alerts quietly when important decisions are to be taken, or when immediate actions are required on specific issues. One participant stated that his constituents kept him abreast of developments in the constituency through text messaging. “They (constituents) will call you, they will send text messages to you, they will tell you what they want, and if there is any problem, they will alert you through the text messages or if there is any development, they will call your attention to it.”

Findings from this study confirmed previous studies that showed that text messaging is in the process of changing political communication landscape in Africa and the world. This represents a paradigm shift in professional commitments or shared beliefs (“scientific revolutions”). This study also reinforces the fact that mobile technology provides new and innovative communication channel that empowers the people, and gives voice to the voiceless. The use of text messaging technology by legislators promises to bridge the communication gap between elected representatives and their constituents. A major advantage of text messaging technology is that the service is readily available on most of the cell phones, and it does not require Internet connectivity or any special equipment. For instance one of the participants stated that:

It is just a question of few minutes, as you speak everybody is aware of it, and you can send one text message to several people in ten different Wards, and people in all the ten Wards will receive this message instantly.

As a result, citizens are more engaged on issues of governance and other topical issues of interest. It is easier and cheaper for citizens to share information among themselves, and build coalition around issues of common interest such as the issue of political corruption. The current growth in the use of text messaging worldwide is astronomical. The International Communication Union (ITU), a leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues stated in its 2010 ICT facts and figures annual report that the total number of SMS sent globally tripled between 2007 and 2010, from an estimated 1.8 trillion to a staggering 6.1 trillion. In other words, close to 200 000 text messages are sent every second. This statistics indicates that text messaging is a breakthrough communication tool as more people, organizations and businesses integrate text messaging into their communication and business strategies.

5. Challenges to Effective Representative-Constituents Relations

Despite the usage of several pulsating ICT tools and the continuous use of traditional mode of communication by elected representatives, several challenges were catalogued by the participants as part of their communicative experiences. These challenges are crucial to understanding communicative experiences of representatives in emerging democracies. A typology of the content of communication that takes place between elected representatives and their constituents revealed the type of issues or discourse that take place between them. This also gives deeper insights into the perceptions of elected representatives about communication with their constituents.

One of the major challenges participants faced irrespective of whether they use traditional communication tools or they utilized the new technologies is poverty. Majority of the citizens in the three countries studied live below the poverty level; as a result, this has a drastic effect on the communication between elected representatives and the people. One participant succinctly summarized the issue of poverty this way: “Politics in the Third World is unbelievable. The level of poverty has taken politics to another level. The challenges are beyond what is normal.” Another participant puts it in a slightly different context, he stated that:

We are in an emerging democracy and our economy is just growing. This is a place where people need help with regards to the totality of the process; from somebody who has gone to school, he needs money to be able to access the Internet, to buying newspapers to know whether there is a job advertisement in the newspapers for employment in government or in the private sector.

The issue of poverty is a common theme that cuts across all participants from the three countries. They all shared similar experiences and gave graphic illustrations of how it affects their communicative experiences. For instance, one representative from Liberia recalled: “if you communicate with 100 people, 80% are looking for money and 20% are looking for jobs. Those are the challenges, and you know you cannot provide money for all the 80% that are looking for money for one reason or the other” Another participant has this to say:

Many a times you sit here and people come with problems that are not constituency related. They come with personal problems; they come with issues that will reduce the office to … (I don’t know, I’m not sure I have the right words now). They come with very ridiculous and unbelievable problems. For instance, someone may walk up to you and tell you that his wife is pregnant and she is expecting a baby and he needs financial assistance; those are not things they should bring to this office. They should bring issues that will impact on the society, impact on the constituency. But the danger in this is that when you begin to have so many of such personal requests, it tends to derail the drive of the office, because you are now bound to believe that if you do not solve those problems, you will not be voted for the second time when you plan to come back. As a result you try to channel your resources to individual or personal problems instead of focusing on the larger (public) good of the society.

Another representative puts his own experience this way: “because of the level of poverty, hunger, and other related issues in this part of the world, once you make yourself available, at least for me, out of the 100 emails, letters or text messages I received, may be in a week or in a month, 95 out of them are for financial assistance.”

The other difficulty encountered by the representatives in communicating with their constituents is lack of understanding of the roles of legislators by the citizens. Aside from poverty, this problem is actually responsible for unnecessary demands placed on elected representatives by their constituents. A representative stated that “Lack of understanding of the roles of legislature is one of the problems we are experiencing, because if our roles are understood and known by those who elected us (voters) we will have fewer problems. But our roles are still yet to be understood by our constituents. Most of our constituents didn’t know our roles. We are lawmakers, we don’t award contracts but the agitations and the requests we receive from our people daily are unbelievable.” Majority of the participants agreed that this was one of the most serious challenges they faced as representatives. Another representative explained that:

People do not understand the role of legislators; that is a big problem. The expectations of the people are quite at variance with why a Member was elected. They don’t understand that a Member is here to make laws; they think that he is in the Executive where he controls funds. Come and build roads for us, come and build hospital for us, all these are not his job. His job is to make laws and carry out oversights over government programs and projects. Again because of our rural environment, people’s expectation from the Members is to come and give them money. Oh! he is here to make money on our behalf he should come and share it with us. They don’t understand why the Member is in the Parliament.

One participant simply puts it this way: “The major challenge is their (constituents) lack of appreciation or understanding of what the duties of a legislator is. It is a common knowledge that people from the constituency tend to think and feel that the benefits of interacting with their legislator is to have a slice of the national cake, and they do not think that there are better roles played by the legislators. So when you are interacting with them and you are bringing to their knowledge polices you think could at long run affect the general public, they tend to concentrate more on their individual benefits rather than things that will benefit the constituency at large.”

Several participants expressed their frustrations on this issue and explained that lack of understanding of their roles affect the effective performance of their legislative functions. For instance, a representative explained that by focusing on personal demands from their constituents, elected representatives are unable to focus on their other core functions of legislation and oversight:

One major negative consequence is that I have not been able to perform my primary functions as a legislator. I’ve been asked to do things that are outside my normal schedules. I’ve been asked to attend to their needs in terms of naming ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, needs such as his latrine has collapsed, his open well has given way, his roof is caving-in, there is leakage here, his wall is falling apart’ … he is trying to do a wedding ceremony for his siblings, he has a court case, death here, burial ceremony there. All these requests are as a result of lack of understanding of the role of legislature. To them I should be able to solve these problems and that’s what they count as being a good representative.

From different accounts from the participants, there seems to be high numbers of unrealistic expectations, and demands from the people. This in turn puts considerable pressures on elected representatives, and often times, they cannot meet these demands and expectations.

Another major challenge that affects effective communication between legislators and constituents is the issue of inadequate infrastructure development across the three countries. This problem hampers MPs ability to optimally use the new technology to communicate with their constituents. One participant explained that: “Most of the communication networks are not reliable. They go off and on without any notice from the service providers. So, you find it difficult communicating with your constituents or even the constituency office, and it is the same problem with your constituents communicating with you.” Another participant stated that:

“One of the major challenges we faced is lack of infrastructural development even in the areas of telecommunication. Most of the times, the calls may not go through due to lack of good and reliable service. You discover that some of the service providers do not have enough capacity to handle the number of subscribers on their network. This usually results in congestions and poor service delivery” said a participant.

Another participant expressed her dissatisfaction with both the Internet service providers and the telephone companies. She stated that “Basically, network failure is a major problem when you use the cell phone. At times when you try to make a call and your calls are dropping….And for the Internet, of course we are aware that most Internet providers are very slow, the services are very poor. Sometimes you send an email and it bounces back or you try to attach a document and it takes eternity to do that.” One of the representatives described the poor service by the vendors as a rip-off. “When you give someone an appointment that I will talk to you by 1pm, and by 1pm, there was no network. Or the network is not very clear, you can’t hear well. It is frustrating. In fact you burn more money in talking on phone. And your message a times may not be clear” he said.

One participant from Nigeria observed that the inadequate infrastructural development is a systemic problem in Nigeria, and this has to be addressed within the larger context of the country’s development. He stated that “in a place where there is epileptic power supply, even if you have access to the internet, how frequently are you able to interface with these people via the internet? That becomes a very fundamental structural problem”. This problem was re-echoed by many participants because it affects their ability to communicate effectively with their constituents. One participant from Sierra Leone stated that “often times, people have to travel between 5 to 10 Kilometers to another town just to charge their phones because of lack of electricity. This hampers people’s ability to communicate with us, as well as our ability to reach out to them.”

Finally, it is fascinating that despite the challenges faced by the representatives in communicating with people, participants did not perceive communication with their constituents as a burden. This clearly challenges the assumption and the entrenched belief that elected representatives from Africa do not care about their constituents once they are elected. Instead, majority of the representatives interviewed see it as part of their responsibility to constantly stay in touch with their constituents. The accounts given by several participants on this issue revealed how the representatives view their relationships with the people they represent. One representative explained that:

I don’t see communicating with my constituents as a burden. It is part of the challenges in life. If I see it as a burden, I should not be where I am today. As a politician, I should be able to live up to the expectations and I should be able to live up to the challenges facing my people. I am here to represent them, and I should be willing and open to attend to their needs and their requests in whatever way I can to the best of my ability. Actually, I welcome challenges, and I appreciate challenges. I try to do the best I could in any given circumstance and I do explain to my constituents so that they could understand and appreciate my position and as a representative.

One of the representatives explained that he was delighted to make any sacrifice in order to represent his people. He sees it as a privilege and a rare opportunity to represent his people at the Parliament. He stated that “I actually see it as a service and I’m quite pleased. Even though, I’m a business man before coming to the House, I would have prefer to be doing my business but if I look at it: will I be doing business all my life? I look at this as a sacrifice to my community where I come from …I’m not making more money than I would have made in business but at the same time, I would not have the opportunity to represent my people if I remain doing my business.”

Another representative described the relationship between elected representatives and the people as a contractual one, hence communicating with the people under any circumstance should not be a burden to the representatives. He observed that “If you begin to see frequent interface between you as a Member of Parliament and your constituents- those who make up your constituency as a burden, then you don’t have any business in Parliament. Because the power that you have as a Parliamentarian was given to you by the people. You are holding the power in trust for those people, so the people can never ask for too much. You are at their will and caprices. They can never ask for too much.”

One of the legislative staff explained that, though communicating with constituents might be challenging sometimes, it can still not be seen as a burden to the representatives. He stated that: “Communicating with our constituents is not a burden in the sense that we’re here just because of them and we are here to serve them. Although we cannot satisfy everybody at the same time, but we try as much as possible to satisfy as many people as possible. We don’t see it as a burden, but sometimes it can be very stressful; yet, we take it as part of our job.” Another participant puts it in a different context; he stated that elected representatives are the ears and eyes of their people in the Parliament; hence they should not view the relationship with their constituents as burdensome:

An MP would not be in the Parliament if the people had not elected him/her, so she needs to be in touch with her people. She is primarily here to be the voice of her people and she needs to know what their problems are. She needs to know how she has to tackle it at the federal level. So, it is not a burden at all, it is easier for them to get in touch with us, and it is easier for us to get in touch with them.

The above accounts challenged the entrenched belief that African politicians are egocentric and self-serving. I think the assertion about politicians’ selfishness in Africa has been overrated without due consideration for the contextual variation prevailing in most African countries. Barkan, Mattes, Mozaffar, & Smiddy (2010) observed that the interaction between Africa’s demographic conditions and the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the legislature across the continent created a structure of incentives and disincentives that led MPs to emphasize constituency service over and neglect performance of core legislative functions. They stated that “given the demographics and history of African countries, both citizens and MPs place a much higher emphasis on representation and constituency service than on legislating and oversight, two defining functions of the legislature.” This is the situation that most African legislators unwittingly found themselves that puts them in direct confrontation with members of the public over performance of their legislative functions.

6. Conclusion

Three main characteristics of convenience, effectiveness, and affordability (cost-effectiveness) differentiate Politexting from any other form of political communication, and it has made Politexting the most popular form of private political communication tool. In addition, these three conditions have endeared elected representatives, especially in emerging democracies such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia to adopt the new communication technology at a faster rate. However, despite the growing reliance and the influence of new technologies, the traditional methods of communication such as face-to-face, town hall meetings, radio, and television still played important roles in political communication. I have also argued the ingrained notion that

African politicians are self-centered and conceited is overrated and has been over bloated without due consideration for the political, economic and social-cultural environment within which African legislators operate. This is not a justification for non-performance of elected representatives across the board on the continent, but a fundamental variable that has often been overlooked when assessing the emerging democracies in Africa. More importantly, the culture of dependency on government for everything had been long perpetuated within the continent’s political landscape, and this will take concerted efforts among the entire political class to re-orientate the people on the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the current wave of democratization that has taken place on the continent.

I suggest that future research efforts should involve the exploration of a two-way communication dynamics between elected representatives and citizens. It would be interesting study to research the impact and the use of text messaging by citizens to communicate with their elected representatives. In addition, it would also be critical to examine the importance of traditional communication methods and social capital among citizens, and how these affect the emergence of the new technologies. Other areas of interest could be an investigation into how elected representatives are coping with, and managing the influx of test messaging from their constituents. The issue of privacy is another major concern to the representatives. Currently, legislators have not developed a systematic way of how their staff can extract and manage the text messages from their cell phones in such a way that will protect their other private communications. Finally, it would be of great value to understand how this phenomenon is changing the political communication strategy, and interaction between the legislators and their constituents.

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