Jiritmwa Morgak Goyit is a gender advocate, a politician and a true believer of the People’s Democratic Party based in Jos, Plateau State. In this interview by KANGMWA GOFWEN she speaks about the progress made in curbing gender base violence and her intentions to contest for the Plateau State House of Assembly.
Y OU are a gender advocate, how much progress would you say has been achieved in curbing gender base violence?
As a gender advocate I will say not much has been achieved in terms of curbing this menace. I say this with sadness because we get to hear cases of violence that are targeted at certain persons because of their gender and sadly, you would ordinarily think that these things happen in the rural areas because you’d think they are ignorant, less educated, less aware of human rights and women rights. But no, we find gender base violence reports from urban areas, you hear of cases even among lawyers who ordinarily are the custodians of the law and are expected to uphold human rights, we find cases among the educated, the well-travelled, the exposed and what have you. So to me, the advocacy has gone so far but the results are still trailing behind and that calls for more work from all, from the media, the clergies and even teachers in schools are expected to talk about this because when the conversation is heard everywhere and not just left for advocates to advocate I think it will go a long way.
Your first attempt to contest was during the 2015 general elections and you contested for the House of Representatives, why are you going for a lesser position now?
I actually come from an area that practice zoning; positions are rotated either within wards, districts or local government as the case may be. So in 2015 I ran for the House of Representatives because it was at that time zoned to my local government but this time the House of Representative is not zoned to my local government but luckily, the state assembly is zoned to the district I’m currently practicing politics from so I’m eligible to contest based on the local understanding of zoning we have. I don’t think there is a lesser position and a higher position. Service, wherever you find yourself, if serving is what you have set your mind to do, you can serve at any position at any time. So the exigency of the moment avails for me to contest for the State House of Assembly. All I need is a platform, I mentioned somewhere that I have been participating and serving over the years but there is a limit to what you can do as an individual in terms of serving your community, serving the people and reaching out to lend your voice in national issues; so I’m actually looking for a platform where we could elaborate and do more for the people and there is one that is available which is the House of Assembly. I don’t look at it as a small or lesser position as compared to the house of representative.
You lost at the primaries level during your last contest, how did you feel and how did you handle it?
I belong to the school of thought that for every contest, for every project or plan you have there are one out of two outcomes to expect, you either succeed or fail, you win or lose depending which word fits the project you’re embarking on. When I set out to run for House of Representative in 2015 I knew that one was going to be the outcome I either win the elections or lose the election either way it doesn’t mean I’m a failure because when two or more people are running for one seat there has to be one who wins and sometimes not because the winner is better you are or you are better than the other. I felt bad that I lost the elections but I was not deterred because if I were I wouldn’t have still been in the practice of politicking
You have a BSc in Chemistry, what then inspired your interest in politics?
Politics has nothing to do with let’s say science background, arts background or social science, politics is the art of canvasing to get support for either yourself or a candidate of interest and in the event that you win, you deliver on the promises you made to the people. Even as a science student you’d agree with me that the art of governance that stems from politicking is one that superintends over every aspect of our lives that’s why you see even when government is set up you need the medical doctors to come man the positions of the commissioners or ministers of health as the case may be. It is governance, when they go there is not as if they conduct surgeries for people while they are in office. They superintend over policies that have to do with the health sector. For me it’s an inbuilt thing, I have the flare for politics. I have been participating, I would say from secondary school but you know that of secondary school was largely appointed but in my university I participated, we campaigned and installed successive governments (SUG), I also campaigned for myself where I ran for Hall Governor of a particular hostel and won and served so politicking has just been something I do effortlessly regardless of my course of study in the university.
You attended the women’s campaign school in the United States of America, how has that impacted your participation in politics?
My attending the Women Campaign School at Yale University has given me an unquantifiable edge above my contemporary and even myself, I ran for office before attending that course and when I returned my approach to politicking and how things are been done politics wise completely changed. It earned me a slot at a campaign team of someone that who for the National Chairman of our party in 2016 upon my return from Yale. It also helped me understand the perspective at which I should handle things politically, for example, we were taught how to fundraise for an aspirant, run a campaign, we were also taught how to present ourselves. We were also taught the importance of messaging, using the right message to canvas for support because you could go out and say the wrong things like saying ‘you must vote for me’ instead of saying ‘kindly vote for me’. We were taught a lot of things and I tell you that has helped me in most of the teams I have been a member of both at the state and national level I have brought my expertise to bare because there were a lot of things I learnt that ordinarily just being at home I wouldn’t have learnt those. And just like you rightly asked, coming from the Chemistry background I wouldn’t have just had such knowledge but it helped me and is helping me now in my campaign currently to know where funds should go to, know how to handle the right messaging, how to present myself. If you’re in Rome with the youths you need to, to some extend behave like the youths and when you’re with the women you need to show empathy that women show and a lot of other things.
Politics is male dominated, how have you thrived as a woman and a youth?
Well in this part of the world you’d agree with me that we belong to a society that is deeply patriarchal and they look at women as coming into politics to handle the domestic aspect of politicking. So when a meeting is held you just come and serve the food when it’s time for refreshment or when there is need for singing and dancing you’re supposed to come do that and as a young person when there is need for errands you’re just fit for errands but I think with the network I’ve garnered, mingling with people from different states, working at the national level, working at different states for different things and then with what I learnt from the campaign school has helped me to participate at the state level with some level of quality. So I realise that when you attend those meetings, when you participate with those elders who even though are deeply patriarchal and you proffer solutions issues that been discussed they will not just look at you as a woman or a youth but they will look at you as someone who has valuable addition to the conversation because I try to be productive, I try to be solution driven and it has helped that when issues are talked about my opinion is sort after. So when you come to the table with nothing they’d definitely fall back and remember you as a woman or as just youth and treat you as such but when you come with value you are treated with value. For example, you hear that a particular person does not know how to speak English, but this person may be the financier of the movement; and so, people no longer look at him as someone who doesn’t know how to speak English but someone who is a financier. So when you come to the table with something it over shadows that mundane thinking that ordinarily they will have.
How do you think we can get more women and youths to participate in politics or even take up electoral positions like you?
For me I think we can do that in two forms. One, the women and youths themselves need to wake up and understand that this conversation is one that affects us all. The art of politicking ultimately culminates in governance and governance is one place where policies are been prepared, deliberated upon and after such deliberations they are passed and worked out. Now if all these things are done and you do not participate it means your own perspective and problems will not be brought to bear, so women and youths need to find a way to forcefully join the conversation. The second part, I feel as people who are desirous of a nation that is well built we should on our own go out and invite more women and young people to take up these spaces and participate. So one is for the women and youths to come in themselves and the other is for the society to identify those women and youths who can and bring them into the system.
You started out in the People’s Democratic Party and you’re still there, have you ever considered switching to another party or maybe the ruling party?
I have never thought of switching from the People’s Democratic Party to any political party, reason is that the PDP has shown that it is one party that is dear to the people, it is a progressive party a little to the left and a little to the right with the interest of the people at heart. I must tell you that if the thought had ever crossed my mind this is the right time to bury that thought because the ruling party has shown that it is not one party to really envy because they have really not done anything fantastic that one should leave that PDP that has shown that it has the people at heart. I keep telling people that PDP is the largest political party in Africa, although people tend to doubt me but for a party to be opposition with all the castigation from the ruling party and people are still in the party it tells that these are genuine party members. The ruling party looks like it has more members but I tell you a lot of those who have gone there for poverty elevation just went there to put body and soul together. So for a party to be at opposition but still be large and competitive it tells you it is the largest and truly the largest and not fabricated.
Politics is a lot, long nights of meetings, travels, especially that you hold a position in the party. How do you balance that with family responsibilities?
What I do in trying to balance my political work and family is, there are peak seasons and low seasons, so when it is time for politicking I try to explain to my family need for me to be at those places at those time and when there is no need for me to be out of the home I don’t just jump at anything. I try to give family time when I have that. So you don’t find me just jumping at every meeting or every engagement if it doesn’t have a direct need for me. God has been helping me basically and I have a supportive family that sometimes they are the ones who even push me to going to do some of these things as opposed to me always saying I want to do this or that.
Now that you want to represent your constituency in the state assembly, what are some of your plans and which constituency are you hopeful to represent?
I am running for the Plateau State House of Assembly seat to represent the good people of Kanke Constituency. Those who have served before now have done their best in seeing that Kanke gets the best of representation at the State level. So what I am coming to do differently is one, wherever they have stopped, I am not expected to retrogress or to stagnate but I’m expected to move steps ahead of where they stopped. I also plan to leverage on the huge national network I have to see that I bring meaningful change to the people. By this we shall explore networking with non-governmental organisations, spirited individuals and also establish a good working relationship with the Executive. Well, let me not let the cat out of the bag but I assure you that whatever it is that a legislator should do or legally get for the people that we will do and more because I am going out of the box to get all these done.
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