Democracy is anchored on the principle of separation of power
among the institutions of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
The
three are expected to operate autonomously but collaboratively to
achieve their respective mandates. Underlying this is the fact that each
one of them checks the other and, in that way, guards against excesses.
Historically,
the Executive has exhibited a penchant for domination, always striving
to emasculate the other two. Kanu’s four decades in power was
characterised by an overbearing and powerful Executive that reduced the
Legislature and Judiciary to cheerleaders.
Part of the
reason for the clamour for constitutional change was to restore
independence of institutions, end imperial presidency and trim the
powers of the Executive. Precisely, the Constitution has attempted to
achieve this as it devolves power away from the Executive.
But
we have not turned the corner yet. We are increasingly witnessing
consistent attempts by the Executive to claw back on the gains made.
FULL CONTROL
Last
week, in the election of Senate committee leaders, Jubilee Party went
out full throttle to take all the top positions — except one that is,
procedurally, reserved for the Opposition. Behind this was a
choreographed scheme by the Executive to take full control of the Senate
by having malleable chairpersons.
And
herein lies the danger. The Legislature works through committees — they
provide oversight for the various government ministries and
departments.
To this extent, they must be independent so as to discharge their mandate effectively and serve public interest.
The
converse is true: The public is deeply compromised when parliamentary
committees are friendlier or muted because of allegiance to the ruling
elite. Executive excesses are never interrogated and that paves the way
for mismanagement of public resources.
It
may be a political triumph for Jubilee but this is counter-intuitive.
The public is left thoroughly exposed when the Legislature is mellowed.
No comments:
Post a Comment