According to Nipsey Russell, “Pros and cons are opposites, that fact is clearly seen. If progress means to move forward, then what does congress mean?”. “I have come to the conclusion that one man is a disgrace that two become a law firm, and that three or more become a congress. -John Adams’, Sherman Edwards would say in 1776.
In the words of Ronald Reagan, he said “I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.”
Congress is a national legislative body, especially that of the US. The US Congress, which meets at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., was established by the Constitution of 1787 and is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. But today am talking about Imo State House of Assembly which is a group of people gathering together in one place for a common purpose.
In Imo State House of Assembly, we have 27 lawmakers representing the local government areas of the state. I am not talking about party affiliation because in the Assembly, the issue of party should not be the underpinning but the progress of the citizens.
Political parties are only vehicles for delivering on the candidates but once the election is concluded, party vehicle should vitiate into governance. We must deviate from the venial of politics after elections given that once a lawmaker is elected; he no longer represents his party but the entire constituency that he represents. Whatever project the lawmaker embarks upon in the community is for all to enjoy. Just like when a governor is elected, the governor is elected to serve the interests of not his party but all Imolites.
In the Assembly, lawmakers come to the House with demands of their constituency and these demands vary from one constituency to another so that expecting that every lawmaker will be on the same page of an issue is a misplacement of fact. As each lawmaker comes on board with the demands of their community members, those demands drive and determine the position the house member will take when such issue comes.
Given that today in Imo, there is no community working institution of governance apart from the Governor, Senate, House of Reps, House of Assembly lawmaker/platforms. The councillorship system where citizens at the locals elect their preferred leaders of local government is non-existent; the chairmanship system where democratically elected local government chairmen are elected has become day dream.
What this means is that the Assembly lawmaker of a constituency will have pressure of demands/needs/priorities from the community members and it will be like ‘push me, I push you’, as the communities push the lawmaker for their demands to be met, the lawmaker pushes the House for the capturing of his/her community demands in the budget.
With this scenario in mind, it will be out of place to expect that every lawmaker will be on the same bandwagon of issues, No, because as demands vary, the positions of lawmakers vary. Every lawmaker has right to either support a motion/bill or reject it, so that either way, the lawmaker should not be seen as either fighting or aligning with other arms.
When lawmakers demand for their legislative rights, they are doing so because their various constituencies need to know. That is the essence of citizens’ participation in governance. Today, there is a paradigm shift to citizens’ awareness and involvement in governance. For any budget to be called a budget today, the citizens must make inputs in the budget. There must be public hearing, citizens’ implemented/monitored projects among others.
The States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) policy implemented by the Open Government Partnership (OGP) ensures that before any state gets any grant from World Bank, that state must be citizens’ compliant.
I am not saying that erring lawmakers should not be disciplined but the reasons for their discipline must be explained to the citizens, especially their constituents and duration because the lawmaker upon which citizens demands are driven should not be excluded from the meat of the legislation.
Suspension should not be the last resort; it could be an exception, after all negotiations are exhausted. Suspending a lawmaker means suspending the citizens that the lawmaker is representing. It is no longer about the lawmaker but the needs/demands of citizens, especially now that budget preparations are on-going.
The citizens who have demands arising from their charter of demands will be denied the inputs as long as the lawmakers remain on suspension. It is upon this premise that I urge the leadership of the Imo State House of Assembly to recall the lawmakers so that robust legislation can start. The apprehension created by the suspension needs to dissolve for the state to move forward. The citizens do not need to wait for too long before they present their memoranda, petitions among others to the house. The time to do this is now.
‘’Suspending a lawmaker means suspending the citizens that the lawmaker is representing. It is no longer about the lawmaker but the needs/demands of citizens, especially now that budget preparations are on-going. The citizens who have demands arising from their charter of demands will be denied the inputs as long as the lawmakers remain on suspension. It is upon this premise that I urge the leadership of the Imo State House of Assembly to recall the lawmakers so that robust legislation can start. The apprehension created by the suspension needs to dissolve for the state to move forward. The citizens do not need to wait for too long before they present their memoranda, petitions among others to the house. The time to do this is now.’’