Jonathan, Mark, urge vigilance over threats to democracy in Africa

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has reiterated the need for concerted effort to deepen democratic governance on the African continent.
  In a keynote address to participants at the first Africa Legislative Summit in Abuja, the president remarked that there still exist threats to democracy and good governance in spite of the removal of autocratic regimes in the continent in recent years.
  Similarly, the Senate President, David Mark, acknowledged that African democracy was at the crossroads, with mixed results of consolidation in some countries and regression in others.
  However, he stressed that democracy remains the panacea to the insecurity problems, declining economic growth, social exclusion, ethno-religious and communal conflicts and endemic corruption besetting the African people.
  To buttress his assertion, President Jonathan made reference to Mali, Guinea Bissau and The Central African Republic where democratically elected governments were dethroned by anti-democratic elements.
  Emphasising that Africans look up to their leaders and representatives, he identified religious intolerance, ethnic bias as other challenges be-devilling the socio-economic development of the continent.
  Reiterating his resolve to work assiduously aimed at ensuring a strong, independent and vibrant legislature in the polity, Jonathan also identified terrorism, cross-border and organised crime, drug trafficking and proliferation of arms and light weapons as challenges that must be addressed through joint legislative and executive actions.
  The president noted that it behoves on stakeholders, comprising legislators, government officials, business leaders and other stakeholders from Africa, Europe and America to reckon with such challenges and be vigilant to guard against the reoccurrence of ugly past of authoritarian and military rule that once plagued Africa.
  Meanwhile, Mark said there was the need to address the problem of misunderstanding confronting emerging legislatures in Nigeria and Africa in general.
  Drawing from his experience as the Senate President, he noted: “Nigeria is in her 14th year of continuous democracy after several years of military rule and we are still debating whether or not legislators should operate full-time, part-time or even exist at all.
  “However, the role of the legislature is well spelt out in our Constitution just as the Constitution is unambiguous about her powers. The citizenry can, therefore, not pick and choose the aspect of the Constitution to be obeyed.”
  The Senate President said that because of the long absence of the legislature, citizens still tend to pick and choose what to obey “or have not quite come to terms with the role of the legislature.”
  “It is also imperative to state at this juncture that there is an alarming misunderstanding of the role of the legislature in most emerging democracies,” he said.
  “Where the executive fails to deliver, the average citizen believes that the legislature owes him a responsibility to provide basic infrastructure such as roads, schools, hospitals, potable water, etc.
  “This is also not helped by the fact that legislators, during their campaigns, make promises that they would build such infrastructure and provide other social services.” 
  Senator Mar distinguished another factor, which, he thinks affects the legislature, as the high rate of turn over.
  “In most emerging democracies, most legislators lose their seats after the first term” he said. “This creates loss of institutional memory and thus impacts negatively on the polity and governance.
  “The environment in which emerging African legislatures operate or function is challenging. These challenges include entrenched tradition of executive dominance and influence backed by a powerful public bureaucracy, weak internal capacities within the legislatures, especially on budgetary and oversight issues, high turnover rate during elections, entrenched culture of the politics of patronage, and over-bloated expectations from the general public.
  “In addition, the paucity of well-trained legislative aides and high quality parliamentary staff further contribute to the challenges faced by the African parliamentarians.
  “The tasks are daunting enough to push the pessimists amongst us to throw in the towel, and to conclude that the future of the emerging legislatures in Africa is doomed.”
  However, Mark said that his deep personal conviction is that, despite the constraining and suffocating conditions under which the legislatures in Africa function, they have gained great respect and become viable institutions for the promotion of democracy.
  “Once considered a rubberstamp of the executive or non-existent during periods of military rule, African legislatures have progressively asserted their independence as players in the policy-making arena and as watchdogs over the executive,” he said.
  “Increasingly, they are cultivating mutually rewarding partnerships with civil society and have maintained common grounds on broad democratic principles and agenda ranging from constitutional reform to the tracking and monitoring of public expenditures, amongst many others.”
  Mark said his optimism was further strengthened by the array of legislators gathered at the summit to address the issues and deepen the parliamentary movement as a platform for rallying democratic ideals and practices.
  “As legislators, we must face up to the challenge of transforming our polity and society,” he said. Currently, the greatest challenge in most African countries appears to be that of nation-building and national unity.
  “We must, through our legislative power, aim to build truly multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation states.
  “We must aim to reduce poverty, ignorance, disease, unemployment, strife and conflict, amongst others, to the barest minimum.”
  He said as parliamentarians and the true custodians of democracy, it was the duty of legislators to ensure through their constitutional roles, in particular, on budgeting and oversight, that the people obtain the maximum derivable benefits from government.
  “This is not a simple task but it is an attainable one,” he said, that the legislature, as the arm of government closest to the people, remains a critical factor in transformational development throughout Africa.
  “We must, therefore, help navigate the continent out of the multifaceted challenges that it faces and set it on a path of economic growth, prosperity, greater unity, political stability and lasting peace.”\

- Guardian

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