Need to re-constitute Imo’s cabinet Last July, Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State dissolved his cabinet. The dissolution was expected more so when the governor had prior to taking the action alerted the populace. The feeling too was that the cabinet needed to give way so that a new crop of commissioners would come on board to help drive the last lap of the first term of the rescue mission administration of the governor. The led never expected however that the re-constitution of the cabinet would take so long. This expectation is borne out of the fact that the absence of the cabinet is bound to impact negatively on the state. And truly the delay in re-constituting the cabinet has not augured well for the state. Granted that two commissioners namely Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and Commissioner for Special Duties had been appointed and sworn-in, there is the need to bring others on board in order for the business of government to be put into full throttle. The more, they say, the merrier. A full cabinet will serve as a think-tank for the governor. They will also discharge duties as directed by the governor. Of course, we know that the governor no matter how brilliant and hardworking he is cannot do everything. He cannot govern alone which is why the constitution grants him the right to appoint commissioners and aides. In re-constituting his cabinet, he must go for those he believes in. There is something about trust. His trust will inspire them to give their best in the service of the state. No one man has monopoly of wisdom. His belief in his commissioners will equally encourage him to assign duties to them. He will then be left with playing supervisory role to ensure that the duties are discharged creditably. Reports said the list of commissioners-nominee he submitted to the state legislature for screening and ratification was rejected owing to the fact that there were many non-indigenes on it. The governor had prior to the submission of the list alerted that he was going to include non-indigenes in his new cabinet. While we are not against the appointment of non-indigenes into the cabinet, we advise that the non-indigenes to be appointed must be people who are not only resident in the state but also conversant with the politics of the state. In addition, they must believe in the well-being of the state. The new commissioners must also be credible and experienced people and not neophytes who will need to learn on the job. And in assigning duties to them, he must ensure that they are given portfolios in their areas of core competence. We demand that the state legislature insists that the governor includes portfolios alongside names of his nominees to help the legislators determine their suitability. We know that much of the job of a commissioner is mainly administrative, but it will be good if a commissioner is conversant with the workings of the ministry he is assigned to superintend. A situation whereby a graduate of Agriculture is appointed to superintend the Information Ministry is akin to putting a square peg in a round hole. And after the swearing-in of the new cabinet members, there is need for a retreat to induct the members into the business of governance. What happened after the constitution of the dissolved cabinet should not be allowed to repeat itself. The members of the dissolved cabinet attended a retreat after about three months of their inauguration.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 20:22:17 +0000
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