THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNING AND THE REIGN OF IMPUNITY - PAT UTOMI By the time this gets printed who knows how many people will not have been suspended from the PDP. Or have you not heard the news? As 1970s Reggae star Jimny Cliff sang in the song of the title “have you heard the news” I should be asking if you have heard the news of how the 35, nearly the 36 who govern us showed a literacy level so low they could not count 36 ballot papers. Now is there a wonder it has been impossible to count the votes of all registered and voting Nigerians in a General Elections such that the selection of people for “elective” office is now assigned to the Judiciary with its corrupting influences on that once upon a time last hope of the common man. Have you heard the news really? Jimny Cliff sang in the song ‘I went to Africa, Down in Nigeria, and they threw me in jail, cause I got little fame. At least he was clear why they threw him in jail. I am not sure the PDP is clear why it is suspending its governors and engineering impeachment of people. Forget they may never have been elected in the first place, after all your name does not have to be on the ballot paper to be elected. All you have to do is belong to the largest political party in Africa. My big question is: Do they realize the world is watching and that with every one of their actions that make impunity the norm the legitimacy of Nigeria’s democracy is waning. Even more troubling is that they, the PDP, do not seem to realize there is a difference between a political party and a government, whether it be a party that produced the government or not. Governing Nigeria is currently held hostage by the politics of the PDP. My refrain of the triumph of power over purpose is again shown to be the sad norm. We know Jimny Cliff was hounded into gaol in Nigeria cause he got little fame, forget contract disputes, but why is an unconstitutional organization called the Nigerian Governors’ Forum suddenly so disruptive of our peace at a time when unemployment is acute, insecurity rife, and Nigeria’s prestige so badly mangled by corruption and impunity that even though the government has at every turn done the bidding of the United States, the President of the United States is still tentative about visiting Nigeria, even when he is quick to go to Myammar, the ultimate pariah, until Aung Sung Suki flew West recently. The bottomline is that the disconnect between service to the people and getting elected in Nigeria is now so wide that even a Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, as conservative as he can be, wonders whether we can truly call this a democracy. With hardly any accountability, as what it means to the legislative side is getting the share of what is being parceled out, the big question is what is the difference between extant reality and military rule? Is it that the Ogas at the top wear mufti rather than well starched uniforms? Let us not forget that Adolph Hitler was popularly elected and went on to a reign of impunity almost unprecedented in recorded history. So what is the solution? I think this generation of political actors have betrayed the mission of their generation as a foundational elite. The youth of Nigeria must now reject them, as the youth of the Arab world did so recently. We have given democracy a bad name. More importantly we need a new political culture in which the party recognizes that it is not the state. It is only a vehicle for the contestation of ideas. Once a government is in power, it can follow the plank of its party in policy choice but it is responsible to and for all Nigerians, in or outside of the party in power. And this should be with regard to all actions of the government. Secondly, party squabbles should never be allowed to disrupt governance. Thirdly, a culture of being responsible enough to realize the partisan conduct of public officials which jeopardize the public good is basis for accountability that will help our democracy mature. It should affect how we vote. Finally, this business of being a ruling party as different from a party that is in power shows us off as rather primitive. Nigeria has consistently kept its best people away from shaping their collective future because many consider it undignified to be talked down at by third rate people who just happen to be thugs that bullied their way into the belly of the ruling party in a quest to find ways of upturning the will of the people in rigging bazaars. The coming implosion of the PDP was long prophesied by me. So it is not its troubles that trouble me. It is the attempt at dragging down Nigeria alongside that upsets me. Pat Utomi, Political Economist and Professor of Entrepreneurship is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 18:29:23 +0000
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