The derailment of last Tuesday’s plans by President Goodluck - TopicsExpress



          

The derailment of last Tuesday’s plans by President Goodluck Jonathan to lay the 2014 budget proposals before the National Assembly was set in deep intrigues. President Goodluck Jonathan played a fast one on members of the National Assembly, who had awaited his arrival to the Assembly, on Tuesday, to present the 2014 budget before a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Twice in the month, the President had written the Assembly craving the indulgences of the lawmakers to allow him time at noon of November 12 and 19 respectively to make the annual ritual. But like an event programmed to fail from the start, President Jonathan failed to show up on those dates. First, the president had in his letter requesting to reschedule the appointment, for last Tuesday, cited “emergent circumstances” for rescheduling the appointment. Emerging circumstances It is the opinion of some that the emergent circumstances may have flowed from a motion raised a week ago by Ali Madaki (Kano State) seeking to bar the President from making an appearance. Madaki’s move arose from alleged poor implementation of the 2013 budget. It later took the intervention of the Speaker to grant the President a welcome for last Tuesday, November, 19. The second appointment was even a greater flop. In his letter to the two chambers the president cited differences between the two arms of the National Assembly on the benchmark price for oil revenue for next year as contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) as his reason. Why Jonathan didn’t come Many stakeholders in the National Assembly allege that contrary to the issues of MTEF, the real reason the president did not come was to avoid an embarrassing reception from aggrieved lawmakers, notably those aligned to the Kawu Baraje led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Vanguard learnt that most members of the nPDP in the House are still peeved over the ill-treatment meted out to Baraje and the G7 governors by members of the mainstream PDP when they visited the House last September and had vowed to retaliate. To calm nerves, the nPDP members, it was gathered demanded that an unreserved apology be tendered to Baraje and the G7 Governors but the pro-Jonathan lawmakers totally ignored it. PDP Caucus meeting When the lawmakers met on Monday under the umbrella of the PDP caucus meeting, expectations were high that every dissension including the issue of apology to Baraje and the G7 Governors would be resolved. A source told Vanguard that when the issue came as a prerequisite for the President’s coming; the pro-Jonathan elements called it a bluff and instead asked the President to cancel his appearance. The following day, Tuesday the president failed to turn up despite all the preparation that had been made by the National Assembly management including the restriction of staff to the premises. In a letter sent to the two chambers of the National Assembly, the president had explained his absence thus: “Please recall that I had written requesting the Honourable House of Representatives to grant me the slot of 12 noon on Tuesday 19th November 2013 to enable me address a Joint Session of the National Assembly on the 2014 Budget. “However, considering the fact that, whereas the Distinguished Senate has approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) based on a benchmark of $76.5 per barrel, the Honurable House of Representatives has used a benchmark of $79 per barrel, it is infeasible for me to present the budget in the absence of a harmonized position on the MTEF. “In the circumstance, it has become necessary to defer the presentation of the 2014 Budget to a Joint Session of the National Assembly until such a time when both respected chambers would have harmonized their positions on the MTEF. It is my hope that this will be in the shortest possible time. Please accept, Honourable Speaker, the assurances of my highest consideration and esteem”. It is all lies — Reps In a swift manner, the House of Representatives reacted, completely denying the position of the president on MTEF. It insisted that the budgets were presented in the past even without a compromise on the benchmark. The House spokesman, Rep. Zakari Mohammed, who briefed journalists on the development said: “Before we came in we heard information that the President will not come and that he will send a representative. Eventually, the representative was not sent and he had to forward a letter. Of course the basis of the letter is that we don’t have a harmonized benchmark position and the MTEF has been passed and that is exactly why he did not come and I want to refresh your memories. In 2011, we had a similar situation and the benchmark by the two chambers was not passed. Of course, he presented the budget. Last year, the House of Representatives passed its MTEF, when the Senate had not passed its version. Of course, he still went ahead to present the estimates. Last year, it happened. This year, the Senate has passed its own MTEF. President’s argument It is still within the time frame of the consideration in the House. Because I remember quite well MTEF came in September 17, 2013 and the basis of Mr. President’s argument is that unless we have a harmonized position. I am trying to let you know that it is not our fault in the House that the budget was not presented.” Rep. Ogbonna Nwuke representing Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency, Rivers State in his own reaction said that it was unfortunate that members came with the expectation of seeing the president present the budget estimates but that he couldn’t come. Responding to assertions that nPDP members planned to boo the president, Nwuke said: “Am I a magician to know whether there were plans to boo the President but I think the way democracy works in other climes, the President’s lobbyists ought to have been doing their work. Lobbying is not about money. It is about articulating positions clearly to an extent that lawmakers will feel compelled regardless of their position, if any, to support a strong argument. Now, I don’t know where that story about booing the president is coming from. Perhaps, those who are telling those tales are those who were behind a similar situation in the House.” The assertion about lobbying dovetails to suggestions of a great hole in the presidency following the forced exit of Senator Joy Emodi as the President’s Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters. Senator Emodi had in the past soothed the nerves of aggrieved members and to some extent, reportedly made the legislators to look over their differences with the president in giving him and his proposals some favourable welcome. Rep. Dan Abia representing Eket/Onna/Esit Eket/Ibeno, Akwa Ibom, however, asserts that the president was correct in picking the benchmark issue as his reason for absenting. “He sent a letter to the House and the letter itself is self explanatory. The Leadership of the House represented by the Committee on Appropriations and Finance had met previously with the Executive and it came to an agreement of 76.5 Dollars benchmark,” he said. Bottom line Whether or not the issues strike any cord of realities, most analysts believe that what is currently playing out between the Executive and Legislative arms of government now is akin to an age long saying that where two elephants fight, the grass suffers. They border more on what becomes the lot of the Nigerian people in the circumstance especially with the indefinite postponement of the presentation
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 06:48:37 +0000

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