By Kenneth Uwadi.
The glaring incompetence of the the 10th Imo State House of Assembly amounts to a massive attack on the living standard of the middle class, the working class, the poor and young people of Imo State.
As a result of a lame duck House of Assembly, Ndi-Imo are undergoing shege banza under the failed “ 3R” government of Governor Hope Uzodinma that has unleashed anti-poor and neo-liberal policies on the people.
Because of the incompetence of the State House of Assembly the Uzodinma-led government is having its way, especially on the anti-poor policies the government is implementing since his administration came into power.
Ordinarily, if the House of Assembly had been political, agitating with their enormous strength and carrying out its watch dog roles through a radical and ideological leadership, the government won’t be having its way.
But because the leadership of the Imo House is ideologically weak, it has failed to seize the opportunity at hand to ensure that things are done right in the state for the overall good of the people.
Here is a House of Assembly that allocated money for their own expenditure, an Assembly with the sole responsibility of approving budgets, going ahead to pass a motion thanking the Governor for sponsoring and facilitating them to attend a capacity building seminar in Abuja. These are the kind of meaningless bills and motions they pass at the House.
The House members even used the capacity seminar they attended in Abuja to fight themselves . Members that attended the 3 days capacity building seminar ended up not having one single capacity after wasting the resources of the state.
After disgracing the state in Abuja they came back and the speaker unilaterally suspended 4 members of the House.Other House members went ahead to pass a vote of confidence on the leadership of the House.
This uncoordinated and disjointed vote of confidence on an unimpressive and incompetent leadership is nothing but ‘balablu blu bulaba’
Vote of confidence for what? For who? Why? How? A House that All they do is to take pictures and make meaningless speeches, shake their heads and praise the Governor of the state.
With the people belongs the ultimate power in a democracy. The cynosure of democracy is the legislative branch of government. Members of the Legislative branch are representatives of the people. The legislature is the embodiment of the will of the people.
The legislature is not supposed to be an appendage of the executive like the 10th Imo state House of Assembly. It must be said strongly that the House does not observe the cardinal principle of separation of powers as strongly provided in the constitution.
They must know that the executive arm of government in Imo does not want a strong and stable legislature because the weaker the legislature, the more satisfied and happy the executive governor of the state.
The legislature is the most visible for effective functioning of the democratic process. A government with a benevolent executive and blooming judiciary without a legislature is something but not democratic. Currently the Imo State House of Assembly as led by Chike Olembe is more or less not existing. It has been so poor in performance due to weak leadership.
The House is gleefully subjected to ridicule and condemnation on a daily basis, to the delight and amusement of the executive arm. The House is grappling with problems of an incoherent body of laws and weak leadership, allowing the governor and other political leaders the leeway to abuse the system through clever and sometimes blatant actions.
The Speaker of the House lacks the requisite knowledge and experience of the legislative process. The lack of technical competence of the speaker has also reinforced the phenomenon of non-attendance, lateness, bickering and lack of decorum, which has become the characteristic of the Imo House of Assembly. Because of weak leadership, less attention is paid to the House. A state legislator is either subservient to governor Uzodinma or is suspended brazenly.
Because of weak leadership the 10th Imo House of Assembly lacks the institutional capacity to be influential in lawmaking and oversight. They have made little impact on the policymaking process and the operations of the state.
The role of a legislator is to represent his constituency at the state House of Assembly, make laws and conduct oversight functions over the executive. The House is also to provide checks and balances to the executive but they have failed woefully in their duties. Ignorance of legislative practice and procedures is a challenge to the House. Even where huge resources are devoted to training the members, the low turnover rate implies that the training exercises were in vain.
Governmental powers are separated to allow each branch to exercise the powers allocated to it without any member of the other arms egregiously participating in the exercise of such power. There is no separation of power in Imo. Everything is all about Governor Uzodinma.
I am not saying that the House of Assembly should be aloof and not cooperate or work with other arms; that would stall any government. But I am saying that they should keep power separated and at the same time cooperate meaningfully to achieve the aim of government. The House of Assembly must not be cowed and quit being an appendage of the governor. This ‘balablu blu bulaba’ must stop.Save us oh God .
-Kenneth Uwadi lives in Mmahu-Egbema, Ohaji/Egbema LGA, Imo State and can be reached via 08037982714
