President Goodluck Jonathan has implored the Legislature all over the continent to preserve the rise of democracy as the popular medium of governance by promulgating laws that would not endanger democracy.
Speaking while opening open the 1st Africa Legislative Summit 2013 organised by the National Assembly in collaboration with the National Institute for Legislative Studies, themed, Emerging Legislatures in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities, observed the threats to democracy in some countries and harped on the need for everyone to act against them.
“In spite of the progress we have made so far, we are still experiencing threats to democracy in some African countries”, Jonathan said.
“We should do everything possible to resolve the challenges to discourage a revert to military rule in the affected countries. Parliament should legislate against issues and actions that could lead to the collapse of the current democratic arrangements in African countries.”
He thanked organisers of the summit, expressing enthusiasm that it would allow member countries embark on inward assessment of their democracies in order to chart the path for new vision and initiative for the continent’s rapid development.
“It is coming at a critical period when the African nation is in search of a means of strengthening the various democratic institutions to pave the way for enduring democratic structures”, he continued.
“There is the need for strategy for networking and capacity building. The Legislature has a critical role to play in lawmaking, oversight function to consolidate democratic practice and norms.
“A few years ago African democratic climate was taken over by military dictatorship. The development created a wide gap between the roles of the Executive and the Legislature. Hence due to frequent military change of government, Africa was denied quality legislation that could lead to growth and development.
“With the latest democratic climate being controlled by the civilians, the continent is now enjoying growth and development of parliamentary legislation which is an integral part of constitution governance. We now have elected government in African states. The democratic tradition is gaining ground.
“Parliamentary and presidential election had been held in many African countries including Nigeria. Leaders of our parliaments have great roles to play in ensuring the sustainability of the current democratic governance through vibrant and robust legislation.
“African legislature had demonstrated enough zeal and commitment to the success of the current democratic arrangement in the continent. This had led to the growth of the economy. African Union had also taken bold steps to support all legal and constitutional means to ensure that the current democratic system was sustained”.
The president also found time to laud the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) for its contributions towards promoting democracy on the continent. However, he warned that violence and terrorism must be prevented from destroying these lofty achievements. He also implored the legislators to be transparent, committed to human rights, and eschew such elitist vices as political gangesterism, terrorism, and cross border and organised crimes.
“NEPAD and African peer review mechanism are also complimenting efforts at ensuring good governance, transparency and anti corruption war. Information from the western world was portraying Africa in negative lights but we should do whatever we could to correct their impression about us”, he added.
“Some African leaders, despite their political independence, are still battling economic development. We should avoid ethnic bigotry, intolerance, and must resolve to make democracy work. Parliament should insist on good governance through purposeful legislation that can lead to economic progress. We should encourage robust cooperation between the executive and the legislature”.
Also speaking at the summit, President of the Nigerian Senate, David mark observed that African legislatures operate in hostile environments and are dogged by a long-running culture of executive dominance and public bureaucracy.
“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”, Mark said.
“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 conclude that the future of the emerging legislatures in Africa is doomed”.
He therefore found the summit expedient, coming at a time when many African democracies are at crossroads, the progress of some splotched by the regression of many others.
“The desirability stems primarily from the need to underscore the central role of the legislature in giving true meaning to democracy on the African continent and to continue to reassure our people that functioning and institutionalised legislatures will contribute to reversing the poverty, corruption, underdevelopment, and, sometimes disenchantment and cynicism about democracy”, he said.
“Our citizens continue to be cynical despite the steady progress in electoral democracy on the continent over the past three decades. The continental flavour to this summit is informed by our conviction that despite varying experiences across the continent as a result of regime types and institutional designs of the legislatures, there are mutual experiences to be shared and mutual benefits to be derived from free and frank exchanges amongst the academia, statesmen, parliamentarians and business leaders that have been brought together for the next two days.
“I firmly believe that democracy is the panacea to the numerous afflictions that beset the continent. These include avoidable insecurity problems, declining economic growth, social exclusion, ethno-religious and communal conflicts and endemic corruption, all of which have plagued governance and compromised the quality of life of African people.
“The political will of African leaders today to oppose military dictatorship and forceful seizure of power clearly show that African democracies have bright chances of consolidation. All these will count for nothing in the end unless the central role of the legislature as the guarantor of democracy on behalf of the people is recognized”.
He spoke on the need to spotlight emerging legislatures in Africa and their most pressing challenges so that they can be strengthened, as these steps are crucial to guaranteeing enduring democracy on the continent.
“These and many more are the questions, which the conference must address. Even in answering these questions, we must bear in mind the peculiarity of the African experience, which is markedly different from the experience of mature legislatures of continental Europe, and North America”, he added.
“Scholars in the field of comparative politics and comparative legislatures would agree that legislatures the world over perform several functions, namely representation, constituency service, policy making, law making, oversight of the executive and political recruitment.
“However, economic, political and cultural differences in Africa and other emerging democracies around the world differ from those of continental Europe and North America. Consequently, the challenges of these emerging legislatures are invariably different.
“Let me draw from the Nigerian experience and also from the experiences of those countries that have witnessed military or authoritarian rule in the past. The executive arm of government remained intact because even under military or authoritarian rule, ministers were appointed; the Judiciary functioned because the courts adjudicated but the Legislature was always the first casualty.
“Furthermore, as the authoritarian or military rule continued, the citizens became physiologically tuned to seeing the executive as the only arm of government. On return to democratic government, which is based on the Constitution, the citizens generally have difficulty in accepting the central role of legislature and thus the legislators are often regarded as parasites or nuisance”.
Mark also said that despite these 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 rubber stamp 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.
“Currently, the greatest challenge in most African countries appears to be that of nation-building and national unity. Therefore, 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.
“As parliamentarians and the true custodians of democracy it is our duty to ensure through our 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”
