The Legislature and the Imperatives of Good Governance
By Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa
INTRODUCTION
Democracy is all about ensuring popular participation and control of the process of government. Since all the people cannot participate and individually control their government at the same time, they entrust these rights and duties to an elected few among them known as legislators.
LEGISLATURE
The legislature is one of the basic structures of any political system. It is known by a variety of names in different countries. Some states identify their legislature as Congress, Parliament, Duma or Knesset. Others label it as Soviet, Diet, Assembly, etc.
The legislature is omnipresent in every system of government to perform legislative functions. The legislative process is an interesting chain of activities, which involves passing of motions into resolutions and bills into laws which depending on certain circumstances contribute in one way or the other to national development.
In every nation, the legislature, as the accredited representatives of the people, has the duty of promoting national development through its chain of activities. In Nigeria, legislature has the mandate and is under obligation to initiate debate and show concern on matters affecting the generality of people in the country. Expectedly such activities should be directed toward reversing declining economy, stabilizing the polity and integrating society with overall aim of enhancing national development.
HISTORY OF LEGISLATURE
Historians have traced the history of legislatures from the group of barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, through the development of the British Parliament, to the conflict between Parliament and King Charles the First (which led to the later execution), the Glorious Revolution, the establishment of colonial legislatures and the attempts by King George to minimize their power.
In English political history, the legislature appeared in the 13th century as an assembly of knights and burgesses summoned irregularly by the monarch for consultation on taxation. By the end of the seventeenth century, the middle-class had successfully used parliament to secure its political aims. Thus, parliament became the instrument by which newly powerful
group in society could advance their interests and introduce innovations into and modernize the society. Parliament was used to bring development to the English society and has ever since continued to be used for this purpose. Most legislatures do this in the nations that they serve.
The development of the legislative institution in Nigeria, however, can be traced to 1861 when the colonial government officially occupied Lagos. As a means of governing the colony of Lagos, the colonial Governor established a Legislative Council to oversee the affairs of the Colony. The ten hand-picked members of the legislature had only two members who were Nigerians. The Legislative Council, however, did not perform any law-making function but served as an advisory body to the colonial governor until later.
NIGERIAN SITUATION
Our grundnorm, which is the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides vivid roles for the three arms of government. These constitutional provisions are succinctly stated clearly to guide against any breach by any arm of Government in the discharge of its functions.
The principle of separation of powers, which Nigeria’s previous and present democratic arrangement is anchored on, suggests that governance of the State should not fall solely under one organ of the State which could be identified as the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The idea behind this is that if liberty and freedom were to be, the three branches of government (i.e. The Legislature, Executive and Judiciary) must be separated and entrusted in different people.
In recognition of the principle of separation of powers in Nigeria, matters pertaining to the operation of each branch of government are accorded treatment in the Constitution in a separate clause of part II of the Constitution dealing with powers of the Federal Government. For instance, Chapter V of the 1999 Constitution deals with matters pertaining to the operations of the legislature, while chapters VI and VII are concerned with matters relating to the executive and the judicature respectively.
It is interesting to begin by saying that when referring to democratic governance, whether parliamentary or presidential, the organ of government that captures the mind most is the legislature. Legislature is the place where the public sees democracy in action, in the form of debates, and consideration of motions, resolutions and bills. There is no gainsaying the fact that legislator is the closest politician to the voter in his constituency. Therefore, in examining the role of legislature in nation building in Nigeria, it is apt to look at the word of John Stuart Mill that “it is the duty of legislature to watch and control the government.”
In a democracy, the legislature plays an important role in the amendment of the national constitution, selection and appointment of senior government as well as the supervision of social, political and economic conditions in the country.
GOOD GOVERNANCE
Good governance is about the processes for making and implementing decisions. It is not about making ‘correct’ decisions, but about the best possible process for making those decisions.
Good decision-making processes, and therefore good governance, share several characteristics. All of them have a positive effect on various aspects of government including consultation policies and practices, meeting procedures, service quality protocols, councillor and officer conduct, role clarification and good working relationships.
In a well-cited quote, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan once noted that “good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development”.
Good governance is imperative for social and economic progress. Good governance involves justice, equity, protection of life and property, enhanced participation, preservation of the rule of law and improved living standard of the populace. Governance is termed bad when it fails to achieve these purposes. Good governance is about the performance capacity of a government or as it relates to leadership capability. Failure of governance, therefore, could expressly mean failure of leadership.
Meanwhile, an unassailable fact is that the parliament or legislature plays an important role in the life of a nation to bring about good governance. You will all agree with me that the statutory role of legislature is to make laws. In fact, in the classical sense, the key role of parliament is to make new laws and change or improve old ones. This is the reason the parliament is also known as the legislature. However, the role of parliamentarians in nation building goes beyond making laws as the legislature carries out many other important functions in our polity with the intendment of promoting good governance and development.
For instance, the parliamentarian, as enshrined under Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution has the sole constitutional power to conduct investigations into any agency of government with a view to exposing corruption and correcting any lapses in the conduct of public policy. By so doing, nation building is being engendered.
Also, with the power of appropriation vested in the legislature by Sections 81 and 121 of the Constitution as amended, no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or other public funds without the authorization of the Legislature. In other words, tax payers’ money cannot just be spent anyhow.
It is likewise the role of parliamentarian to hold government accountable. The legislature, through its oversight functions, holds the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) accountable to the public. Since it has the responsibility to appropriate and allocate funds to the various government institutions for their operations, it naturally follows that the legislature must oversee these institutions to ensure that the public get value for their money and ensure that these institutions are run in accordance with the laws of the land.
Let me at the same time add it here that protection of the interests of the people as their representatives is a sole responsibility of parliamentarians. Towards nation building, parliamentarians are to protect and defend the interests and rights of their constituents. Much more importantly, as the true representatives of the people, we also ensure that the dividends of democracy are attracted to our respective constituencies to serve the best interests of our people. These are geared towards achieving good governance.
CONCLUSION
Achieving good governance, distinguished listeners, requires the existence of a strong, effective and efficient parliament. This is so because parliament plays a crucial role in gauging, collating and presenting the views and needs of the people, articulating their expectations and aspirations in determining the national development agenda. As oversight body, parliament helps to identify problems and policy challenges that require attention and assists in overcoming bureaucratic inertia.
Without mincing words, the Legislature occupies a central role in any democratic setting. Of course, a government may exist without the legislature. Nevertheless, without the legislature, democracy is not possible. The existence of a parliament may not be synonymous with democracy, but democracy cannot exist without a parliament. Put differently, therefore, nation building that is anchored on good governance becomes a colossal task without the parliamentarians.
As is evident, legislature is a veritable instrument and institution for national development whose effectiveness is determined by some local variables. With the roles of the legislatures all pointing towards good governance, it is not out place to say that, the legislature is the bulwark of any nation.
Thank you for your listening attention.
Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa is the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. He delivered this lecture at a book launch in Ikorodu, Lagos
