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H.E. Prince frank ukonga speaking to the Media in a function recently
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FRANK UKONGA LECTURE 101: THE ROLE OF OPPOSITION “GOVERNMENT " IN A DEMOCRATIC DISPENSATION: FOCUS ON THE PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM VS PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION. COST OF FUNDING ELECTIONS, POST ELECTION VIOLENCE & CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
In any election the world over winners emerge to form De facto, De Jure governments and the rest who participated in the elections are supposed to form the alternative “ Opposition government” addressed to generate alternative ideas to excite the polity from dulling up into stagnation, death, and decay. To guide against the situation of shiftlessness and arrested animation.
On the other hand the winner is expected to form a government if the post is an Executive dispensation while his runner ups in the election have two alternatives either to form a Union Government with him and co- govern together or perhaps remain in opposition addressed to generate and contribute to the process of governance through constructive criticism from the outside.
This is also applicable to other elective offices, be it Senatorial position, House of Representative, House of Assembly or in the Local Governments and councilpersons as well. The winner in a Legislative office has as well two alternatives either to carry the opposition ‘losers’ along or either to go it alone and allow the losers to form a vibrant opposition to his office as regard positive criticism of his Representation from time to time.
According to Franz Fanon and Antonio Gramsci [two great intelligentsia of Latin America]… they theorized that "Every Government that comes to power comes with a crop of intelligentsia addressed to giving meanings, interpretations, and homogeneity to its policies, activities, and stratagems....." And that is exactly the role of opposition in a democratic dispensation albeit reactionary and perhaps conversely.
This explanation has become necessary to espouse the fundamental principles of Governance in Nigeria in order to put the record straight, which is, in ideal terms, there are neither winners nor losers in an election. Once INEC or the Electoral College of a sovereignty shortlist your name as a qualified candidate for an election, any of the shortlisted candidates could emerge as the winner or so-called loser but they are expected to work together either in coalition or perhaps in establishing opposition to jockey the process of governance of the polity to a desired standard practice of social, industrial and economic prosperity. And that is the beauty of democracy.
In the Nigeria context the opposition seems to fizzle out after an election and only a pastry of them are vocal and this is abysmal; while some will decamp[ cross- carpet] to the winner’s party just to be able to make some money through patronage and to be relevant. These are the majority practice in Nigeria and in some parts of the Third World were party ideology and disciplines are mundane, pedantic and primordial.
Secondly, it is pertinent to note, that the streams of consciousness of the elected officers in government, as well as the majority of the mundane electorates, feel that the opposition is unnecessarily ‘disturbing’ the elected officers out of jealousy and unnecessary distraction of attention. This is an erroneous, obscurantist and parochial view of the holistic picture of any Democratic exercise.
Whence the government in power, all elected officers and the electorates are expected to welcome criticism from the corresponding contestants for an elective post after the election and for the duration of the mandate. It is like a jointly owned mandate between the winner and the loser, one inside the government, with a corresponding partner/ runner ups outside the government.
Note that the elected official has a choice of either carrying other so-called ‘losers’ along by offering an olive branch of power shearing arrangements or to go it alone allowing the losers to form a vibrant opposition outside his mandate.
So the idea that Lagbaja or Shehu or Tamadun or Emeka lost out in an election does not mean he should go and sleep and keep quiet until the next election. The two sides are both winners but one is inside and the others are outside, that is how it works. It is a great beauty, built on the theory of attrition of opposite forces grinding and sharpening each other; like two hands clapping loudly or two hands washing each other clean. I have never heard of one hand clapping. Nor one hand washing clean. It is unnatural, unscientific and undemocratic and hence UNGODLY.
Furthermore it is imperative to counsel at this juncture those in power to accommodate criticism in good faith as that is exactly the purpose and beauty of democracy; otherwise it becomes autocracy or totalitarian demagoguery…if they begin to view criticism in bad faith as in trying to cow the opposition by various acts of commissions, omissions, and strange tragedies.
In some countries with well developed democratic experience, members of the opposition create NGO’s, pressure and lobby groups addressed to contribute to the developments of various aspects of Nation-building of the polity and even the government of the day and companies, government agencies do support such establishments formed by the opposition morally and financially if they find it relevant and rightly guided in its contribution to the development of the polity.
PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM vs PR-PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION:
- R& D CASE STUDY-2011 APRIL POLLS IN NIGERIA
About 9,863 candidates participated in the 2011 April polls in Nigeria with Lagos state having 645 candidates as highest, kano with with 432 as second,Delta with 416 candidates, Anambra with 409, Oyo with 405, Sokoto with 389, Rivers 389,Imo 360, Ogun 332, Enugu with 318 as the top ten leading states participation. While Jigawa 205, Plateau 205, Niger 195, Taraba 182, Cross Rivers 172, Nasarawa 153 Gombe 151, Edo 150, Yobe 132, fct 74 as top ten lowest participants in the states category.
COST OF FUNDING ELECTIONS & PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION:
There is no state that cannot absorb in a participatory context the number of candidates that participated in the various elections in an all-inclusive culture as in Proportional Representation Electoral System as analyzed above; though this is not written in the constitution, Prof Uwabieze an erudite legal practitioner has told us that a lot of traditions will evolve around a democratic dispensation when it begins to grow and these traditions somewhat becomes as powerful as the constitutions . So instead of being at daggers drawn with each other after an election and the huge expense that a candidate must spend to participate in an election when he looses who bears the cost…is he or she expected to just take it as faith and go, be scavenging…many people take loans, sell houses, properties, stock shares and really go broke to fund elections but after if they lose what traditions are we going to begin to adopt so that the aspects of contesting will continue to be attractive to the electorate and will not be a do or die issue in terms of winning. When there is a tradition where the opposition is assimilated in the various boards, parastatals and participating with dignity and self respect of not necessarily decamping and humiliating himself them the issue of elections will become attractive, less violent, inexpensive and brotherly as there is a tradition of comradeship and sharing of power with beauty and gaiety of each other's emblems..
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS: PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM VS PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION:
A number of intelligentsia and Politicians want constitutional amendments to accommodate the issue of Proportional Representations to ameliorate the issue of winner takes all, accommodate the opposition in the states and National Assemblies through the system of PR. The presidential system is seen as self centered, parochial on winner takes all, too expensive in the context of the cost of funding elections, time frame for mandates which is seen in many quarters as too short for any meaningful achievement, lack of continuity of Governance and policy thrust which keep changing like quicksilver thereby endanger solid economic and industrial progress.. ,election violence, killings, arson, bombing and all the ills of elections. A solution to this is the all-inclusive tradition of Proportional Representation so that both the winners and the losers can see themselves as one and be absorbed into the schemes of things as a participant without selling their self-pride..
The PR- Proportional Representation Electoral system accommodates all political parties/ Tribes in the growth process of the polity and gives them room to be represented in the decision making processes of the various states and National Assembly. If the constitution could be tinkered with to accommodate Proportional Representation it would ameliorate the do or die election mentality and rebuild voters interest in the electoral process, curb violence and malpractices during elections and once this tradition gains ground then our democratic dispensation will become cheaper, less violent, no more do or die issue and the country will progress as a united entity rapidly.
Whence we should endeavor to practice an inclusive form of Democracy if really we are truly committed to building a virile democratic dispensation in Nigeria. We could appreciate each other's ideological positions and work together without necessarily decamping to the winner’s party, nor mortgaging our consciences, pride, being and essence. And this will help to strengthen the concept of multi-party democracy that we are practicing.
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