Democracy Day: Jonathan, Tambuwal Disagree Over Nations Progress

Yesterday whilst speaking at a national symposium entitled “Our Democracy: Progress and Challenges” to mark the 2012 Democracy Day, President Goodluck Jonathan and Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon Aminu Tambuwal made conflicting remarks on the level of progress in the country’s democratic process.

Tambuwal, who was the first to speak at the event, said democratic rule as practised in the country so far was a failure on the grounds that the elected leaders have failed to play by the rules.
He said: “There is a tendency sometimes to denigrate the gains of our democracy, a tendency to reel out the disappointments, the areas in which democracy has failed to change people’s lives. It is a tendency to conclude that democracy has failed.

“It is true that after a dozen years of multi-party rule our people are still poor, the crime rate is still up, and millions are still jobless. It is even true that democracy has brought its own special type of problems, yet democracy has never been an end in itself but a process. And, like all processes, it is expected to produce certain results only if the rules are followed.

“Unfortunately, we have not always played by the rules. Some of the basic rules include free and fair elections, popular participation in governance, a cocktail of freedoms, separation of powers, and good governance. Once the process is sabotaged by circumventing any of these, democracy is undermined and all sorts of problems begin to manifest.”

But Jonathan disagreed completely with the speaker, reminding him that while the country was celebrating 13 years of stable democracy, present at the symposium were past leaders like Alhaji Shehu Shagari who won election with his vice, Alex Ekwueme, but were not allowed to complete their second tenure.

Noting that the worst democratic government is better than a dictatorial government, Jonathan said: “We have tenure and democratic government which gives a little more elasticity for people to criticise government. That is why people believe that the worst democratic government is better than a dictatorial dispensation. I want to talk about three areas because we are talking about sustaining democracy. How do we practise democracy and people will get the dividends of democracy? That is the kernel of this democracy.

“One thing is clear: I have not seen somebody who contested presidential election and have 100 per cent of the votes. In some cases, even to win in the first round is difficult. We got that experience in Liberia, Senegal and, recently, in France, which means that if you win the election, you may not have total per cent of the vote. You hardly get 60 per cent of the vote in a democratic setting. Whoever wins the election should be allowed to do his work because he has a tenure.”

Tambuwal decried the arbitrary manner in which the executive arm of government has been frustrating the investigations and probes carried out by the National Assembly into critical areas of the country’s economy.

He said: “The revelations have no doubt been startling. We wish to emphasise that the object of these investigations is not to witch-hunt anybody but to ensure that the principle and practice of public accountability is moved from the realm of sheer rhetoric to that of reality. These investigations are fundamental constitutional duties of the legislature.
“It is however important to state, for the benefit of the public, that under the doctrine of separation of powers, once the legislature has passed resolutions on the recommendations of such investigative reports turned in by its committees, implementation is the statutory duty of the executive.”

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