‘Weak Institutions, Online Critics and Partisan Propagandists’

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Opinion By Tari Martins

The Oxford English dictionary defined democracy as a system of government in which all people of a state or polity are involved in making decisions about its affairs typically by voting to elect its leaders. Democracy, like any other system of government offers leadership and unlike other systems of government, democracy was developed on the principle of freedom, equity and social justice. In the world today, different nations have adopted the concept of democracy, making adjustments where necessary to accommodate its peculiarity. With the different adjustments made to the original concept of democracy, no two nations have totally identical democracies. Having said that, the dividends of democracy world over are identical. The dividends of democracy includes but are not limited to respect for human rights, supremacy of the constitution, adherence to rule of law, equity, social justice etc. Anything short of these is an imitation of democracy.

Advanced democracies are built on the foundation of strong institutions. In an event of leadership change, the system (institutions) does not reboot, it continues to carry out its primary functions as stipulated by the constitution. For instance, the police know its primary role is to protect lives and properties, hence needs no permission from the president to carry out its constitutional duty. In the same vein, the Economic and financial crimes commission(EFCC) as an anti-corruption institution, doesn’t need any clearance from the presidency to go after perceived corrupt citizens since the constitution has mandated it to do so already. Due to the weakness of government institutions in Nigeria, as evidently displayed by the EFCC, citizens have lost faith in the polity. This is why each time the anti-corruption agencies go after a perceived corrupt Politician, citizens accuse the government of using the EFCC as a tool to settle political scores.

Today, the pretentious fight against corruption has taken a political dimension. Perceived corrupt politicians close to the seat of power are being awarded ministerial portfolios, while we watch in utter amazement the continuous harassment of opposition Politicians by the anti-corruption agencies.

Budget of Shame

Prior to this administration, when things go wrong in the executive arm of government, the blame is usually channelled at the doorstep of the president. Infact, it was a general consensus that the buck stops at the desk of the president. Sadly, this isn’t the case anymore. Take a second look at the 2016 budget of shame where some ministries budgeted a billion naira for the purchase of chairs and tables, others budgeted close to a billion naira for the upgrade of websites and the president presented this same budget to the national assembly.

It is a very worrisome trend to view critics of the government of the day as enemies of this administration. Even

for this obvious presidential gaffe, majority of the ruling party apologists have tried effortlessly to absolve the president of any blame. In more civilised climes, what is expected of the president is first and foremost to take full responsibility for the failure of the executive arm of government to come up with a budget that is in tandem with our present economic realities and offer a public apology to the good people of Nigeria before calling for a probe. Those in government should know that politicking comes with propaganda but actual leadership comes with responsibility because with leadership, there’s no easy way out.

If not for the new generation of critics on the social media, this budget would have been passed since our conventional critics of government have gone quiet since May 29^th 2015. Whatever happened to those partisan critics of previous governments that wore the robs of civil activists? What happened to the writers of pendulum that always told us how the former president should emulate Mandela? Where is the world renowned economist that usually demands for public debates on economic issues with previous governments? Where are the clergies that took to the streets in rejection of fuel subsidy removal? What happened to the human rights activist that always insisted court orders are respected by the previous government? How about the professor, of international repute that stood as the conscience of the nation that always reminded us that the buck stops at the presidents table? Where is the Northern Elders Forum that appeared to be more knowledgeable in conventional counter terrorism strategies than the Nigeria Army? How about the social media economists that always updated us on the exchange rate of the naira prior to the elections? Why must our standard for criticism of leadership, change?

What was wrong in 2012 is suddenly been accepted today as the new standard for good leadership. Nigeria can only progress as a nation if we speak truth to power, the standard and unit of measurement of cluelessness and incompetence in 2014 should be same in 2016 regardless of who the leader is.

Tari Martins is Founder, Niger Delta Integrity Initiative. He tweets via @tarimartins10 

The post ‘Weak Institutions, Online Critics and Partisan Propagandists’ appeared first on The Whistle.

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