Democracy and Structures of Governance

By

Anthony A. Akinola

 

 

This essay is a comment on the interesting article by Professor Emmanuel Anosike in The Guardian of 23 August 2006. The article, entitled "The clamour for a sectional president", assumes that a possible adoption of a system of rotational presidency in Nigeria is a departure from the democracy of the advanced, democratic nations of the western world which we seek to copy. I disagree.

 

 

I begin my comment by summarising democracy as an idea which, among other things, is about respect for the rule of law, free and fair elections and the freedom of the individual within the confines of the law. A nation may choose to put in place political structures which accord with its realities, what makes such a nation democratic or not is the extent to which the principles of democracy are upheld in the society. Structures of political governance differ and vary in western countries. What we lack, and must seek to learn, is the primacy they accord to the principles of their chosen political systems.

 

 

Great Britain, the United States of America, France and Switzerland are all western nations whose political systems and mode of electing national leaders vary from one to the other. Britain operates what is universally known as the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy; the British Prime Minister is first and foremost a Member of Parliament representing his or her local constituency. The current British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has indicated his intention to quit office in 2007 and his successor will be determined exclusively by Members of Parliament elected under the platform of his Labour Party. Britain has no written constitution, its practices derive from tradition, customs and usages. The King or Queen is the British Head of State, the Government is his or hers and the Opposition is expected to be loyal.

 

 

The United States of America has the oldest written constitution in the world. The President of the USA is elected nationally, sharing power with the executive and legislative arms of government. The American nation consists of autonomous states and national unity is cemented in a bicameral legislature. The American culture emphasises the equality of human beings, a fact that is underlined in a constitutional provision which says "No American citizen shall bear a title of nobility".

 

France operates a system of presidential/parliamentary democracy. The President is elected nationally, while there is a prime minister who superintends the affairs of parliament. Switzerland, on the other hand, premises its unity and stability on a system of "collective presidency" in which the position of president is rotated annually. The Swiss opted for this system after many years of instability, not least because it is one nation divided by cleavages that are not even as severe as those that divide us in Nigeria.

 

 

If we demarcate Nigeria into geo-political zones or presidential constituencies for the purpose of rotating the presidency – common sense and political reality suggest we should – the President elected under such a system cannot be a "sectional president". The President cannot be sectional because the political arrangement we borrowed from the United States of America enjoins the President to share power with elected senators and representatives who represent various constituencies in our nation. There is also the judicial arm of government with its own powers over constitutional issues. The "third term" debacle should remind all of us that the president cannot always have its way with determined ethnic politicians that we have in Nigeria by virtue of our natural divisions. A military dictator can choose to be sectional but an elected president can only do so at the risk of impeachment.

 

 

The institution of the presidency can be designed with the unity and stability of our nation as the primary and most important consideration. We tend to assume that it is the fault of the President if rain does not fall in our cities, towns and villages. There are tiers of government, other than federal, which should be held responsible for other constitutional roles. Experiences in Europe and America suggest that local government councils impact more on development than central governments which are more or less the arena for policy formulation. One would like to see our local government councils strengthened and empowered over the years so they can perform the roles and responsibilities of developing cities, towns and villages. The third tier of government should be manned by competent men and women who are determined to impact on their local communities and not the current bunch of incompetent politicians.

 

 

Groups want the presidency for psychological reasons and with party conventions and national elections approaching, the realities of our inter-ethnic relations have again come to the fore. Governor Ahmed Yerima of Zamfara state, a presidential hopeful under the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), has warned that it would be a mistake for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to pick its presidential candidates outside the North (The Guardian, 27 November). There is no doubt that the PDP is the party to beat in the forthcoming presidential election, not least because it is the largest and most cohesive party with resources of state power at its disposal. What Governor Yerima was saying was that with the North determined to produce the next President of the Nigerian Federation, support for the PDP in the region could erode if its presidential candidate were to come from somewhere else. With Yoruba politicians seemingly uninterested in the presidential ticket, not least because the current president is a member of their group, the logic and sentiment in our nation’s presidential politics is there for all to see.

 

However, there is one element in the emerging Nigerian political behaviour which gives much hope for the future. Nigerians have demonstrated over the years their enthusiasm for electing a president regardless of the ethnic origins of the presidential candidates, and such a factor works favourably for a system of rotational presidency. The minority ethnic groups had always voted even when the presidential candidates were from the majority ethnic groups. In 1999 when the presidential contest pitched one Yoruba against another, there was enthusiastic voting all over the country. One should not be surprised if the highest voting percentage were to be recorded among the Yoruba in 2007 because every Nigerian is interested in who their president is.

email: anthonyakinola@yahoo.co.uk

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