The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Muslim students hold retreat

    The main auditorium of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) was filled to the brim when Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) held its annual retreat.

    The theme of the programme chaired by the immediate past Vice Chancellor, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, and former Grand Kardi of Kwara State Shariah Court, Justice Abdulqadir Orire, was Between the past and the present: Focusing on the goals.

    In the keynote address delivered by Alhaji Ishaq Sanni, who was an active member of the society during his undergraduate days, the need for re-organisation of the society to achieve what it was founded to do was emphasised. By being more organised and integrated, the National Adviser of National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO), pointed out that the Muslim students’ body was a breeding platform for today’s leaders in Nigeria.

    He cited the likes of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, Yusuf Ali (SAN) and Prof Oloyede as some of the visionary leaders the body had produced. He urged the national executives of the society not to rest on their oars to surpass the achievement of its predecessor.

    Prof Oloyede advised the Muslim youths to imbibe the good virtues of Islam in order to be seen epitome of excellence. He advised them not to see themselves as the best, saying “Allah knows the best among you.” Justice Orire charged the students to increase their faith in Allah and live a purpose-driven life to better the lives of people around them.

    He said: “What positive impact have you made as a Muslim and how have you faired in your religion. As Muslim students, you must sit down and reflect on your actions to know if they are taking Islam forward or driving it to the back seat.”

    The National Amir, Mallam Abdulazeez Surajudeen, appreciated the elders for their attendance. He, however, lamented the state of insecurity in the country. He charged the government on timely solution.

    In a related development, the UNILORIN chapter of the MSSN held orientation programmes for the newly admitted students. The six-day event was chaired by Mohammad Abdullah. Some of the resource persons included Ustadh Uthman Abdulhameed, Prof Abdulganiyu Oladosu, Dr Mahfouz Adedimeji, and Dr Abdulrazaq Alaro. The programme centred on Allah’s grace in lives of the members.

  • Anxiety on foreign loans

    Anxiety on foreign loans

    •The sin is not in borrowing but in bad faith

    The Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, without doubt, has good reason to be anxious, even suspicious, of fresh demands by the federal and state governments to obtain foreign loans. On December 6, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, led the affected state commissioners of finance to appear before the committee to defend their proposals for external borrowing under the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2012 to 2014.

    While the state governments are seeking loans worth $3.05 billion, the Federal Government wants to access $4.846 billion from the international credit market. In making a case for approval of the loans, Dr. Ngama stressed that the country’s external loan status still falls within 17 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), so there is no need to worry about any adverse effects of the loan burden.

    Quite understandably, the Senate committee was more concerned about the request of state governments to access foreign loans than the similar demand by the Federal Government. This may have been borne out of the perception that the Federal Government has a greater capacity to effectively manage and ultimately repay such loans. However, there is nothing in the country’s fiscal history to suggest that the Federal Government is necessarily more adept at managing resources, including loans, than state governments.

    Ondo State Government is seeking $77.9 million credit out of which $50 million will be expended on health programmes and $27.9 million on youth employment. The $148 million being sought by the Enugu State Government is broken down into $50 million for water shed management project, $40 million for youth empowerment and $40 million for an energy project. On its part, the Niger State Government wants $124 million of which $78 million will be for rural mobility, $14 million for irrigation and $32 million for its FADAMA project. The Anambra State government’s request for $75 million is meant for erosion and flood control.

    In his own case, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), has requested that the second tranche of his $600 million borrowing plan to provide better infrastructure for Lagos be included in the 2013 external borrowing projections.

    Since the state governments have given the specific purposes for which they are seeking international credit, we find it difficult to understand why the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Ehigue Uzanere, still believes that the loans being sought are not for programmes that will have direct impact on the lives of their people. We believe that the state governments are in a better position to determine the most pressing needs of their people.

    It is perhaps the mismanagement of foreign loans by various arms of government in the past that has engendered a suspicion of borrowing by most Nigerians. Furthermore, the funfair that greeted Nigeria’s exit from external indebtedness under the Olusegun Obasanjo Administration had created the mistaken impression that the country would never need to borrow again. In reality, borrowing, either from the local or international credit market, is no sin. It is indeed normal practice in contemporary financial management as no government has all the resources it needs to meet its infrastructure and other responsibilities.

    Beyond this, the state governments have the constitutional right to borrow from international credit agencies. But we support the Senate committee’s admonition that external borrowing by either the federal or state governments must be responsibly and efficiently managed. However, since the Federal Government is expected to guarantee external loans by states, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should come up with requisite guidelines to ensure such borrowing does not ultimately harm the national economy.

  • Unacceptable excuse

    Unacceptable excuse

    • Now is the time to review revenue allocation formula

    The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is one of the most important agencies with functions that are critical to the smooth and efficient running of the Nigerian federation. This agency not only has the responsibility to fix the remuneration of public office holders, it also has the constitutional function of determining the allocation of revenue among the three tiers of government, namely the federal, state and local governments. Its constitutional function is predicated on the pragmatic consideration that in a dynamic federal system, the allocation of resources among the various tiers of government cannot be static.

    Rather, the share of revenues accruing to various tiers must be periodically reviewed to reflect shifting powers, responsibilities and obligations of the federating units. Against this background, it is exceedingly astounding that the RMAFC has been unable to review the country’s revenue allocation formula since the commencement of this dispensation in 1999. This is even more surprising since the commission and other critical stakeholders in the polity are agreed that such a review has been long overdue. Is there any hope that the RMAFC will live up to its responsibility any time soon? The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding no.

    The commission’s spokesman, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed, said that it has no plan to review the revenue allocation formula in the nearest future. And the preposterous reason he gave for this situation is “inadequate funding”. An item for which the commission lacks funding, according to Mr. Mohammed, is the holding of town hall meetings in each of the country’s six geo-political zones, even though he noted that request for funding of the process had been made in the 2013 budget proposal.

    Could lack of funding be the reason why the RMAFC has not discharged its crucial constitutional responsibility over the last 13 years? For us, this is simply a question of absolute lack of seriousness. The leadership of the commission has apparently been satisfied simply to receive its own financial running costs while being content to letting the status quo remain. If not, why has the commission not taken the initiative all these years to mobilise key stakeholders in ensuring it gets the necessary funding to discharge its constitutional responsibilities?

    But the blame is not that of the RMAFC alone. The Nigerian Governor’s Forum has been one of the most vociferous critics of the subsisting revenue allocation formula. During the fuel subsidy crisis in January this year, the governors hinged their support for the removal of the purported subsidy on a review of the revenue allocation formula in favour of the states. Similarly, in 2011, many governors insisted that their capacity to pay the new minimum wage would depend on a review of the revenue sharing formula to reflect their added responsibility to workers.

    Currently, the revenue allocation formula is skewed in favour of the Federal Government, which receives 52.68 percent of national revenues while the 36 states receive 26.72 percent and local governments 20.6 percent. The subsisting revenue allocation formula has been criticised for encouraging an over- centralised federal structure that breeds corruption and inefficiency. While the Federal Government obviously has too much funds at its disposal, the states and local governments where the people actually reside have insufficient funds to meet their obligations to the people.

    There is every need for an urgent review of the revenue allocation formula. And there is no reason why the states cannot work with their members in the National Assembly to actualise this objective. Yes, there is the problem of corruption and mismanagement of funds at all levels. The solution to this is to strengthen and enforce the anti-corruption laws rather than retaining an outmoded revenue allocation formula that gives too much idle funds to the Federal Government.

     

     

  • Subsidy blackmail

    Subsidy blackmail

    •Request for N161.6bn for subsidy supplementary budget is frivolous

     

    PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, through a memo read to both Houses of the National Assembly is requesting for N161.6 billion naira ($1 billion) supplementary budget to defray fuel subsidy debts purportedly owed petroleum products importers for year ending 2012.

    This extra-budgetary request takes total spending on fuel subsidy this year to over 1 trillion naira, about a fifth of the total federal budget.

    The 2012 budget reportedly set aside N888.1 billion for fuel subsidy, which the government claimed it had nearly exhausted, using that as basis for the latest demand for extra N161.6 billion. President Jonathan puts it thus: “Given the need to maintain a steady flow of petroleum products, especially in the run up to the festive season, it is my hope that the distinguished senators will kindly accord this request their … approval.”

    From the foregoing, the government could justifiably be accused of using subtle blackmail on the National Assembly. The request, if indeed genuine, ought to have been made before now because the subsidy payments balance sheet is in government’s custody. Therefore, it would be pertinent for it to tell the nation at what point it occurred to it that the approved sum would not be sufficient.

    Secondly, the fact that this administration waited till this festive period before making this claim, knowing full well the importance of December, shows that it was playing games with the subsidy ruse. For no tangible reason, fuel scarcity/shortages have been a recurring decimal since January. Yet, Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer, with mostly moribund refineries, thus forcing it to importabout 80 percent of its refined fuel needs.

    There is too much puzzle in the subsidy schedule since it has turned out to be a conduit for uninhibited state theft. As at 2009, fuel subsidy was put at about N600billion and we doubt if any economic sense could be made of the trillions of naira astronomical increment of the subsidy in 2011, an election year, and this year?

    No doubt, there is more to it than meets the eye in all these subsidy transactions. Could it be a ploy by government to deceive Nigerians into believing that there was little or no fraud in the subsidy payments in the past? But the government would also have to tell us what economic activities made Nigerians consume so much fuel last year, making us pay far more than what was spent on subsidy in three years (2006-2008) in 2011 alone. With the numerous indicting reports of several committees against the government and some fuel importers, it seems this administration is now at a crossroads.

    Yet, the only thing that can end the fraud is not for the government to cover it or coerce Nigerians to pay for its ineptitude and corruption; but to build more refineries and then hand over to private investors to operate. We wonder why the government is shying away from this. Is it to sustain the subsidy fraud, or what?

    We are unhappy that the Senate has so hastily fallen for the blackmail that fuel would be scarce during the festive season if the additional N161.6billion was not approved and had thus given its nod to the proposal. The House of Representatives should not toe this line; rather, it should look critically into the matter and throw it out, if necessary.

    We call on the civil society groups and the citizenry to stay alert and mount pressure on the government to build more refineries. It was the heat put on President Jonathan in January when he removed fuel subsidy that brought the negligible reprieve that is now being enjoyed. The proposed N161.6billionn supplementary budget request is a pointer that the entire fuel subsidy is a huge racket.

     

  • The kidnap scourge

    The kidnap scourge

    •Perhaps the FG would do something now, with recent high profile abductions

     

    IS  it possible that the kidnappers who have been terrorising some parts of the country for some years now have over-reached themselves? Will their heinous but lucrative enterprise receive the requisite attention of the Nigerian authorities now? These and many more questions played up with the abduction of Professor Kamene Okonjo, the 82-year- old mother of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, on December 9. Mercifully, Prof Okonjo was released on December 14.

    Apart from her high profile daughter, Prof. Okonjo is also in her own right, an influential queen of the Ogwuashi-Uku kingdom in the oil-rich Delta State; her husband, HRH (Professor) Chukuka Okonjo being the traditional ruler of the town. Mama Okonjo was abducted by dare-devil kidnappers from her palace in the afternoon on December 9. The operation was such an easy walk-in for her abductors that the news hit the nation with both shock and bemusement. The Presidency, smarting from an apparent humiliation ordered the police to find the hoodlums immediately. And the police top-notch on its part, also barked down a similar order to subordinates.

    As if the message of Prof. Okonjo’s incident did not sink in well enough, another hijack of an eminent personality occurred the day after in Ibadan, Oyo State, Southwest of Nigeria. This time, it was Mrs.Titilayo Rotimi, wife of the former military governor of the defunct Western State, General Oluwole Rotimi (Rtd). Mrs Rotimi was reportedly accosted in front of her business premises and forcibly taken away as she drove home after the day’s work. The kidnappers of both grand old ladies, as if working in cahoots, reportedly made ransom demands of N200 million each. Mrs Rotimi was still being held by her abductors as at the weekend.

    Though kidnapping started in Nigeria about 10 years ago in the Niger Delta when the youths agitated over perceived marginalisation in the face of abundant crude oil exploitation. Their victims were mainly expatriate oil workers from whose companies huge ransom was extracted. However, since the uprising was quelled following an amnesty scheme initiated by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the militants have moved on to other things, but kidnapping has blossomed into a deadly but lucrative enterprise which has taken root in the South-south and Southeast of Nigeria. Lately, it seems to be creeping into the Southwest, with rising incidents of abduction in the last two years.

    This criminal activity has flourished in Nigeria to the point that she was rated the kidnap capital of the world. Hardly any day passed in the last couple of years without a victim of criminal abduction being recorded. While huge ransom is paid, often surreptitiously, many families sometimes suffer double jeopardy as deaths are also recorded but notified only after huge ransom had been extracted. While the security agencies have been ineffective, if not frustrated, the vice has seeped deep into the system that even the police are fingered as sometimes being in collusion with the criminals.

    Poor leadership, weak governance and the resultant economic stagnation in the last decade have resulted in all manner of crippling social vices. Kidnapping just happens to be the most notorious for obvious reasons. Of course there is armed robbery and sundry criminality, chief among which is embezzlement and diversion of public funds.

    All of these are at the root of this scourge that currently assails the country. While security and intelligence measures may be devised to combat the crimes, we urge government at all levels to rebuild Nigeria’s crumbling institutions and ensure that systems are working so as to engender rapid growth in the economy. Kidnapping is only a symptom of Nigeria’s deep social malaise.

     

  • Misplaced priority

    Misplaced priority

    IF Nigerians thought they have had enough from their national oil corporation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a corporation that has long lost its rationale, it comes springing surprises. Surprise is of course an understatement to describe the proposal by the corporation to spend N4 billion on 30 new filling stations in its 2013 budget.

    A more apt word will be – scandalous.

    The breakdown shows the corporation as proposing to spend N1.332.90 billion on three so-called ultra-mega stations in Yenagoa, Port Harcourt and Lagos; this is aside another 10 standard stations expected to gulp N1.850billion. There is also provision of N750 million for additional 10 stations.

    But that is not all, as the corporation plans to buy/lease 20 stations in the coming year, for which a tidy sum of N750 million is allocated.

    At best, the plan merely explicates the penchant by the corporation to major on minors. At worse, it seems another instance of the irredeemably corrupt and transparently inept national oil corporation getting its priorities inverted. We say this because it seems that only in the flawed business processes of the NNPC can the issue of filling stations – among the many problems dogging the fuel supply/distribution chain – be said to constitute a priority at this time.

    To be sure, the issue is not whether or not the NNPC can invest in the more lucrative retail end of the fuel business chain; rather, it is whether the nation’s interest would in any way be served by investing tax payers’ money in the sub-sector where the private sector has demonstrated unequalled capacity.

    Now, it must come as disappointing to Nigerians that the NNPC which other fringe players in the industry look up to for leadership continues to betray their aspirations. After more than half a century of oil exploration, the corporation’s grasp of the industry’s dynamics remains astoundingly suspect, if not hollow. Whereas its role in the upstream sector is limited to collecting rent and royalties on behalf of the Federal Government, its record in the downstream sector is no less dismal. Today, its four refineries are down with age while its principal, the Federal Government, seems unable to make up its mind on how to go about the business of building new ones. As a consequence, OPEC’s sixth largest exporter of crude now relies wholesale on fuel importation.

    The same holds true for the fuel distribution sub-sector. The entire pipeline network has since collapsed, the result of which is the nation’s dependence on road transportation to move products round. (The corporation voted N300 million on trailer parks along the Abuja-Lokoja, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in the 2013 budget). And, if it seems any instructive, pipeline product losses are said to have amounted to a whopping N105 billion within six years, from 2006-2011.

    We are unequivocal about it: the NNPC will better serve the nation’s interests by paying greater attention to overhauling the infrastructure of fuel distribution, particularly the pipelines and depots, both of which are critical to the regime of liberalisation/deregulation. It is after all, the goal being desperately sought by the Federal Government.

    And, in case the government and the NNPC need reminding, the problems with the fuel supplies have nothing to do with dearth of outlets; rather, they are by-products of myopic policies which have stifled investments in the downstream sector, particularly in the refineries sub-sector and the fuel pipelines distribution network. This is where we expect the NNPC to focus its attention if it must remain relevant.

  • Police killed 7,108 in four years?

    Police killed 7,108 in four years?

    THE Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Mohammed Adoke, has accused the Nigeria Police Force of being responsible for not less than 7, 108 deaths in the last four years. The AGF reeled out the statistics of the unlawful killings at the Dialogue on Torture, Extra-judicial Killings and National Security organised by the Nigerian Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in Abuja. He accused the police of relying on Police Force Order 237 to commit extra-judicial killings, and noted that out of the 7,108 killed, 2,500 were detainees.

    The AGF informed the audience of plans to remove from the police the power to prosecute criminal matters, and restrain them to investigation only. Unfortunately in the report, the AGF did not mention the steps he has taken to bring the perpetrators of the unlawful killings to justice. In our view, those allegations are weighty, and if the AGF is helpless to seek justice for those unlawfully killed by the police, then the President should set up a board of enquiry, to unravel those behind the scary findings of the chief law officer of the federation.

    Such enquiry should seek the cause of the endemic corruption and delay within the criminal justice system, resulting in the citizens taking the laws into their hands, as noted by the AGF. It should also examine why the police prefer to kill suspects instead of taking them to court, the mental and physical conditions of police service, the culture of cover-up permeating the police, and the lack of internal mechanism to bring erring officers to account. In his remarks, the AGF expressed strong frustrations when he said: “even the most charitable defenders of the force cannot deny that some dishonourable officers have taken the law into their hands in the most barbaric fashion, by killing suspects and innocent citizens”.

    While commending the AGF for his frankness, we wish to urge him to wear his constitutional armour and bring the guilty within the Nigeria Police Force to account. The constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, in section 33 clearly provides for the sanctity of human lives. Any reliance on the derogations in sub-section 2 of that section is a matter for strict proof by the person relying on them. Cases of negligent killings, commonly referred to as ‘accidental discharge’, or culpable homicide, known in police parlance as ‘wasting’ the detainees cannot, in good conscience, be excused on the so-called Police Force Order 237, to commit extra-judicial killings.

    If the AGF can show courage to bring those responsible for the extra- judicial killings to account, the nation will be better for it. Fortuitously, the constitution has provided him with the necessary powers in sections 150 and 174 as amended. With the constitutional power “to institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any person before any court of law in Nigeria…” his office is imbued with enormous powers to curb the abuse he complained about. Indeed, if he has such embarrassing statistics of the abuse of the laws of the land, he has the constitutional duty to bring those responsible to trial.

    While the AGF and the Presidency are enjoined to bring sanity to the criminal justice system, the Nigeria Police Force should take steps to weed out the blood suckers within the organisation. The Inspector-General of Police, his officers and the rank and file are all suspects, unless they separate the wheat from the chaff. Human rights abuses and murder cannot be their answer to the challenges of providing security in the country.

  • Challenging Zuma

    Challenging Zuma

    A less dominant ANC would be good for South Africa

    South Africa has a history of pulling back from the brink at the last moment. The ruling African National Congress conference which began on Sunday would be a good place for the political leadership to reflect on how best to do so now. It has been a tumultuous year. Rolling public sector protests and industrial unrest have exposed a festering apartheid-era legacy of inequality, poverty and failing education.

    Since his election in 2009, Jacob Zuma, president of the ANC and the country, has failed to rise to the occasion. Worse, he has accelerated the transformation of the ANC from liberation movement to patronage network. In the face of this year’s crisis in the mining sector he was weak. He is nevertheless likely to prevail in the forthcoming leadership contest with his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe.

    Mr Motlanthe might be the better candidate – he is reputed for his personal integrity, and has a record as a consensus builder. But he is cautious and a stickler for party protocol. Neither he nor Mr Zuma appears equipped to provide the leadership necessary to restructure the economy and imbue an increasingly polarised society with renewed purpose.

    Victory for either will leave the ANC divided. For Mr Zuma it would entrench the ANC patronage system. Those members riding into position on his coat tails will toe the line. But Mr Zuma’s continuing leadership may also galvanise his opponents into a more combative stance.

    In the short run these divisions could be destabilising. A victorious Mr Zuma is likely to seek another five-year term as president in national elections in 2014. Were he then to pursue business as usual, it would risk delegitimising both the ANC and the state in the eyes of frustrated South Africans.

    That would be dangerous. But there are also grounds for hope. Splits within the ANC have paralysed policy making. This week’s party conference could hasten the break-up of the movement, a now unwieldy coalition of tycoons, racial nationalists, populists and unions.

    In the long run this would be good for South Africa. If the ANC is following in the footsteps of other African liberation movements that shed their sense of purpose in the pursuit of power, it is partly because there has been no effective opposition. Competition within the party is to be welcomed. But real political contestation at national level might prevent South Africa from drifting towards a more authoritarian future.

     

    – Financial Times

  • Again, Ghana shows the way

    Again, Ghana shows the way

    Nigeria has a lot to learn from Ghana, when the subject is electoral integrity 

    The December 7 general election in Ghana, from which the Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG) has declared President John Drahama Mahama winner by a 50.7 per cent margin, is yet another lesson to Nigeria on how to put its democracy on track.

    Ironically, however, that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was the head of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) election observer mission, was a sharp rebuke to Nigeria. Obasanjo’s terse post-poll comment that there “were hiccups but not such that would grossly undermine the result of the election” sounded too uncannily close to the pious nonsense at home to whitewash electoral brigandage, given Obasanjo’s own odious election records in 2003 and 2007, the 2007 polls breaking all records of electoral infamy, in Nigeria’s troubled electoral history.

    However, Ghana’s local Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) weighed in on the side of the exercise’s fairness by declaring the results “generally accurate reflections” of the support bases of President Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and his closest rival, Nana Akufo-Addo, of the New Democratic Party (NPP).

    CODEO then counselled all “the presidential election contestants and their supporters, as well as the general public to place confidence in the electoral commission’s electoral presidential results.”

    The final standings of the eight parties that contested the Ghana presidency, and their vote percentage shares, are instructive: NDC’s Mahama, 50.7%; NPP’s Akufo-Addo, 47.7%; Progressive People’s Party’s Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, 0.59%; Great Consolidated Popular Party’s Dr. Henry Lartey, 0.35%; People’s National Convention’s Hassan Ayariga, 0.22%; Kwame Nkrumah’s old party, Convention People’s Party’s Dr. Abu Sakara, 0.18%; independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah, 0.14%; and United Freedom Party’s Akwasi Addae, 0.08%.

    Though eight parties contested the presidential polls, six of the eight did not cross the one per cent threshold in vote share – as the pre-poll research in the Ghana media predicted. Again, that means the local media did their jobs as clinical surveyors of the environment; and were not part of the pre-election “exit poll” racket as it usually is in this country.

    Mr. Yeboah, the sole independent candidate, even beat Mr. Addae’s United Freedom Party to the seventh position, out of eight. That shows the audacity of independent candidacy; a mark of electoral sophistication and democracy deepening. It is a reflection of Nigeria’s democratic shallowness that independent candidacy is almost political heresy here.

    That NDC and NPP, the two leading parties, accounted for 97% of the presidential vote shows a de-facto, though not de jure two-party system, that offers the electorate a clear alternative, puts the party in power on its toes, since it is not much stronger than the leading opposition party; and also allows smaller parties – and even independent candidates – to grow with time, break into the big league and challenge for power, as the polity evolves. The promise of democratic inclusion, driven by steady growth and a fair electoral system, can only deepen democracy and facilitate development. That both NDC and NPP have been in and out of government has only strengthened Ghana’s democracy.

    With parliamentary seats declared so far, NDC with 120 seats holds a 26-seat majority over NPP with 94 seats. Two independent candidates and a PNC candidate make up the parliamentary number. A 26-seat majority again underscores the closeness of the election. But it also tends to reconfirm that NDC is the majority, if not dominant party, which again correlates to the closeness of the presidential election.

    But regional dominance tells a different tale. Aside from Ashanti and Eastern regions which NPP swept, and Brong Ahafo, Central, Greater Accra and Northern regions, where it gave NDC a good fight, NDC completely swept the remaining four regions: Upper East, Upper West, Volta (the home region of former President Jerry Rawlings) and Western regions. NDC therefore won eight out of 10 regions.

    This NDC regional domination would appear to support CODEO’s stand that the presidential election was a fair reflection of the support bases of President Mahama and Mr. Akuffo-Addo, the two front runners. It would also appear to validate that the Ghana election was indeed free, fair and representative of the genuine will of the Ghana people. Nigerian elections could do with this level of analytical reliability, if democracy must survive here.

    Yet, the Ghana election was far from perfect. For one, the opposition NPP has alleged an ECG-NDC conspiracy that allegedly resulted in anti-NPP vote manipulation. NPP, in the spirit of fair play, has all rights to voice out allegations – so long as it could prove them – if it feels cheated.

    But there are disturbing threats by the Ghana Police to “deal ruthlessly” with “recalcitrant NPP supporters”, according to reports by XYZ News, a local medium, quoting Cephas Arthur, a deputy superintendent of Police (DSP), and deputy director of Police Public Relations. Inasmuch as police must ensure security, such military-era threats against the opposition should not have a place in a democracy. Let NDC prove its case in court and let the Judiciary decide according to the facts provided. It can only help to strengthen and deepen the system.

    Also, disturbing voices have come from Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, wife of Jerry Rawlings and Ghana’s former First Lady, who failed in her bid to grab the NDC presidential ticket and is known to have inspired an NDC breakaway faction, in the National Democratic Party (NDP); and Dr. Afari-Gyan, the ECG chairman.

    Dr. Afari-Gyan had told the protesting NPP to “go to court” – an all too familiar snipe in the Nigerian electoral terrain, after votes have been fiddled. Mrs Rawlings’s retort was no less acerbic: “If you want peace but refuse to let justice prevail, then you are equal to the person who wants war” – an all too familiar retort by bad losers here.

    Let the NPP bring forth its facts, let the NDC defend itself and let an impartial judiciary adjudicate. That is the only way to maintain Ghana’s winning story; and keep the country as Africa’s democracy beacon.

    Enough of sabre-rattling language!

  • Laughable pass mark

    Laughable pass mark

    PDP says government is winning the corruption battle!

    President Goodluck Jonathan only last week told us that the country is safe. That such a statement came from the president despite the spate of kidnappings, armed robberies and other violent crimes that have made it impossible for Nigerians to sleep with their two eyes closed was, to say the least, shocking. And, just as we were still trying to put the angst of this sad statement behind us, the president’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), speaking on behalf of the government, said on Tuesday that the government is winning the war on corruption.

    Obviously the president and his party are either living in self-denial or they do not know what they are saying. How can anyone living in Nigeria say that the Jonathan administration is winning the battle on corruption? The question is: is there any battle against corruption under this regime? We are afraid, no.

    Indeed, Transparency International (TI) confirmed that much in its current rating, which placed Nigeria as the 35th most corrupt nation in the world. Many Nigerians would readily agree that this is a very generous assessment, given the monumental corruption that has been going on under the nose of President Jonathan, and to which he appears completely clueless.

    As a matter of fact, the TI’s rating formed the plank of the criticism of the administration by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The leading opposition party had berated the government for not doing enough to curb corruption. Then, the national publicity secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, replied that the party was winning the corruption battle. He listed what in his view constituted the party’s efforts in this regard. These included the creation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). According to him: “no matter the criticisms trailing their performance, these bodies have posted degrees of successes. Most importantly, these institutions are meant to outgrow partisan practices and given time, become inviolable winnower on the chaff of corruption.”

    What Metuh and the PDP seem not to realise is that it is one thing to create institutions, it is another to let them work unfettered. The way things are, none of the bodies can “… outgrow partisan practices …” as expressed by Metuh. They are at best more like extensions of the Federal Government, and whatever degrees of successes they have achieved can hardly be sustained. Perhaps the only time when the EFCC seemed to be serious was in the Obasanjo era; even then, it soon spoilt its record when it abandoned its core duties to begin chasing the perceived enemies of the then president.

    The earlier the PDP came out of its shell of delusion, the better. Corruption is not a peculiar Nigerian phenomenon; it is a global challenge. The difference between those other countries and Nigeria is that they punish corruption whereas we hardly do here, especially if it involves fat cows. Indeed, Nigeria is like a haven to corrupt elements. It is true, as Metuh asserted, that the present administration signed the Freedom of Information (FOI Bill) into law. Again, that alone cannot bring sanity to bear unless public officials understand its essence or are forced to do so.

    The PDP should stop playing politics with serious issues of governance. It is better to admit that a problem is there and to take concrete measures to solve it than to keep living in self-denial as the president and the PDP have done on the twin issues of security and anti-corruption. Even if the party is incapable of solving the problems, it should be honest enough to so admit. Nigerians would probably understand that than accept to be fooled by the president and his party.