By S.O.K. Shillings
Our democracy is a big vessel heading for the iceberg. It is a wrong formula. Change is inevitable. The symptoms of failure are clear to see:
1. There is a palpable disconnect between governments and the people. ASUU is on strike for months but the Minister for Education is busy with campaign to be President. It does not answer the Lincolnian definition of ‘democracy’.
2. There is clear failure of the social engineering machinery which is most evident in the failure to control corruption.
3. The departments and parastatals have failed and some, especially the armed forces and the police have turned against the people.
4. The basic principles of checks and balances are not present as the system is dominated by the executive arm.
5. Political scientists have postulated that pure democracy encourages domination and ultimately implodes and there is no better example than our system where some are perpetually entitled to rule while some are perpetually unqualified.
6. If it takes N100 million to obtain nomination form in 2022 and there are over 20 aspirants, there is little close to no hope going forwards as it does not represent the democracy of a poor people. The party primaries are a bazaar where a delegate for presidential primaries went home with $55,000. What an antithesis?!
7. Infrastructure, institutions, economy, security and other raisondetre of democracy have failed.
8. It is too expensive as most revenue is spent on remuneration and perquisites of political office holders leaving little for purpose and essence of government so much so that it is difficult to pay civil servants less still pay well.
9. We have reached a height of distrust, despair, destitution and destruction as evinced in the pre-war wars of insecurity, rising crimes, upheavals, centrifugal agitations and nosedive of the national psyche. Something must happen otherwise something will happen.
10. The universal suffrage is an illusion afterall. This is underscored by the charge of the President to the Governors to allow him choose his successor as they chose theirs. So, they choose and make us believe we vote.
11. The 1999 Constitution, like the 1989 version are original sins. They are not the products (agreement) of the federating constituents. Rather, they were products of government, a military government for that matter. Important ingredients of the agreement are skewed up by self-serving interest of the makers.
12. And who are those ruling and favoured to rule us?: Crooks, certificate forgers, established thieves, rabble-rousers, stooges, moneybags, and political businessmen. That is what a system dominated by money produces.
13. There is a serious danger to the economy. Oil is about to lose value and we cannot afford any bogus system. There is need to downsize in number and units of government and personnel. The earlier we know this the better.
14. Even those we copy are still searching for better formulae.
We can only succumb to the imperative need for change as represented in the calls for ‘restructuring’ prior to the 2021 ill-fated constitution review exercise which was aborted by the National Assembly.
It is the way to go!
S. O. K. Shillings Esq., writes from Ikorodu.
