Wednesday, July 04, 2007
SHEMA AND THE RULE OF LAW
Governor Shema is a lawyer who knows more than many people what the rule of law stands for. It is for this reason that I don't envy him in his new job as the governor of Katsina state. Since the day he was sworn-in, the new governor has come across tons of incidences of injustices, undemocratic practices, human right abuses and outright cases of mis-carriage of justice across the state. If you are a lawyer this can bring tears of sadness to your eyes and Shema's training as a lawyer abhors this kind of situation.
Take the issue of the motley crowd of youths (known as Kauraye boys) who collect five thousand naira every month but do nothing for it. Muttaka Rabe coordinated these payments when he was commissioner in the hey days of Yar'Adua's tenure. Shema stopped the payments straight away. Little wonder these youths rained abuses at the governor last Saturday after the wedding fatiha of the president's daughter. Instead of bowing to their cheap blackmail Shema announced a committee that will identify areas where these youths will be helped to establish small businesses throughout the state. This sounds good to me. It would be interesting to see how YarAdua will arbitrate on this issue.
Look at the issue of local governments caretaker committees. Again Shema found fault in the appointment of twenty councillors for each LGC instead of the five as stated in the constitution. Likewise the appointment of LG administrators who will later contest for the chairmanship without resigning from their positions as was the understanding at the party secretariat. Would Shema allow this travesty of justice continue or would YarAdua again prevail on him for the party to continue?
But the mother of all is in the area of elected representatives who did not follow the dictates of the constitution before winning. Several local government chairmen contested for elections while in office and are now in the the state assembly. It is good the opposition parties have gone to court on this and we shall see what happens soon. At the federal level some representatives were screened with mere secondary school certificates but on reaching the house submitted what amounts to fake diploma certificates. I am surprized this story is not picked by any national daily because it is a replay of what happened in 1999 and people want to hear it. the courts are however the best avenue to solve these misdeeds and set a precedent for the future.
Shema's training in business will also be at odds with what he sees on the ground: wastage of government resources left right and center. Extreme inertia by civil servants in all the ministries and parastatals. Imagine KUPDA being more interested in new building start-ups than how roads are misused for example. Dual carriage ways reduced to single lane roads and KUPDA is doing nothing about it. Or the Zonal offices of Ministry of Education showing no concern at the large number of pupils in private primary and secondary schools.
What about the rumoured missing two billion from the treasury? Garba Aminchi and the former SSG are said to coughing out the money now? Would that be all? People need to hear about these stories.
Shema has promised to give education its rightful place and doing this alone can go along way in helping the state by entrenching qualified people not only in the state assembly but also elsewhere. This too is part of the rule of law. Dim witted secondary school leavers should not be allowed to partake in the running of the state. These people are essentially a bunch of ignoramuses. They should not be allowed to be LG chairmen, members of state assembly, federal reps or senators.
Take the issue of the motley crowd of youths (known as Kauraye boys) who collect five thousand naira every month but do nothing for it. Muttaka Rabe coordinated these payments when he was commissioner in the hey days of Yar'Adua's tenure. Shema stopped the payments straight away. Little wonder these youths rained abuses at the governor last Saturday after the wedding fatiha of the president's daughter. Instead of bowing to their cheap blackmail Shema announced a committee that will identify areas where these youths will be helped to establish small businesses throughout the state. This sounds good to me. It would be interesting to see how YarAdua will arbitrate on this issue.
Look at the issue of local governments caretaker committees. Again Shema found fault in the appointment of twenty councillors for each LGC instead of the five as stated in the constitution. Likewise the appointment of LG administrators who will later contest for the chairmanship without resigning from their positions as was the understanding at the party secretariat. Would Shema allow this travesty of justice continue or would YarAdua again prevail on him for the party to continue?
But the mother of all is in the area of elected representatives who did not follow the dictates of the constitution before winning. Several local government chairmen contested for elections while in office and are now in the the state assembly. It is good the opposition parties have gone to court on this and we shall see what happens soon. At the federal level some representatives were screened with mere secondary school certificates but on reaching the house submitted what amounts to fake diploma certificates. I am surprized this story is not picked by any national daily because it is a replay of what happened in 1999 and people want to hear it. the courts are however the best avenue to solve these misdeeds and set a precedent for the future.
Shema's training in business will also be at odds with what he sees on the ground: wastage of government resources left right and center. Extreme inertia by civil servants in all the ministries and parastatals. Imagine KUPDA being more interested in new building start-ups than how roads are misused for example. Dual carriage ways reduced to single lane roads and KUPDA is doing nothing about it. Or the Zonal offices of Ministry of Education showing no concern at the large number of pupils in private primary and secondary schools.
What about the rumoured missing two billion from the treasury? Garba Aminchi and the former SSG are said to coughing out the money now? Would that be all? People need to hear about these stories.
Shema has promised to give education its rightful place and doing this alone can go along way in helping the state by entrenching qualified people not only in the state assembly but also elsewhere. This too is part of the rule of law. Dim witted secondary school leavers should not be allowed to partake in the running of the state. These people are essentially a bunch of ignoramuses. They should not be allowed to be LG chairmen, members of state assembly, federal reps or senators.
