Victor Adaha|24 November 2017
In recent days issues have been raised about the hallow chamber of the Cross River State House of Assembly, concerns from different corners about the sanctity and morality coupling with opinions about the funding of the House and the perceived effects it could have on the legislative (house) relationship with the executive.
It is a known fact that the house is a political institution, and consist of politicians with varying political interests but are united by one ultimate interest which is representation of their constituents, and as such from time to time members could form groups and relate on basis of friendship and interest but that should not be perceived to transcend to any form of division of the House members. We should not forget the words of a past president of Nigeria who said, ‘in politics there are no constant friends but constant interest'. Personally I don’t find fault in his statement as long as the interest is not a personal but a collective interest.
Findings into the issues concerning the House shows that the relationship between the legislative house and the executive are in tandem and is still cordial. This shows that insinuations from some corners about the good relationship between the both organs or arms of government gone sour is uninformed and could be said to be malicious and misleading in my profound and informed opinion.
Just recently there were speculations that the executive had credited the accounts of the house members to cajole them into considering the proposed budget bill. I find this allege statement faulty on the following premises which is also in tandem with the opinion of a larger population of the people of Cross River.
It is a known fact that the Governor has a Special Adviser on Budget in the person of Hon. Moses Onoh who in relation with other appropriately concern aides liaises with the House, it is on public domain that the said officer to the government wrote the House on request for postponement of the presentation on the bases that some MDAs were as at then yet to conclude their submission of estimates, income and expenditure as at the date, and hence his appeal was accepted as it was the only the right thing to do.
Only recently the said special adviser communicated back to the House the readiness of the executive to make the presentation which was earlier scheduled for 31st October this year, and a new date was agreed which is Thursday 23rd November. It is important to stress this salient fact which might have eluded some misleading individuals from some quarters, that the budget under contention is the most important bill that the legislature can pass, as it is the foundation for economic development of their constituencies and also the basis for the payment of all their allowances, it will be an act of irrationality, cluelessness and coupling being gullible for any House of Assembly member to refuse the presentation of the budget. knowing these facts, it only marvels me when people come insinuating the ‘ransom approach’ the house have been alleged to deploy and it shows obviously they lack the basic knowledge and understanding of the value and relevance of the budget process for such insinuation.
My findings from relevant and highly placed sources reveals that the salaries of the members are promptly paid, administrative cost equally paid to date, aides allowances also paid to date, constituency funds paid also, all these payments were made amidst the state meagre federal allocation and shrinking internal generated revenue, at a time where most states' house of assembly members are still yet to be paid for the last five (5) months and less, states like Kogi, Osun, Nasarawa, Benue, Ondo just to mention but a few.
Most astonishing fact is that the Cross River State budget has been implemented to a whopping 80% as we speak, this is awesome and applaud able (considering the budget life cycle of twelve calendar months), this can be verified from the CRS budget performance report 2017.
With all these known facts glaring in the face of rational minds of the public, why should any house member of the CRSHA be aggrieved?
Another insinuation from other corners that the speaker is cowardly trying to mediate peace between members of the house and executive should there be any intending feud is not completely wrong in my informed opinion, but just that the preceding statement is not totally true as mediating peace is not cowardice but bravery. The office of the speaker must always have proactive measures and ideas to lead, manage and negotiate to realign aggrieved members, back to remain the speaker of the house.
The robust relationship between the two arms of government in the state is what has brought relatively, political stability and has resulted to the absence of rivalry, feud and discontent in the state, we must as a state continue to encourage such relationship of understanding while we push harder for dividends of democracy, social amenities, jobs, infrastructures and the likes. We must bury our political differences, sentiments, grievances and bias nature as we all work together for the larger good of the state, because united would stand while divided would fall.
When we have a system of government in which all the arms work in tandem irrespective of any known differences considering the fact that they are there to serve humanity and not their self, then and only then we would begin to develop and flourish as a people.
This is my opinion formed from wide consideration, study, analyses and valid premises. I remain apolitical. For the records, I am not on any government pay roll and I do not speak for any government official as I am not known to have been assigned an aide to any official, because they already have paid personnel for the job. This write up should not be seen as a diatribe to any person, institution or body and should not be regarded or seen as malicious or defamatory.
Victor Adaha aka Mr Apolitical
The writer is an apolitical columnist, socio-political analyst and a public affairs commentator void of any form of sentiments.
