By Suleiman Anyalewechi
Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has insisted that a lame duck and subservient legislature remains the greatest threat to the survival of any democracy in the world.
Senator Saraki who spoke at the occasion of this year’s June 12, edition of “The Platform” organized by the Covenant Nation to mark the Democracy Day, emphasized that democratic arrangements can only flourish amidst an independent legislature, with the capacity to hold other branches of Government, especially the Executive accountable.
Saraki who presided over the affairs of the Nigerian Senate between 2015 and 2019 maintained that a vibrant and Independent legislature, with the requisite courage and institutional capacity to interrogate executive actions remains pivotal to the existence of true democracy.
The former Senate President argued that the constitutional roles of the legislature transcends the mere approval of budgets, bills and policy frameworks transmitted by the executive branch of Government.
According to him, a legislative chamber that does not have the courage to question executive proposals is no legislature.
“What I learnt during my four years at the National Assembly is that a legislature that cannot say no is not a legislature at all.
“A legislature that simply receives executive proposals, approves them without scrutiny, and goes home has failed in its constitutional responsibilities.
“It has merely performed a ceremonial function. It becomes an echo chamber and a democracy made only of echoes is only one election away from becoming something entirely different”, Saraki noted.
Saraki insisted that the most potent threat to any democratic order is not weak Government, but an unchecked authority.
Democracy and democratic institutions, according to him, become vulnerable and vanquishable, when political office holders are made to operate without constructive control, through criticisms, oversights and accountability.
“The greatest danger to a free people is not a weak Government, but an unchecked Government, authority that answers to no one, and cannot be questioned”, Saraki added.
While acknowledging that the three arms Government could collaborate to deliver good governance, the former Senate President, however, warned against a subservient legislature that has the potential to lead to abuse of executive power, leading to the imperilment of democracy.
He emphasized that the framers of the three arms of Government were guided by the need to prevent over concentration of power in one institution, with the primary aim of protecting the people from abuse.
Saraki, who is also a former Governor of Kwara state, strongly rejected claims suggesting that routine disagreements between the Legislature and executive arms of Government will lead to political instability.
He rather believes that such occasional institutional frictions are necessary both for the protection of the rights of the citizens, and democracy itself, adding that the checks and balances are indispensable ingredients for the survival of true democracy.
“People do sometimes ask why the executive and legislature are always in disagreement. The answer is simple: by constitutional design, they are meant to challenge each other so there can be accountability, and balance in governance.
“Institutional frictions are built into the system on purpose. It was not a mistake. That friction is not dysfunction: it is the very thing that guarantees citizens’ freedom”. Saraki noted.
The former Senate President, therefore, warned that any attempts to undermine, weaken and or transform the legislature into a subordinate institution will ultimately erode democracy ,and endanger the freedom of citizens.
Referencing ,the infamous annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election, Saraki noted that such an ugly development is one of the unwholesome activities that can rear their heads when democratic institutions are too weak to defend the will and aspirations of the people.
“Nigerians lost democratic arrangement in 1993 not on account of failure to participate actively, but principally because of the complete absence of strong institutional frameworks to protect the people’s democratic mandate.
” On this June 12, the lesson is clear. We did not lose democracy in 1993 because the people failed. We lost it because the institutions that should have defended the people’s mandate were too weak to do so.
“The solution, therefore, is not less politics. The solution is stronger institutions, and the legislature occupies a central place in that process”, the former Senate President submitted.
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