Chief Afam Ani was the chairman of the Labour Party in Enugu from 1999 until recently. He Spoke to LAWRENCE NJOKU on why constitutional amendment should strengthen the local government system in Nigeria.What are your expectations from the amendment of the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly'I believe that amendment of the country's Constitution or any other law for that matter is borne out of the exigencies of the time. For us, we will always say that the amendment of the 1999 Constitution is overdue. This is going by the way it is formulated and foisted on the people.If you look properly, you will discover that we have weak institutions presently because the Constitution made it so. I am particularly concerned that our democracy has not thrived the way it should because of certain lacuna created in the Constitution. Therefore, I would want this democracy strengthened and one of the basic ways of doing so is by amending the Constitution in such a way that it will strengthen local government administration in the country.We have a situation where governors rule the states as much as they want without conducting elections at the third tier even when we claim it is three tiers of government. We have a situation where a state governor presides over allocation for councils, and determines the kind of projects a council should undertake.These are hindrances to democracy and the only way we can solve them is by strengthening the Constitution to give local governments the opportunity to be truly independent, and conduct periodic elections, among others. We need to strengthen the council system by reviewing the Constitution so as to bring in development.What are the implications of not conducting elections at the local government level'Democracy, as it is being said, is a government of the people by the people and for the people. We have three tiers of government ' federal, state and local. The absence of election in any of the three tiers means absence of democracy and in the long run denial of good governance to the people.If the president is elected, and the state governor is equally elected, what it means is that they have the mandate of the people to serve. Then, why allow the third tier to become a sole responsibility of the governor, who now appoints his stooges at that level'Any governor who fails to conduct election at the local government level is not practicing true democracy. The local government council is the arm of government that is supposed to be closer to the downtrodden and when you don't conduct elections in them, you are denying the people that opportunity ' opportunity to participate in governance, opportunity to witness development, opportunity to participate in competitive politics as part of their inalienable right to choose their leader.Apart from the Constitution being weak in this regard, what could be responsible for non-conduct of local government elections in some states of the country'The issue of handing over the conduct of local government elections to State Independent Electoral Commissions is one of the factors, and it is not a good development. The state commissions exist only to do the bidding of the state chief executives.That is why, at every interval, the party in power would win 100 percent in the state whenever they say they have conducted council elections. If the process is handled by INEC, we will have a better result and better democracy.Could you say how the inability to conduct council elections has affected the development of the third tier'If his people democratically elect a chairman, he becomes more accountable. However, where he is appointed, he becomes the conduit pipe for whoever appointed him to be used to siphon resources of the council; it is as simple as that. This is the bane of local government development in the country.This also goes to show how faulty our organs can be because, if we have effective organs at the state level, like the state House of Assembly, they should be able to ensure that council elections are conducted at the right time. So, it's faulty structure and corruption that is fuelling non-conduct of elections at the council level.Enugu State has not failed, especially since 2007, to conduct elections at the council level, but we haven't seen the participation of the opposition parties in the elections. What is responsible for this'I was the state chairman of the Labour Party before the last local government election that was conducted in Enugu. My successor called me one day and asked what we should do' I told him not to field anybody. I equally advised my party not to participate because the atmosphere was not conducive, even till now.You have a situation where you waste your money, even with the exorbitant fees they charge, and at the end of the day, they handpick people and put them there.I am sorry, there is no local government election being conducted in Enugu State. Except there are changes, the opposition parties will continue to boycott the process. What they conduct here is selection of PDP loyalists and not election at the council level.What did you mean by the atmosphere not being conducive'The other parties are not given equal opportunity to participate in the process; they charge high fees so that other parties and their candidates cannot afford them. More worrisome is the fact that when the fees are collected, they (electoral body) tend to favour the ruling party and their candidates.The last council election was the worst so far. If you are not in the PDP, you cannot win anything in Enugu State and that is why democracy has not worked in the state. Forget all these noise about building of roads and what have you; the truth is that democracy has not worked here and nothing is being done to make it work.Could you argue that the attitude of the opposition hasn't helped democracy to thrive in the state, when you (opposition) don't engage the government over its poor conduct of elections at the council level'Really, it has not, but what will you do' We have cried and shouted to the high heavens but rather than finding a way out of it, it is gradually moving to the worse. For us, there is nothing we can do at the moment other than to stand and watch.So, what can you say looking at that councils and their development in the last 13 years'Frankly speaking, I have not seen any change from what it used to be in the past. Yes, we accuse Chimaroke Nnamani of running councils with sole administrators, which in the long run, affected development. We have had elections at the council level since the Sullivan Chime administration, and yet, the story has remained the same.Go to our local governments today; if not the projects being embarked upon by the state or probably the World Bank, you won't see anything of change from what it used to be.The only difference so far is the chairman of Enugu South, who has done exceptionally well. Where he is getting his own money is what I do not know. He has to his credit asphalted roads, and water projects and I begin to wonder if other local governments in the state don't get allocations.I am not from Enugu South but you must tell the truth. Until the style of imposition at the council level is changed, we will continue to be in this mess. Allow the people to elect those that will govern them at the council level.What better option do you suggest for effective running of councils'The local government administration is Enugu, as claimed by the governor, has always had their allocations in full. The question, however is, if the state government doesn't touch such funds, why are they not working' If, indeed, they collect these funds and don't work, then, we have to concede to the idea of scrapping the local government system because they are not touching the lives of the people.There should be a proper administration in the council area so that people can feel their impact. It is rare to know that local governments exist here. There should be adequate control.But since nobody has been able to raise eyebrows or ask questions on why they have not performed even when they get all the money, we begin to suspect that there is collusion somewhere to ensure that the money doesn't get to the councils.Couldyou comment on the joint account system in the states'I believe the joint account issue is not helping us; it should be discouraged. This is because, on the one hand, you say you are having a joint account system with the local governments, and on the other hand, you tell us that they get their complete allocations. How do we know' How are we sure it is happening'It is because of the joint account thing that nobody queries a chairman as to how he spends the funds and allocation of the local government. So, who is fooling whom here' I believe there is an arrangement going on that we do not know about and until we know what is happening there, we cannot hold anybody responsible for poor performance.I believe the local government system was put together for proper reach of the people, but that is being denied them. Let us make the councils what they should be.
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