Ogoni leader and spokesperson Ledum Mitee, a member of the Justice Alfa Belgore committee that recently submitted its report on constitution amendment to President Jonathan says the final document, in the form of constitution should be subjected to a referendum. Mitee posits that the issues are bigger than what the National Assembly alone should handle.
What is your general assessment of the Justice Belgore’s committee work and report?
LET me preface this by the disclaimer that I am not speaking for the Committee, but expressing my personal views. I have admiration and respect for members of the Committee for their sense of commitment to the work of the committee. On a personal level, I believe I have been enriched by my interaction with and the diversity of experiences and capacities that the members possess. I however, believe that constitution making should proceed from the premise, not of asking the question ‘what is wrong with the extant clauses of the constitution’, but from the stand point of asking what is wrong with the polity and how can those wrongs be remedied constitutionally.
Why did you decide to serve on the committee?
As I stated when I served as chairman of the Niger Delta Technical Committee, the success of our work should not and will not be tested by how far the recommendations were implemented, but rather by whether the recommendations we made, made sense; that is to say, whether they provided credible road map for the resolution of the problems of the Niger Delta. Frustrated as I and members of my Committee, and indeed most Nigerians are, that those recommendations have not been implemented, and in fact, there is credible evidence that the Report has not been read by critical stakeholders (otherwise the PIB would have taken note of very key recommendations bordering on the expectations of the Niger Delta peoples), I still feel fulfilled and proud of the work of that Committee and still believe that despite its imperfections, it still presents the most credible road map for the attainment of sustainable peace in the region.
Proceeding from that standpoint, the work of the Belgore Committee would not be judged by the recommendations, but whether the recommendations make sense. This is so because, its status in our process of constitution making is that it constitutes suggestions to the Executive, who would use it in so far as it considers necessary to input into the constitution-making project of the National Assembly.
My personal view therefore, is that it constitutes one, though an import ant one at that, of the imputes into our constitution-making process. To participate in such an exercise is a rare privilege, especially as it does not preclude one from using any other channel to make inputs into the process.
How is this committee report different from those of earlier efforts?
The Committee’s work in so far as I am concerned, is circumscribed by its terms of reference- which is mainly to distil from past constitutional conferences areas of consensus that may not have been implemented and present them in the form of draft bills to the President, who would process it and send it in the form that he may consider appropriate as executive bill to the National Assembly for constitutional amendments. The President in inaugurating the Committee indicated that areas that did not achieve national consensus in past constitutional conferences would be subjected to a larger forum subsequently. It is in this peculiar remit that should define the work of the Committee.
The committee wants devolution of powers and/or that more power be vested in the states than in the centre. What is your take on this?
As I have earlier stated, the committee had the mandate to collate as it were, areas of national consensus from past constitutional conferences, and I believe the President deserves commendation for this unprecedented step of trying to resurrect from the shallow graves that some brilliant ideas had been untimely buried, such ideas that could help in the resolution of the national question.
One area that has been so vociferously highlighted as the bane of our statehood is that of true federalism. The reason for nations such as Nigeria that is comprised of divers ethnic groups to opt for the federal system of government is to accommodate for such diversity. Our founding fathers captured this in some national ethos of “unity in diversity”. But For several years we have become more of a federation only in name, it becomes natural therefore that such national consensus on devolution of powers that was achieved during the 2007 political Reform Conference should be reflected in the Committee’s work. I believe that not only should powers be devolved to the states, that the local communities should also have areas where they can exercise some authority over local issues that are important to them.
There is also a recommendation that local government areas should be independent of states and that states must be the ones creating local government councils. How feasible is this?
Current happenings in many states of the federation would explain the reason for such decision. If the constitution guarantees a system of democratically elected local councils, then it follows that such councils should also have areas of competence and have control over their finances. To create a balance between the need for self-determination and federalism on the one hand and checking the tendency of states to make local councils their fiscal vassals, a consensus grew that, whilst states should be able to give expressions to self-determination imperatives within their areas of authority, they should not be allowed to swallow such creations. We need to realise that creation of local governments should be a dynamic process not to be frustrated or cut down by the strict rules of a national constitution especially in a federal democratic setting. It is like saying you can have as many children as you may deem possible, but you are allowed to kill or starve or maltreat the children you have gotten.
How are minority rights which people like you fought for guaranteed in the committee report?
One area I had considerable effort at in the committee was that of ensuring the constitutional guarantee of economic and social rights, including rights of minorities, including those of the disabled, women and children. Of all the areas of the Committee’s work that I and members can take considerable pride in, is the area of fundamental rights of the citizens, by merging the economic and social rights provisions in the non-justiciable chapter Two of the present constitution with the provisions of chapter Four on fundamental human rights and making them justiciable; the Committee’s work has introduced a very important salutary constitutional innovation to bring Nigeria into reckoning with developments in most parts of the progressive world.
How do you think the spate of agitation for ethnic rights can ever abate in Nigeria?
It must be understood that the spate of agitation for ethnic rights are necessary cries for justice. They are but symptoms of federalism deficit in the polity. Once necessary accommodations are made for the ethnic groups, no matter their sizes and strengths to be accorded due rights in a truly federal system, the spate of agitation for ethnic rights will reduce considerably, especially in intensity. At that point we could derive the needed strengths from the diversity, which should be a source of strength and healthy competition.
Here, we must distinguish between genuine agitation for ethnic rights, which is an aspect of the right of self-determination that is recognized as a human and peoples’ rights within international law and the antics of political elites that often masquerade as ethnic rights, but are in reality personal agendas. Here, we have to de-robe the clamour for political positions to be zoned to particular areas which are in effect a call for certain political elites to be given such positions. These are not ethnic rights that are recognised internationally. Once you have a political position that can dispense justice for all Nigerians irrespective of areas of origin, the average Nigerian will be satisfied. In contradistinction, an occupant of such position only used ethnicity as the masque to achieve his renal political ambition and thereafter abandon the very people in whose name he agitated for the position.
Do you have confidence in the present administration to the extent of having the political will to implement this report?
The nature of the report of the Belgore committee is not the type that the executive would be called upon to implement. It is in the nature of lawmaking, a task for the legislature. I do not believe that the present legislature is equipped to deal with the issues, especially those that affect them. For instance, that the committees of the legislature should be reduced in line with the number of ministries, etc. besides, I personally think that constitution-making is bigger than the national assembly and, as it is done in most parts of the world, should be subjected to a referendum, to earn the outcome a truly people’s constitution.
Do you think government should be appointing electoral tribunal judges?
I do not think the Committee so recommended. What appears to be the consensus is that, the ordinary high courts should handle election cases in its special jurisdiction and constituted in a manner that the chief judge of a different state heads two other judges of the state high court.
What are the other salient points regarding national cohesion and social justice that you feel the committee ought to have addressed but did not?
I have highlighted these areas in my draft minority report, which I am not prepared to discuss publicly now. One area of my concern in our constitution- making, however, is that of legislating on national ethics and honest leadership. Many countries of the world including Africa have legislations that have constitutional backing on ethics in governance and honest leadership. I do not see why we should not codify some of what we know of as government circulars, civil service rules etc., that touches on, for example things like the number of official cars a particular grade of public officer should have; the number of an official convoy, etc, should not be made into a legislation that would have constitutional flavour. I believe that considering our experiences, areas of discretion by office holders should be considerably reduced so that the plethora of duties cast on them would force them to respond to the yearnings of the ordinary people.
Source: OgoniNews
