Single tenure and issues in contention

[Mirror]

Unarguably, abuses can occur in any system or institution of society. Regarding this, Alexander Pope had to write in his book entitled, Essay on Man, thus: "For forms of government, let fools contend. Whatever is best administered is the best." The point in this is that there is no system of government that cannot be used to deliver public good and public safety to the people and, conversely, there is no system that cannot be administered, no matter how fine in theory or on paper, to cause misery for the people; such as the two or multiple tenure system the Nigerian state has been operating or indeed the six-year single tenure being canvassed and proposed by Senate to amend the relevant section of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

What have helped advanced and successful nations in the operation of political forms and systems are caution, circumspection, and commitment to a chosen form or system; and also to what extent an adopted system has been made to synchronise with the experiences and subsisting values of the people intended to be ruled by such a chosen system. Corruption is the scourge that can deliver a devastating punch on any political form or ideal, not necessarily the system; although it can be shown that some systems or ideals are more in congruence with a people's sociopsychological, historical, experiences and economic realities, than others.

The single most devastating indictment of the single tenure system is the charge that it would lead to unbridled corruption; being totally bereft of motivation, incentives, and a system of rewards that elicit excellent performance from elected chief executives in government. Unfortunately, the two or multiple tenure system being currently operated is not immune to the charge of mind-bugging corruption. Worse still, the opponents of the single tenure system have no answer to the issue of the huge cost of conducting general elections every four years, and no solution to the problem of disturbing dearth of infrastructure which hampers development and economic activities; and are apparently unconcerned about the scourge of abject poverty in the land which is making the unemployed active population restive and prone to criminal and anti-social behaviours.

Besides, the allegation that a single tenure system de-motivates elected executive functionaries of state and, by extension, prone to unimaginable level of corruption is merely borne out of perception; but the failure of the motivation and reward for excellent performance promised by the provision for a second term of office in the multiple tenure system is real, manifest and evident, and broadens the escape route to alternative system and methodology. The fact that elections have become a huge distraction and a disincentive to effective and excellent performance to elected chief executives is a painful truism in Nigeria's political practice since the attainment of nationhood in 1960.

There is no governor or local government chairman that did not successfully use the power of incumbency to return to office after a first term of woeful performance. Since checks and balances have not worked in the nation's experiment with the two-tenure system, aren't we entitled to a new method and system; especially one that promises to reduce the frequency and huge cost of elections, and the violence that often accompanies the deployment of incumbency powers to plot self-perpetuation in office after a disastrous performance in the first term?

The level of poverty wreaked on the nation by the unimaginable magnitude of high profile corruption in the experiment with frequent and costly elections that leave nothing for national infrastructure development beckons the introduction of the single tenure system; which ideally leaves elected executives focused and not in need of the overbearing influence and dictation of political godfathers. The anger of the opponents of the single tenure system is that it promises to abolish the albatross of god-fathers in the nation's political landscape.

More importantly, the notion of the second term as motivation and incentive to performance in the first term does not argue the case that performance in the first term was not an exercise in gimmickry calculated to deceive the electorate to renew a mandate that could easily be used to embark on a merciless pillaging of the treasury; as eloquent examples could be fetched from our national archives of official corruption. The whole idea of a second term as reward for performance in the first term is entirely misconceived, and a wayward superimposition of a decadent system of reward on a time-tested practice intended to achieve a full optimisation of leadership potentials of accomplished executives for the discharge of obligation for full national development and empowerment of the country and its people. It is an illicit transition from the realm of profligacy and squalor to the realm of perfected strategy for the optimisation of human capital resource for national empowerment and consolidation.

The strongest democracy in the world, Israel, operates a seven-year single tenure for the President who is elected by absolute majority in the Knesset or by simple majority where three attempts fail to produce a winner. For a period of time also, the Presidents were elected to a 5-year single term. Similarly, Prime Ministers serve single terms. Only five of the 12 Prime Ministers of Israel (since 1948 when the State of Israel was inaugurated) have served two non-consecutive terms. The incumbent Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, first served between June 18, 1996 and July 6, 1999; and has been back since March 31, 2009 in that capacity.

There is a lesson to be learnt from this about the single tenure system. There is nothing absolutely wrong in having a 6-year single tenure with a gap of 12 years to allow the ingress of fresh, eager, hands in governance; with a proviso that excellent performers in the first outing should be allowed to re-contest the same position, if the people want them.

National Mirror