I began this commentary last week but was forced to pause and relax till this weekend, no thanks to lack of space in the Trumpeta pages for that Thursday edition. For those who were not able to grab last Thursday’s edition, my narration centred on the Fourth-Tier Government of Owelle Rochas Okorocha christened, Community Government Council, CGC.
The CGC is a novel project initiated by the present administration to drive home developments at the grassroots level. A year after the introduction of the project, the exercise is at crossroads and most of the communities in shambles. Worse still, the state legislature that is expected to fine-tune the law establishing Community Government Council, in Imo State, from all indications has compromised and become a willing tool in the hands of the state governor who undoubtedly manipulates the leadership and members of the Imo State House of Assembly for self aggrandizement.
In apparent bid to make the state legislature an extension of the executive arm of government, Governor Okorocha undoubtedly maintained a lawless posture without recourse to Members of the State Assembly who are constitutionally empowered to make laws for the state. In total disregard to statutory functions of the state lawmakers, Owelle Okorocha established the Fourth Tier arm of Government by sacking executives of the town unions. Even when the CGC was given a legal backing via the passage of Fourth-Tier Bill into law by the state assembly, the action of the executive in deploying civil servants to the communities was in contrast to the law establishing the CGC. Instead of going ahead with the posting of junior civil servants and selected senior officers from the local government system to the various autonomous communities, ministry workers and staffers of different government agencies and parastatals were massively transferred to the rural areas.
In what could be termed as a ploy to surreptitiously undertake the planned commercialization of the civil service and ministries in Imo state, workers were transferred to autonomous communities on secondment. The state government through the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Prof Anthony Anwukah however made a volte face on the policy when protests trailed the mass transfer. While the workers’ union threatened to embark on strike to show resentment to the application of the CGC law, members of the House kicked against the deployment of their staffers from the Assembly complex to different communities adding that the exercise negates the CGC law. Though the executive complied by withdrawing all affected staff in the state work force dragged to the autonomous communities for CGC purposes.
The official commencement of the CGC which was inaugurated August last year signaled another dramatic episode in the unfolding CGC drama. Without proper logistics and necessary arrangements to conduct elections into the offices, the state government announced Dec 15, 2012 as date for the election. Events that greeted the botched election is now history but one significant fact remains that there was no election as a court decision placed an injunction restraining conduct of election into CGC offices.
Instead of applying caution and restraint concerning the CGC law which is pending in court, the Ben Uwajumogu – led House curiously gave Okorocha another nod to appoint a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the communities. The implication of the amended law which is tagged law No 1 of 2013 is that contrary to the expectations of Imolites that the grassroots based CGC would be democratically driven and populist oriented, the state Governor is at liberty to appoint his cronies and allies for the respective positions in each of autonomous communities. There is no gain saying the fact that by this singular action, the state lawmakers have licensed Okorocha to further destabilize the already famished local system. It is worthy to note that the introduction of community government heightened tension in various autonomous communities which the Special Adviser to the Governor on Conflict Resolution, Engr Peter Ohagwa, can testify. There is hardly any community Ohagwa has not stepped his toes into for purposes of settling communal crisis especially, Ezeship tussles. The fact that the head of a community CGC according to the law must be a traditional ruler, autonomous communities which hitherto enjoyed peace in the past were thrown into confusion and anarchy, no thanks to Ezeship struggle. The House of Assembly members as representatives of their localities at the lawmaking House would have properly consulted with people at the grassroots before hurriedly amending the original law for the Governor.
In view of the fact that some state government decisions concerning communities afflicted by crisis were rejected by many, how would appointment of a caretaker committee be assimilated by the people at the local quarters? If the lawmakers and government officials had done feasibility studies about the peculiarities of our autonomous communities, allowing the Governor appoint caretaker communities would be counter-productive.
Except Okorocha intends to totally erase the traditional town union government institution which has become an integral part of the Igbo society for his APGA-Agenda structure, the Ogboko-born politician would have known that there is a sharp difference between Town Union Governments and other notable political structures of governance. It will be foolhardy for any political leader to toy with the autonomous community government because it is the fulcrum of community development.
Granting the State Governor the sole right to appoint caretaker members of the CGC will politicize the rural socio-cultural structure as mediocre and never-do-wells may out of political affinity with Owelle Okorocha be granted opportunity to serve.
Unlike the local government system where the state chief executive is at liberty to appoint caretaker members to run the affairs of the councils, the autonomous communities still wallow in primordial tendencies, where certain customs, traditions and cleavages are considered before leadership is entrusted in some hands.
Expectedly, Gov Okorocha would appoint APGA-compliant persons for the CGC positions in caretaker arrangement. The state lawmakers and the Governor should have known that the autonomous communities and town union governments consist of apolitical persons and professionals unwilling to involve in partisan politics.
The appointment of party loyalists into the CGC positions undoubtedly would spell doom for the pet project of Owell Okorocha.
