ONE YEAR OF RULE OF LAW

It is my conviction that there is nothing to celebrate about adherence to the rule of law in the 1st year of this administration.What we have is a Constitutional Government anchored on the Rule of Law.The President swore to an oath of office to defend the Constitution and adhere to its provisionsand to lead the Country according to its dictate.Therefore,living up to his oath of office ,is with all respect not an achievement. Adherence to the Rule of Law is sina qua nom with Constitutional Rule and cannot be said to be an achievement of a Government.I am sure that a President or Leader in an advanced Democracy will not dare list adherence to the Rule of Law as an acievement.I am sur that in a Country like Ghana,the President cannot be applauded for adhering to the Rule of Law.That would be strange. Perhaps,we make a lot of fuss about adherence to the Rule of Law because the immediate Past President had no respect for his oath of office and Constitutional Rule.But i blame the National Assembly that allowed him to get away with impeachable offences. Where it not for this indulgence we will not be talking about adherence to the Rule of Law as an achievement in a Constitutional Democratic Rule. The questions, i believe we should be asking in awarding score cards incude The Administration's Economic,Energy,Agricultural Ploicies.What is the Education and/or Foreign policy? What is it doing about the Petroleum Sector Reform?How well is it implementing NEEDS and MDGs. What is it policy on Niger Delta and a state like Lagos as an emerging Megacity as well as the Econmic Capital of Nigeria?. What has the administration done on Judicial Reforms as well as improving the quality of the Judiciary and/or Judicial Infrastructure for enhanced Justice delivery? What steps is it taking to initiate reforms to bring about Federalism in its true sense,including fiscal? I can possibly go on and on. I wish to submit that in a Constitutional Democracy,Adherence to the Rule of Law cannot be used and should not be used to measure the achievement of any administration. It is not an achievement. Celebrating Adherence to the Rule of Law is in my view, a Military Mentality and we are perhaps still suffering from the Military Hang over.

BABATUNDE OGALA Esq.