Our ideology towards the duties of members of the House of Assembly goes a long way to determine the level of effectiveness, and consistency in quality service delivery we will get from them.
The best of Imoke’s political outing that went down well with me was the consensus candidates he supported for the Cross River State House of Assembly, CRSHA. He carefully picked young and youthful brains which makes me think the immediate past governor has a plan for youth and a master plan for new entrant into politics.
The John Okon and Imoke led polity has done their part towards giving the best of effective representation to Cross River State through the proper constitution of the Cross River state House of Assembly.
What matters most now is what the masses need to do in other to enable them harness people oriented bills from this 25 man legislative team under the captaincy of Rt. Hon. John Gaul Lebo of Abi constituency.
Lately, I have found it so disgusting how people rate the performance of assembly members. Last week a friend from Ogoja rated Hon. Paddy Uguge’s performance based on the number of cars he bought for boys and stakeholders during his time as a legislator representing Ogoja constituency.
Our people expect members to execute projects that are white elephant in nature, they expect them to build clinics and schools, they view them as money bags, they think members are given money machines on the day of their inauguration, they expect them to pay a lot of bills which have left our legislatures striving hard to meet up with the demands of the people to enable them maintain a clean political sheet as such, there is a deviancy from true dividends and misplaced priority.
If am not mistaken, 70 percent of our state legislators amidst the heavy party support they got still had to borrow money to meet the requirement of the barbaric political field they operate in throughout the campaigns and consultations.
We have lost our sense of direction both before and after the election, we request too much before elections that they have to go and borrow, and request too much after elections that they have to sell themselves to the executive arm just to satisfy us.
On a personal bias, the ultimate duty of legislators is to make sure all monies belonging to Cross River State is spent in the state and for Cross Riverians under proper supervision, legislators are not expected to carry out projects, they are to protect our interest and at most lobby projects for us, they are to remind the executive of the pressing need of their people.
Our legislators are to move and sponsor people oriented bills and motions, and not to buy cars and spend on stomach infra-structural development. It will shock any rational thinker to know that the last assembly invited a former Vice Chancellor of CRUTECH for questioning and he openly refused to appear and scolded them asking them to be of good conduct and never to write to him again for he is a senior party chieftain.
Nothing happened to this Vice Chancellor, not even a query was issued. He moved on and they maintained status qou, he knew they were out for a fun fair, he knew they had lost their direction, he was optimistic that things have fallen apart.
Above party affiliation, I have always loved to see a replica of the Saraki/Ekweremadu legislature in Cross River State. I share in the view of my elder brother Agba Jalingo that no party should take it all.
So that no party will use party supremacy according to Tinubu to deny the legislative arm of her basic function. I remember vividly the days of APP, PDP House of Assembly in the state. I remember when APP had 11members and PDP had 12 members during Donald’s first tenure.
APP won the Speakership courtesy of Orok Duke. Oh old days come back again. I spoke with Hon. Peter Odey on the day of the Presidential Elections in the coalition centre, I told him his task for the average Mbube East man is to remind the incoming governor that Mbube East of Ogoja does not have electricity, I begged him not to forget mentioning to the governor the level of accidents on, and the health implication of the bad and dusty roads of Mbube East.
My House member is such a nice man with a heart of gold, many a time has he caused youthful misdemeanour in Jovvon, consolidating on stomach infrastructure development. He even blessed me with a brown envelope during the delegate elections, but that does not guarantee him my small support in four years time but his ability to shout out that Imoke’s Mbube road and electricity projects is incomplete.
I may be present in all his fun time out for Ogoja youths in politics, and get the world most influential paper from him, that does not change the fact that the little children in my village are yet to shout that interesting but unpleasant sound of NEPA!!!
His ability to fight doggedly for the interest of the average Ogoja man, is indeed the ultimate criteria.
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