Victor Adaha|13 July 2017
The legislative arm of government is indeed a very essential arm of the government in a democratic system, and as such its importance can not be over emphasised. They are saddled with the ultimate responsibility of making laws that governs and guilds day-to-day activities of both government and the citizen, they make the law which is been interpreted by the court.
In country to country they could decide to add other responsibilities as they deem fit, but all that can be considered secondary. For instance in Nigeria, legislators are also given the statutory responsibility of carrying out community project, which they argued, they are close to the people and so should be impacting to them as well. And because of the nature of job they do, they have been open to different allowances ranging from travelling to housing to automobile, security refreshment and the list goes on and on.
All this has made their take home pay to sky rocket as some activist would so astronomically. And in recent time there has been calls from different quarters for reduction in the take home package of Nigerian legislators, but the honourable and distinguished legislators seem not to share in the people's ideology and sentiments.
The Kenyan legislators have had a feel of the pay splash, even though their pay is a far cry from their Nigerian counterpart, whose pay has been described as JUMBO pay. But just recently the Kenyan legislators had a whopping 15% slash off their pay. This has brought back, the issue of their Nigerian counterpart in the different houses of the national assembly following suit. Considering the fact that Nigeria is in recession and so should be spending its limited resources on capital expenditures, and not on the maintenance of a very few at the expense of the majority.
Many have argued that if indeed the legislators are answerable to their constituents then they should hearken to their call on pay cut. But only time would tell if indeed the national legislators are listening to this call. While some are even threatening to approach the court on the issue, others are calling on the executive to step into the issue and moderate it. While some schools of thought recognises the autonomy of the legislative arm of government and have reiterated their call to the house to check mate it self especially as it regards their pay.
At the face of all this positions, I personally as an analyst took time to look at the pros of the possible reduction and recognised the effect it would have on both the economy and the system, and in my own opinion they include:
The moderation effect it would have on our polity, as at present people See the legislative arm of government as a place to amass wealth, which is a far cry from the ideal thing. And so if the monetary value attached to the position is reduced then the true servants would be the only ones standing, the money bag seekers would be seived out.
It would help cushine the harsh effect of the nations recession. And we would all agree that any thing at this point that would reduce the stern effect on the economy and is sustainable is highly welcomed at this point.
The excess fund from the legislators can be channeled into both youth empowerment, education, industrialization and the likes. This would result to a more sustainable and secured future.
With all this pros, won't you rather subscribe to a legislative pay slash?
Victor Adaha
Mr apolitical
NB: The writer is an apolitical analyst and columnist void of sentiments. This should not be seen as a diatribe to any body, organization, institution or persons
