Kelvin Obambon|17 July 2017
Since the inception of civilian rule in Cross River State in 1999, there has been no government as expanded as Governor Ben Ayade's in terms of political appointments and MDAs.
The underlying motive for this expansion may not be far away from re-election objectives.
Governance wise, there is no tangible and significant gain derived from this expanded government so far. When compared with the present, previous administrations with sizeable institutional structures faired more better and made significant socio-political and economic impression on Cross River landscape.
The increase in number of political appointees and MDAs at a time the state's federal allocation is at its lowest is very much an unpalatable move that would, on the long run, constitute a drag on the state economy. Creating new MDAs without adequate funding to ensure smooth operation would make them end up as a paper tiger that will be phased out sooner than later. The few visible appointments made into these MDAs since they were created are commissioners, permanent secretaries and a handful of directors. Civil servants in the new MDAs are those redeployed from existing MDAs; and this may likely create a gap in MDAs where their personnel were drafted to kick start new ministries, departments and agencies. Little wonder, the civil service has been somewhat unproductive in recent times.
Ideally, to Governor Ben Ayade, having a bevy of political appointees would translate to having large political support base. This could be true to some extent. But looking at the caliber of some of his appointees, especially the special assistants and personal assistants, one could be tempted to say Ayade is in for a rough ride come 2019.
Firstly, a good number of Ayade's aides and EXCO members are relatively unpopular in their various constituencies.
They command little to no followership and neither have grassroot orientation nor awareness necessary to garner and mobilize grassroot support. It however appeared the governor was coming to understand this when he directed recently that all political appointees should go to their local communities and mobilize the people for the ongoing INEC's continuous voters registration exercise. This way, the governor hopes, his appointees would aclimatize and build the needed intercourse with people at the grassroot, who undoubtedly made up the chunk of electorates.
To further expose how far away government appointees are from the people, students hired from CRUTECH and UNICAL have usually been the crowd behind major political outings and rallies. When considering the fact that CRUTECH and UNICAL have a large population of non indigenes who would go back to their respective states during elections, then one cannot help advise His Excellency to rethink his re-election strategy from the perspective of bloated appointments.
Secondly, having large number of appointees increase the chances of having large mix of bad eggs, who would misrepresent the governor's good intentions and portray him in bad light before the people. There is the popular suspicion that the intermittent cult clashes in the state are orchestrated and ventilated by some political appointees. This minus, along with other unsalutory events cropped up to drive a wedge and build disaffection between government and the people.
Moreover, pride and arrogance are obvious symptoms Ayade's government is heavily sicked with, as continuously demonstrated by his appointees, who have turned themselves into demi gods lately. This is no good signal for 2019. People are watching and will make their feelings known through the ballots.
Kelvin Obambon
Is a Social Commentator
