Talk is cheap”.
That was my reaction last week when I watched former Senate spokesman, Jonathan Zwingina, rap lawmakers on the impending inauguration of eighth National Assembly (NASS) in Abuja.
What Zwingina told the fresh legislators were things he and other influential lawmakers took for granted when they were in the saddle. But that is a subject for another day.
He reminded them that their allegiance first and foremost should be to their constituents and constituencies who elected them.
He reminded them that their activities in the Senate and the House of Representatives should be centred on their constituents and constituencies, including the bills they will initiate and the motions they will move.
Most of the lawmakers would have been more keen on Zwingina’s sermon if he had told them how to make money from the NASS to the detriment of the people they represent.
All over the world where democracy is practised, lawmaking is a vital component of the system, and has been relied upon by societies that want maximum result to deepen democratic experience and socio-political development.
Legislationline.org explains that “lawmaking is the process of making and enacting laws.
“It constitutes a long and often complex process including phases of very different nature, such as policy making, impact assessments, the concrete law drafting, consultation procedures, questions of publication and accessibility, as well as more specific issues like possible alternatives to regulation and the roles of specific bodies in the lawmaking process.”
Though the road to making laws is tortuous, there are lawmakers who have shown that it is one way of serving the people without necessarily asking for anything in return.
One of them is Representative Ralph Hall (R-Texas), the oldest in the history of the United States House of Representatives, who lost his primary to a conservative challenger, former United States Attorney, John Ratcliffe (R).
Hall, 91, was the first incumbent to lose a reelection campaign in 2014. He was originally elected as a Democrat in 1980, switched to the Republican Party in 2004, and faced a serious challenge.
He was caught off guard by Ratcliffe, who jumped into the race before the filing deadline and loaned himself over $600,000 for the campaign.
The beauty of democracy lies more in the vibrancy of legislation and legislators than in the executive arm of government. In most cases, legislators are schooled in the power of oratory with eyes on the details of legislative business.
However, Nigerian lawmakers churned out 46 bills on Wednesday, June 3 because they were rounding off the session for the year, a sign of their laxity.
Ita Enang, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, invoked Order 1(b) of the Senate Standing Rules to clear the coast for all the 46 bills to be passed under 10 minutes with little scrutiny.
Members of the opposition, George Sekibo and Domingo Obende, raised a Point of Order which was rejected by Senate President, David Mark.
Moving the motion, Enang said: “The Senate notes that the legislative time available to the Senate between now and the end of the legislative term on or about June 3, 2015 is limited.
“Considering that time and resources have already been expended in processing these bills and there is need to pass the bills forward and for assent; that by the mutual consent and legislative reciprocities, the House of Representatives is adopting same procedures and passing such bills passed by the Senate and transmitted to her for concurrence.
“The Senate, accordingly, resolves to invoke Order 1(b) of the Senate Standing Orders and such Orders, and deem all the bills having passed first, second and third readings on the floor of the Senate and concur to same; all the bills having been reproduced and circulated to all senators; that the bills … are hereby read and deemed read a third time and passed to be transmitted to the president for assent …”
I am not swayed by this sudden love which Mark and his leadership in the seventh NASS exhibited, given that they had all the time since 2011 to look at some of the bills they hurriedly passed.
The seventh NASS entered history as the most uncoordinated in terms of activities that ought to have impacted lives. The lawmakers were more concerned about themselves, their interests, and their cronies.
Seating was a luxury in the Senate and House of Representatives, yet their leadership looked the other way because, to them, lawmaking is meant to enhance their lot and that of their family members.
It is a shame that Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, beat his chest on Thursday, June 4 on how wonderful they performed with a total 123 bills passed, 46 of which were passed in 10 minutes the previous day without scrutiny.
He did not spare a thought on the impact their representation had on the people in the past four years.
Mark’s leadership and the accelerated passage of the bills should serve as a big lesson to Nigerians, particularly the incoming eighth NASS.
Some of the lawmakers in the seventh NASS are re-elected into the eighth NASS and may want to continue the same way. If most of them do not lose their election at the tribunal we are in for another round of comedy and whispering sweet nothing.
The change Nigerians are fast embracing as the only alternative to salvaging this country from the grip of criminals should be extended to the legislature.
Otherwise, the conspiracy of passing 46 bills in 10 minutes will hunt us in the years ahead.