The issue of what happens next after the national conference is very much now on the front burner. The conference after all came with a hefty price tag. Therefore if there is no tangible and positive follow-up the cost/benefit will end up being lopsided, translating into more cost than benefit.
This will be unfortunate. For the outcome of the conference has been positive. Surprisingly so. The conference has confounded the large numbers of skeptics who had genuine reasons to believe that it was set up as a diversion from the drudgery of everyday reality. Very much as in bread and circuses.
In the continuing absence of a genuine national democratic agreement negotiated between competing interests, there has nevertheless been positive developments which augur well for the future. The gains include positive development in the direction of the acceptance of the notion of a devolved policing system. In addition, the notion of 18 ministers at the centre breaks the mould of a debilitating mindset.
On the down ride, the 18 states addition is clearly a public relations disaster. This has a lot to do with the inadequacy of the presentation of information. The conference did agree sensibly on the creation of one additional state in the South-East to redress an imbalance. The “if” attached to the creation of an undesirable additional 18 states were totally unnecessary. That “if” should be discarded.
If this means that the cost and efficiency of the machinery of government is now on the front burner, then it is a seminal development. In addition, modifying the presidential system is also a gain. For if implemented, there will be greater accountability since there will now be regular statutory scrutiny by the legislature on a quarterly basis. These and other weighty decisions should form the basis of a new constitution.
A process of creative and vigorous non-partisan public enlightenment must now be carried out. The public, in this case, the many publics, diverse stakeholders as well as the skeptics will have to be motivated as well as carried along.
This is fundamental. For this will be of vital importance in nudging the National Assembly in order to get the necessary legislation ready to implement the gains made. In this context provision must be made for a referendum. A referendum will confer legitimacy on the process. In this way, the preamble always attached to any constitution “we the people of …” will become a reality rather than what it is seen now, as sarcasm. With a referendum as a legitimising tool, we will really have a genuine people’s constitution. It is also vital that all of this is sorted out before the impending pivotal general election in 2015 beclouds all other issues.
The 492 delegates to what had been initially derided as a mere talk-shop must now be commended. Strategic alliances were formed in the course of the conference which allowed hard, sometimes unpalatable decisions to be taken. This, in itself ,is a positive development and a remarkable departure from the past. The task of implementation is therefore vital and urgently needed.
