10th Imo State House Of Assembly And One Year Of Nothingness 

On the 16th of June 2024, the 10th House, 3rd Assembly of the Imo State House of Assembly clocked one year. The House celebrated the one-year anniversary in grand style .

His Excellency Governor Hope Uzodimma led members of the Executive, including, the State Deputy Governor, Lady Chinyere Ekomaru, Secretary to the State Government, Chief Cosmos Iwu, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Barrister Sir Nnamdi Anyaehie, and Members of the State Executive Council to attend the ceremony.

This celebration to me is a celebration of one year of nothingness. The leadership of the House beat their chest and claimed that in one year they surpassed all expectations to the admiration of Imo citizens and to the admiration of the other two Arms of Government.

The Assembly members were on air just to buoy their egos and show their cluelessness. They should hide their faces in shame for poor performance and stop dominating the pages of newspapers celebrating nothing.

In a democratic society the legislature is the watchdog over other organs of government and the society. It is one of the major instruments of entrenching accountability. The 10th Imo House of Assembly did not play any watchdog role in one year but served as 'I concur' men to the Executive.

The current Imo state legislature is an appendage of the governor. The members in one year failed to fulfill the strategic role in the process of democratic governance. The function of checking executive action in the state has been in the hands of the civil society .

The House of Assembly is supposed to be a unique institution and, probably, the symbol of democracy.Through the legislature, the citizens of the nation express their wishes. The legislature is the yardstick for measuring the views of the people in a democracy. It is also the watchdog of public funds in that it not only appropriates for the State but scrutinizes how the funds so appropriated are spent. But our current house members have failed us.

The oversight function of the legislature covers the activities of public institutions such as public corporations, government-owned companies, ministries, departments, agencies and significant others established by the government and supported by public funds. Such an instrument of surveillance and control is necessary to check the abuse of office and excesses of the government so as to enhance the performance of government and ensure good governance.

With all the cases of land grabbing and stealing of public funds and properties going on in Imo, we cannot say that the State House of Assembly has performed well in one year. With the rot in our local government areas, no council elections for so long we cannot say that the 10th Imo House of Assembly has performed well.

The House claimed to have received a total of Eighteen Bills, twelve they say were passed into Law, three they say are pending at House Committee Stage, two pending for the Committee of the Whole, while One is pending at the first Reading Stage. They also told us that Sixty six Motions were presented and moved to the floor of the House out of which Sixty Four were passed, One still pending, while One was stepped down.

All the bills and motions claimed, what are the impacts on the people of the state? In Imo today, the basic right to life has been undermined as every Imolite lives under constant fear of one form of attack or the other. No other time in the history of the State do Imolites feel so unsafe and insecure. Our schools and our rural roads are in rot. No jobs for the youths.

The most critical thing every House of Assembly must seek to preserve is its independence from the executive and judicial arms. The 10th Imo House of Assembly cannot protect its independence or even pretend to be doing so. It has lost the basis of its very existence.

Having three independent arms of government is anchored on separation of powers to ensure checks and balances. There are no legislative and judicial checks in Imo State. The House has lost its way and is a full captive of the executive branch.

All they do at the house is to take pictures and make meaningless speeches, shake their heads and praise Governor Hope Uzodinma. They are rubber stamp legislatures that carry out the instructions of the state governor and by extension the executive arms.

There is poor commitment to oversight functions by the House members . The leadership of the House is ineffective and largely do not understand their statutory role, function and mandate in overseeing the activities of the executive. The legislative oversight as a critical aspect of the functions of the legislature other than law making has been severely compromised and often misused as a hunting dog and the legislature has reduced this all important function to mere alarm mechanism being used to blackmail or witch-hunt political opponents. Save us Oh God.

-Kenneth Uwadi lives in Mmahu-Egbema, Ohaji-Egbema LGA, Imo State , Nigeria and can be reached via 08037982714