Let IMO Councils Breathe

The governor of Imo State Senator Hope Uzodinma has done well in road construction. His Commissioner for Works Barrister Raph Nwosu is good and we have seen his capacity in the roads constructed by the state government so far.

Aside the roads constructed there is very little that the Uzodinma’s government can point to as the basis for the existence of the government. Almost all basic indices of modernity in the state are in terrible conditions.

Social services like education and healthcare are in a poor state. Most of the facilities in public schools are in decrepit conditions with the government neither reversing these conditions nor improving them.

There is a huge shortfall of teachers and non-teaching staff. The government has not done the needful which is to employ an adequate number of teachers. More than 90 percent of schools in the state are left in dilapidated and poorly staffed conditions.

In the health sector, the story is not different as most state hospitals are in a terrible state. In most of the hospitals, grown lawns have taken over.

We can also notice the poor treatment of retirees and workers in the state. While the state government applauds itself for paying salaries and pensions, the reality is that workers and retirees are facing serious challenges.

The governor also held our 27 LGA’s captive for five years. He refused to conduct council elections and was using caretaker chairmen to run the councils.

The caretaker committee system of local government has no place in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The administration of this tier followed a pattern dictated by the whims and caprices of the state governor. The resultant effect of this relationship is the poor rate of development in our local governments despite the fact that the basic idea for establishing the local government is to bring government and development nearer to the people.

Governor Uzodinma helped himself liberally from our LGA purse for 5 years with his Caretaker Committee Chairmen by exploiting the weaknesses of the State/ LGA Joint Account system in Nigeria.

Caretaker committee system is a corrupt practice in its totality and should not be encouraged in any form. But thanks to the Supreme Court of Nigeria that has put an end to the State/LGA joint account system and has granted autonomy to LGA’s.

The tempo of political activities has quickened in Imo State following the Supreme Court judgement on Councils. As part of preparations for the LGA elections, political parties have been selling forms to aspirants.

Against this background, what should be the attitude of workers, youths, the rural and urban poor and the working people in general to this election? Put another way, what is the best approach to advance the socio-economic and political interests of the working people in the coming election and the period thereafter?

The amount for obtaining the forms of the ruling party and the general attitude of the party towards the election shows that nothing fundamentally has changed from the pro-rich, monetized, self-centered and rotten godfather policy of the Imo ruling party. The sale of forms in APC has been so commercialized that only millionaires can take part in the primaries, let alone to emerge as party candidates.

In Imo APC, aspirants have been asked to pay N3 million for Chairmanship positions and N1 million for councillors' positions. This shows that the electoral contest is seen by the APC as a kind of business venture, in which someone invests in order to reap millions later. This is a sure guarantee for the looting of the public treasury once these politicians get into power.

Political parties are saddled with the responsibility of recruiting competent individuals for political leadership through periodic elections, educating the electorate through political rallies and dissemination of information about government policies as well as serving as a vehicle for the articulation and aggregation of the interests of the people. But the Imo APC is known for its rotten godfather policy which has seen them recruit so many incompetent persons into offices.

The forms sold at such a huge amount for council elections by APC in Imo also confirms the fact that the ruling capitalist class in the state lack any genuine idea or alternative to take the state out of its socio-economic morass.

Going by these huge amounts demanded for nomination and ‘Expression of Interest’ forms and the alleged intention of capturing the LGA's 27/27 , it means the councils will be dominated by austerity policy politicians and their political stooges. This will mean the continuation of the multifaceted economic hardship at the rural areas of the state.

The ruling party only agree on one point: the imposition of stooges who will be o yes men and adopt the anti-poor, anti peoples policies on the working people. Not only that, If the ruling party succeeds in getting stooges elected into office in our councils 27/27, the attacks on the rural people’s living and working conditions will continue.

To prevent this type of dangerous scenario from becoming a reality, Imo people must wake up in their various LGA’s and adopt good people from other political parties and support them to contest for power against the stooges of the ruling government. The masses must struggle to put good people in power at the councils. The people should come out to vote and protect their votes. One party must not capture our LGA's 27/27. Let our councils breathe. Save us oh God.

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