Culled from Daily Independent
Post Read 136 times
By Hadiza Muktar and Fatimatu Muktar, Lagos
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has told the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to blame the legislators for the pervasive corruption in the country.
Tambuwal, on Monday, had said that the body language of President Goodluck Jonathan did not indicate that he has the political will to stem corruption in the country.
The Speaker also decried Jonathan’s penchant for setting up committees to probe corruption allegations and what he termed “the culture of undue secrecy surrounding the operation of government.”
Reacting to this statement, Comrade Debo Adeniran censured Tambuwal over his comment that Jonathan has been encouraging corruption in the country and attributed the alarming rate of corruption proliferation in the country to, not only the executive, but also the legislative arm of the government.
He said, “This is a shameless statement from an inactive control system. Mr. Speaker should realise that the National Assembly is a part of the whole. It is fair to remind Tambuwal that his allegation has left no arm of the present government vindicated of corrupt practices. Had it been the House of representative had played its oversight functions – as stipulated by constitution – it would not have been that easy for corruption to fester in the country. By law, the House of Assembly can influence the decision of the executive to a large extent. But the question is, to what extent has the entire federal Assembly used this constitutional privilege? What is the principle of separation of powers for, is it not for checks and balances? Speaker Tambuwal lacks the moral ground to either accuse Jonathan of corruption or shift the blame on any other persons, because he is also guilty as he had alleged.”
He added: “This is a Speaker of the House of Representatives which has been busy enacting laws to protect the interest of the corrupt public officers. What is the motivation behind the bill meant to legalize foreign account for public office holder? What benefit will that be to the masses of this country? Criticising the Executive Arm on the pages of newspaper is not a way to perform oversight functions. As a matter of fact, it makes a mess of whatever effort the lower house may have put in place to stem the tide of corruption.”