LEADERS BEHAVING BADLY

“Practical Politics consists in ignoring facts.”
Henry Brooks Adams

Yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan celebrated the first year of his own full-bloodied presidency. If the last one year has been eventful, what will the next three be like? Better for Jonathan and the nation? More trying? Can we tell?
These are all legitimate questions to ask in a calm and relaxed environment. But the last two weeks have been anything but relaxed and calm. A huge uproar followed President Obasanjo’s reported claims that the legislature habours criminals and armed robbers, and so they cannot legislate well for the nation. The legislators demanded that he comes and identifies who among them is a criminal and an armed robber. If he does go, it will be a very long line up indeed. Old man C.K Clark enters the fray, and lambasts Obasanjo for pointing accusing fingers. He said a president who owned nothing in 1999 and is now one of the wealthiest men in the country should not speak about corruption.

The quarrel over who is corrupt and a criminal is being overshadowed by the story of how $1.1billion belonging to Nigerian people from the sale of an oil block was shared out to private companies with very close ties to government. Coming within the context of doubts being cast over the President’s political will and commitment to bring to book those identified as being involved in the mind-boggling fuel subsidy scam, this latest revelation will confound even the most de-sensitized Nigerian.

It will all be explained or denied of course, or some token gesture towards investigating will be made. The national assembly will make further incursions into President Jonathan’s territory by undertaking another probe and spectacular public relation outing that will show him as a poor manager. This will be the same institution which Obasanjo says is a den of thieves; the same one which offered damning conclusions on his privatization programme, and the same one which is being queried by the auditor-general for spending billions in un-retired funds. This is same national assembly which probed the fuel subsidy scam started under Obasanjo’s watch, whose report is being studied by the government and may be forwarded to the E.F.C.C. This will be the same E.F.C.C that was in place when the scam took pace, and which has substantial structural weaknesses that make it susceptible to political influences. This is the same E.F.C.C which is prosecuting legislators who allegedly received illegal funds and demanded for more from a public official they were “over-sighting.” This is the same public official who is currently under the close scrutiny of the national assembly for serious breaches in management of her agency and public funds. This is the same agency that was once headed by a chief executive officer who was prosecuted, and is being held responsible for the collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market. This is the same market that still operates substantially on the margins of acceptable standards, and is substantially victim of scheming of very tiny but extremely wealthy and powerful people. These are the same people who are being mentioned in the fuel subsidy scams. These are the scams which were successful only with the active collaboration of banks. These are the same banks that received and kept billions in embezzled funds from the pension scam. This is the same scam being alleged to be so elaborate that it will rope in some of the most powerful people around president Jonathan today, if they are genuinely investigated.

So the revelation and quarrels around incredible corruption are leaving their imprints all over President Jonathan’s one year old presidency. They are also setting an agenda for him, although very few people will expect that all the angles will be covered in the manner these investigation and allegations will be handled. What is certain is that many suspects will hire very expensive lawyers; they will tie up investigations and possible prosecution for as long as they want and there may even be one or two plea bargains involving sloppy deals.

Can this circle be broken? President Jonathan says most of the problems he deals with today have their roots deep in the past, certainly long before his watch began. Perhaps privately, he may even hold Obasanjo responsible for some of them. He could also blame the legislature of playing to the gallery when it choses to investigate certain aspects of the management of the economy, and then leaves him holding the baby, so to speak. Having aroused public sentiment on issues that should be handled with more rigour and scrutiny, the national assembly dumps “findings” on him and accuses him of not prosecuting people. The legislature will say it does its job; and may even query how it is possible that it does it better than the executive arm with its army of investigating agencies. People and organizations investigated by the legislature complain that the process is not transparent, in spite of television cameras and live coverage, and much of the investigation is motivated by considerations other than the search for the truth and pursuit of public interest. Trials on television and bullying by legislators are often heard from people who have been summoned, and while the public cheers and swallows everything it sees, there are complaints that these investigations bring up more mud than water.

In any case, the bottom line is that as President Jonathan celebrates his first year as President elected as a candidate, he needs to know that the institutional collapse under him is assuming alarming proportions. The public service – including regulatory and investigating agencies – are operating under the most challenging circumstances, the most prominent being strong signals that the political level does not welcome wholesale and genuine investigation into transactions and other government business. This is why the subsidy and pension scams can take place right under all the noses – or in collaboration with some elements – of the public service. The legislature will always exploit the opportunity to “oversight” the executive – and expose its weaknesses and shortcomings – and do this substantially at the expense of its more important responsibility, which is to make laws. When Obasanjo lashes at the National Assembly, he is reliving a very old war with a well-known adversary. This adversary will continue to encroach into President Jonathan’s territory in the manner he manages the economy, if he does not improve on his capacity to limit the damage of corruption. Protecting his turf will involve raising the standards by which he and his ministers and other managers of the public service operate. He has to personally distance himself from much of the muck presently flying around if he will be able to do this.