Party Stalwart Tasks New National Assembly Over Pro-People Laws

Leadership (Abuja)

Isaac Aimurie

24 June 2011

A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sir Ernest Elochukwu, has called on members of the 7th National Assembly to initiate bills that would urgently address issues of poverty, unemployment and power supply which are at the heart of the nation’s development.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP in Abuja, Elochukwu decried the prevailing culture among elected officials in which they only serve their interests, ignoring the interests of those who elected them into the National Assembly.

“It would appear that the legislators are yet to fully grasp their roles as lawmakers.

The arm of government may have been misconstrued as a government structure put in place for itself, but it is in fact that arm of government that should make laws for those people they are representing, and not for themselves,” he said.

He described as sad a situation where lawmakers allocated money to themselves, thereby usurping the power of the federal government agency set up to do so, at the expense of pro-people laws.

“Imagine the number of years it took the National Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into law; without this law, democracy cannot thrive,” he said.

He lamented that it did not take the lawmakers that amount of time to increase their salaries.

Elochukwu urged President Goodluck Jonathan to restore confidence in governance, enthrone a culture of respect for the rule of law and give bite to agencies set up to enforce government policies and programmes.

On corruption, he asked, “why must we allow people to get corrupt? A system should be put in place to ensure that corruption does not take place.”

He advised, wih a call for the general overhaul of the system.

AllAfrica – All the Time