Don Tasks Parliarmentarians On Democracy

An academic, Prof. Muyiwa Falaiye, has urged parliamentarians across Africa to perform their constitutional roles judiciously, saying they hold the key to the success of democracy.
Falaiye, Director, Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos, made the plea on Wednesday at the end of a two-day hybrid international conference in Lagos.
Theme of the conference was: “Legislature and Democratic Consolidation in Africa in the 21st Century.”
The conference, hosted by IADS, in collaboration with Glotan Research Services, started on Wednesday with some participants physically present, while others participated online.
Falaiye, represented by Dr Ayo Yusuf, IADS’s Head of Research, said: “Entrenching full blown democratisation in Africa will be mainly determined by the manner of politics played by the national legislators.
“The resolve of legislators globally, especially those at the national or federal levels of governance, is the key to how democracy thrives in any society.
“To understand why Nigeria’s democracy or that of other African countries is failing is to explore the performances of legislators, particularly as they carry out oversight of the national executive arms.”
The IADS director said that judicious execution of the legislative oversight functions in Nigeria, and all over Africa, underscored the advancement or derailment of democracy in Africa.
Also, Dr Phemelo Marumo, North West University, South Africa, in a keynote lecture, urged the legislators to seek African solutions to Africa’s problems in their act of legislations.
Marumo, who spoke on: “RE-imaging the New Normal During COVID-19 from an African Philosophical School of Thought”, said legislative practices in Africa were still built on Western ideals and patterns.
“It is high time parliamentarians across Africa incorporate the communitarian ideals we Africans are known for in their performances and eventual laws that they enact.
“The COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies how our national legislators still copy the ways of the colonial masters and tailor their legislations to combat Coronavirus from Western promoted instructions by the UN and WHO.
“I strongly believe that COVID-19 cannot overwhelm us, if African national parliamentarians embrace ideals of communalism over individualism, togetherness over selfishness, and African humanness over self-interest in their duties,” Marumo said.