Samuelson Iwuoha 07032934037
My resignation as the senior special Assistant on Special Duties to the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly has continued to generate uproar in the state and beyond, especially with my memo to the Speaker which I have also made public (see attached). The memo in its entirety has elicited reactions from members of the public and it is on this note that I have decided to go deeper in exposing the rot going on in the legislative arm of government by writing the article entitled, “ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN IMO STATE: THE LEGISLATIVE PERSPECTIVE.
The question now is: What is ACCOUNTABILITY? What is Transparency? Or better put; what is Accountability and Transparency in relation to public service in Imo State? How do we get political Appointees involved? Accountability is defined as the act of giving and rendering account of ones stewardship. It should be noted that stewardship itself is a very important ingredient (variable) of Accountability. Without stewardship, there will be no accountability.
Therefore, Accountability is the outcome of stewardship. Stewardship has two legs namely>
Representational Accountability and Financial Accountability. Let me take them one after the other.
(1) REPRESENTATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY> This refers to that aspect of Accountability that concerns our legislators who are our honourable members representing the various local Government Areas at the Imo State House of Assembly. Representational Accountability is that variable which ensures that our Honourable members are made to give their stewardship report card to the people of their constituency. Therefore, if it is seen that a particular legislator in the State House of Assembly is not performing well, he or she can be sanctioned through a re-call or wait patiently for him at the end of this legislative tenure when he would seek for re-election or any other higher position. The people of that constituency can then vote against him. The electoral “emolument” is the dividends which the elected representative is able to attract to his constituency. This includes presentation of good bills (laws) and motions that are people oriented, provision or attraction of good roads, equipped schools, boreholes, modern farming equipment, scholarships, job opportunities, industries, youth and women empowerment etc. Therefore when the above dividends are lacking in a particular constituency, then the member representing the constituency is held accountable.
(2) FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY> This variable involves the use of public funds in the execution of projects. Conversely, it implies that public funds are not diverted or converted into individual use. Therefore, it is totally safe for me to conclude that Accountability is the putting of a public official in a position where he or she must give account of his stewardship either during his tenure in office or after his tenure in office. Nonetheless, because of the nature of the Imo “Environment”, it is no longer advisable to wait for a public servant (Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, chief Whip, other Honourable members and Political Appointees) to finish his tenure before his stewardship can be assessed. This is because after a serious research, I discovered that Accountability in Imo State is at the very low ebb. It has totally declined to an abysmal level. Therefore I am propounding the following measures to check this decline in Accountability. They are as follows:
(A) THE PRESS>the press is the mouth piece of the society. Infact the press should be as bold as a lion in exposing corrupt public officials. No matter the intimidation, the press should stand firm. This is because the pen is mightier than the sword especially now that the freedom of information bill has been passed by the National Assembly. The press is a major tool that must be used to check the decline in Accountability in Imo State. Not long ago, yours sincerely used the press to expose or alert the public on the fraudulent activities going on at the Imo State House of Assembly (office of the Speaker), although I am yet to give full details. Specifically, the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Mr. Kodichi Anamekwe is massively involved in road contract fraud, imprest fraud, employment racketeering, salaries scam, General supply fraud and other sundry frauds. Full details will be provided in my PART TWO of this article. What is the duty or responsibility of the Chief of Staff to the Speaker? His duty is to assign responsibilities to the other aides of the Speaker. If he fails to assign jobs to the aides, then he should be held accountable or responsible. His other job is to make sure that duties assigned to aides are effectively and efficiently executed. In-short his job is to make sure that the office of the Speaker is perfectly functioning without sentiments. Which law empowers the Chief of Staff to the Speaker to award road contracts in Imo State? Which law empowers the Chief of Staff to delve into road construction while still retaining his job as Chief of Staff? Which law empowers the Chief of Staff to go outside his confinement of duty/duties to run after road contracts both for himself and for his fronts? Like I said, full blown details will be provided in PART TWO. Again the current Acting Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Speaker, Mr .Emeka Ahaneku (fast fast) is massively involved in stealing and diversion of stipends meant for correspondents. The press was also used to expose this fraud.
(B) JUDICIAL CONTROL> There should be judicial control in everything we do in public service. This is because if there is no judicial control, public servants will be bound to abuse their positions of authority. Conversely, any public servant who violates the law should be punished. This is because it is through the assistance of the judiciary that public service in Imo State is checked and controlled.
(C) PRESSURE GROUPS > The welfare of the masses is the concern of this group. The demand of job specialization from government is the function of the pressure group. If certain policies of the government are affecting the poor masses, members of this group can react by responding at the cries of the masses. Example abound, NUT, NUJ, NLC, Students Unions, Age grades, Town Unions, Human Right groups, The SLAP Initiative. For instance, the SLAP Initiative, a leadership initiative in Imo State was used to expose how the previous government connived among themselves to loot the resources of this state. Representations were also made to the EFCC, ICPC and Force Headquarters.
(D) LEGISLATIVE CONTROL > The Imo State House of Assembly is supposed to be the watch dog of the society. Conversely, a public official who embezzles money or is involved with fraud and scam could be dragged to the floor of the House of Assembly for his conduct or Mis-conduct. But how far this has been done by the Assembly is left for the court of public opinion to judge. It is an acknowledged fact that I Citizen Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha wrote a letter to the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly on the 7thof November 2013, exposing the involvement of his Chief of Staff (Mr. Kodichi Anamekwe) in massive fraud. The said letter was also copied to honourable members and the clerk of the house. I also requested that a panel made up of honourable members should be set up and which must invite me in the presence of Pressmen to prove my allegations against his Chief of Staff. The Speaker refused, rather he gave me a query on the 13th of December 2013 (36 days later). Intrigues followed after I responded to the query and when I sensed danger, I quickly resigned. It is pertinent for me to state that if a panel had been set up and I failed to prove my allegations against the Chief of Staff, then a query would then have been necessary. But in my case, Rt. Honourable Benjamin Uwajumogu failed to set up the panel. He rather chose to protect his Chief of Staff. He rather chose to cover fraud. He rather chose to protect a fraudster. He rather chose to protect a criminal and a thief in his office. So in effect, there is no legislative control by the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly over fraudulent public officials at the Assembly. If there is legislative control at the Imo State House of Assembly, the Speaker would have set up a panel to probe my allegations against his Chief of Staff. To solve this perennial problem of legislative unreasonableness and madness, there is need to have efficient and effective leadership in the Imo State House of Assembly that is anchored on truth, sincerity, honesty and love. At this point, let me point out that the legislature as an arm of government performs three functions namely, (a) Law making (b) Appropriation and (c) oversight functions. The legislature can never usurp the functions of the executive, just as the executive can never usurp the functions of the legislature. How come the office of the Speaker is massively involved in the award of road contracts(including supply of asphalt to contractors) ? This singular act has made the legislature in Imo State not to have legislative control over the “Little” excesses of the executive.
(E) ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL:. This is that aspect of administrative management which is concerned with the interpretation of State policy and implementation of the policies for the development of the state. Conversely, administrative control helps to ensure Accountability in that there are rules and guarding regulation directing the activities of civil servants and political Appointees in government.
(F) EFCC> This is an agency that the Federal Government established few years ago to help check financial crimes and other related activities of public servants. Therefore, any citizen of Imo State who is not satisfied with the way a particular public servant is carrying his duty can report that official to the EFCC for Proper investigation. It is a notorious fact that the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly (Mr. Kodichi Anamekwe) has been reported to the EFCC via a copy of a letter written to the Governor of Imo State. They will be fully involved if the Governor fails to act on the letter. This is to ensure Accountability.
(G) ICPC >this agency has similar functions like EFCC
.(H) FORENSIC AUDITING> Auditing is the efficient cross-examination of the accounts of an agency, ministry or an arm of government to ensure that there are no frauds in a given period of time. Conversely, forensic auditing in the act of auditing the accounts of government ministries, agencies including the State House of Assembly by professionals and experienced auditors. No matter how a fraud or scam is perpetuated, a forensic auditor will surely find out.
(I) FORCE HEADQUARTERS >This is the headquarters of the Nigerian Police force in Nigeria. Their primary duty is to maintain law and order. Therefore it is assumed that once a report of corruption or corrupt practices against a public servant is reported to them, they would swing into action. It is on record that I have alerted them on the fraudulent activities of the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Mr. Kodichi Anamekwe via a copy of a letter written to the Governor of Imo State. This is to ensure Accountability.
MY LEGISLATIVE EXPERIENCE
This has already been over flogged by so many commentators in the state. But be that as it may, I will quote verbatim what one of the commentators and correspondents(Chinyochaobi Israel Uhuegbu) with the state Assembly wrote of me. “As SSA on Media, Samuelson took off on a sound note and within few weeks he captured the media industry (both prints and electronics) for his lovable master. Ben Uwajumogu’s image and office was the envy of other state speakers. The Imo State House of Assembly vibrated both locally, nationally and internationally. Our concern is, why did those recorded successes now nosedived into close to failure? Citizen Ikenna Samuelson took Uwajumogu to the high mountains and made him and his office very attractive, marketable, investor friendly, such that the media department in the IMHA even covered some avoidable leakages at the Executive arm of government. The dexterity of the former senior media aide to speaker in media matters quickly helped in stabilizing and consolidating Rt. Hon. Ben. Uwajumogu as a Speaker.As a concerned correspondent, I and my colleagues cherished this humble political appointee being that he respected us, treated us well, gave us authority to be friendly to good governance, increased our monthly stipend from N3,000 to N5,000 and finally to N10,000. He was very honest with us to a fault.
When we had personal problems, Samuelson was handy to proffer solution to the problems. He paid hospital bills for our sick children, paid school fees for our kids, he got his boss (the Speaker) to sponsor our weddings, burial ceremonies for our loved ones. These are some of the attributes of a worthy media aide. He paid antenatal hospital bill for our wives, gave us love, care and overwhelming protection. He encouraged us to form a union at the Assembly to strengthen the bond of unity, friendship and love. When we run into problems with publishers, and editors Samuelson was handy to intervene. Inshort he was a leader to beat. He excelled. This inadvertently catapulted speaker Uwajumogu into a worthy great son of Imo State. Samuelson gave us Christmas bonuses. Samuelson got the Speaker to furnish NUJ state Chairman’s office. Samuelson facilitated the Speaker’s Sponsorship of Imo NUJs Executive trip to Abuja on a National convention in 2012”.
Also the leadership of the correspondents’ chapel of IMHA wrote a letter to the Speaker on the 18th of July 2013. Part of the content of the letter said, “Sir, the good image you have today in state and beyond through your son (Samuelson) has continued to endear Imolites and Nigerians to you”. The letter was signed by Mr. Chigozie Uzosike (Chairman), Mr. Val Nduka (Secretary), Onyinyechi Amakulo (PRO). Also in a message to me on the 1st of June 2012 by the NUJ state Chairman (Sir Innocent Igwe), he said “My dear SA Media, I thank you immensely for facilitating the sponsorship of Imo delegates to the NUJ National delegate’s conference by the Rt. Hon. Speaker. You have by that singular act proved to be a press friendly personally and NUJ will ever appreciate the gesture. Thanks a million”!! Again, in appreciation of my activities at the House of Assembly, the Institute of the Chartered Administration inducted me as a fellow in the last quarter of 2011. And others too numerous to mention.
I have taken time to list some of the comments by people on my sojourn at the Assembly in order to show that for leadership to be acknowledged, it has to be transparent. It has to be accountable to the people. Leadership must have human face and orientation. I did not steal. I even returned unspent funds to the Speaker (which ordinarily, I could have used my pen to retire such funds). My transparency at the office made the Chief of Staff (Mr. Kodichi Anamekwe) and his Ihitte/Uboma cabal to hate me with passion. Whenever I returned unspent funds to Mr. Speaker, they would shrink their faces with envy, anger and more hatred. They expected me to share unspent funds with them rather than returning it to the speaker. They felt threatened by my continued presence in the office. I refused to be part of their fraudulent exploits. So they hated me and wanted me out by all means. They saw me as an outsider among them. Full details will be provided in PART TWO.I was very effective and efficient. Even in the face of pressure I was transparent. Therefore, transparency in relation to Accountability is a situation where there can be no doubt, no mistake or confusion about leadership. When a leader is genuinely accountable to the people, that is transparency. When a leader ensure that stipends (salaries) of correspondents (workers) are paid as and when due, that is transparency. When a leader listen to the cries of the people (e.g. correspondents) by solving their personal problems, that is transparency. It shows that the leader is already accountable to the people. This is selfless leadership.
Therefore, Accountability and transparency has a direct relationship with leadership when the people are involved. Accountability, stewardship and transparency in government will have meaning when those in position of authority genuinely show the road that leads to honest leadership which will inadvertently provide the much needed dividends of democracy.
From the above, it is very obvious that the office of the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly failed woefully in this regard by not setting up a probe panel that would invite me to prove my allegations against Mr. Kodichi Anamekwe (The Chief of Staff). The Rt. Honourable Speaker has rather chosen to protect and hide his very corrupt Chief of Staff and other aides from the prying eyes of the public. I will therefore have no alternative than to prove the criminal and corrupt activities of Mr.Kodichi Anamekwe in the court of public opinion, using my known network and machinery.
Finally, let me restate once again that my nature as a socio-political crusader does not allow me
I rest my pen to keep quite when things are continually going wrong in my environment.
