BY VINCENT UJUMADU

THERE is so much expectation from the present crop of House of Assembly members in Anambra State following what many people regard as the below average performance of the previous Houses in the state. Since 1999 when the present democratic dispensation came into being, the state House of Assembly had been dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In fact, even in 2003 when Mr. Peter Obi of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, won the governorship election, which took him three years to claim the mandate, the House consisted mainly of PDP members. During that era, those to be the state lawmakers were pre-determined and their names announced on the day of the official election, even when voting did not take place in most of the voting centers.

After the 2003 general election, while Mr. Peter Obi had the resources to claim his mandate at the courts after he was rigged out other APGA candidates for the legislative arm who were mainly grassroots people and did not have the funds to hire good lawyers to pursue their cases at the tribunals, merely went home to lick their wounds. In those days, the popular saying in Anambra was that once the PDP declared one a candidate in Anambra State, he had already won the election.

In 2007 when another parliamentary election was held in the state, PDP also produced all the 30 members, although most Anambrarians knew again that there was really no election as godfathers in the party merely assembled in a hotel in Awka and listed those to be the state lawmakers. Many of the lawmakers who functioned from 2007 to 2011 never participated in any party primaries and never campaigned, only to emerge as legislators because of their closeness with top politicians who held sway in Anambra State. The result was the lack luster performance of that house as only very few of them could make coherent presentations during sittings.

The 2011 election was however different following the position of President Goodluck Jonathan for a free and fair election. Much as the rigging experts in Anambra State tried to ensure that the status quo of rigging was maintained, the Independent National Electoral Commissioner, INEC, rebuffed such moves and made sure that people”s votes counted. That was how, for the first time in the state, five political parties produced members in the 30 ––member House of Assembly. The stand of the parties is as follows: APGA –– 16, PDP –– 8, ACN –– 4, Labour Party –– 1 and Accord Party –– 1.

It was not surprising therefore that only six former members of that House were re-elected and only one of them, Mr. Gabriel Onyenweife from Ayamelum constituency returned on the platform of his original party, the PDP. The others, namely Princess Clair Nwaebili of Ogbaru 11 constituency who is now the speaker of the House, Princess Nicky Ugochukwu of Orumba South, Mr. Benson Nwawulu of Ogbaru 1 and the member for Nnewi South, Mr. Egwuoyibo Okoye decamped from PDP before the election and were elected on the platform of APGA. The sixth person, Mr. Emeka Iduu was re-elected on the platform of Accord Party where he defected to before the election. Most of the other former members contested on the platform of PDP and failed woefully.

Though APGA has a simple majority in the House and has produced the speaker and deputy speaker in the persons of Mrs. Nwaebili and Prince Orizu respectively, it is still early to determine if the House would be a rubber stamp for the executive arm of government.

However, events that took place before the emergence of the two principal officers indicate that harmony would likely exist between the executive and legislative arms of government in the state. For instance, on the day of their inauguration, the 16 members of APGA met with Governor Peter Obi and the leadership of the party at the Governor”s Lodge where the speaker and her deputy were named before they moved to the House of Assembly complex where the decisions were merely ratified.

Since her emergence as the speaker, Mrs. Nwaebili has been featuring frequently at government functions, unlike the situation in the past where the former speaker, who was a member of PDP, hardly appeared at official government functions in spite of his closeness with the governor.

Also, some of the lawmakers in the opposition in the present House were believed to have personal rapport with Governor Obi and this may also translate to a cordial relationship between the legislative and executive arms of government. However, the fact that many members of the House are young people, who may want to prove that they have minds of their own, may likely cause some disquiet in future. For now, they have toed the line in obedience to the decision of the party on the election of the speaker and her deputy, but how long this will be sustained would be seen as the House settles down to real business.

Before the expiration of their tenure, the last House of Assembly passed a resolution on the ranking for the election of the leadership of the House as it resolved that only returning members would be eligible for the office of speaker and deputy speaker in line with what obtains at the national level. With APGA having a simple majority and with most of its members being first time lawmakers, especially from Anambra North senatorial zone where the speaker has been zoned to, it was obvious that the former House wanted one of their re-elected members to be the speaker.

For now, everybody is watching to see the kind of relationship that would exist between the two arms.
But one thing is clear and that is that if Obi could work harmoniously with the PDP ––dominated House for four years without any rancour, it would be easier for his administration now that his party has a simple majority in the state legislature. The former members were given so much leverage by Governor Obi, apparently because they all belonged to the opposition party and political analysts are already feeling that the situation may not be the same since the APGA ––controlled House is expected to naturally fall in line and support the executive arm in the implementation of government policies

For instance, the former members supervised the execution of their constituency projects which they actually chose and ensured their entry into the budget. As one government official stated, the policy of allowing the lawmakers to be involved in the execution of constituency projects would not change, adding that the only thing is that the legislators would not be allowed to award the contracts or have direct dealings with the contractors.

Although the out gone House passed the 2011 budget before its dissolution, indications are that the executive arm would soon present a supplementary budget to the new lawmakers for approval. As one politician put it, ““this will be the real APGA budget”” as there would not be any need to appease any lawmaker before its passage.

In fact, the politician said Governor Obi had this in mind when he presented what was considered a paltry budget estimate of N67 billion which was passed without undue delay by the former House because he envisaged that his party would produce the majority in the House after the 2011 election.