Ekiti Speaker stresses importance of executive/legislature cooperation

The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Pastor) Kola Oluwawole, has stressed the need for government functionaries at both the executive and legislative arms of government to work together to achieve desired good governance, charging those in government in the state to sustain the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) beyond 2018 by their deeds.
According to a statement by his Special Assistant (Media), Stephen Gbadamosi, Oluwawole made this remark at a two-day orientation course on Public Service Ethics and Procedures for Local Government Political Office Holders, organised by the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs in conjunction with the 16 local government areas in the state, at Lady Jibowu Hall, Government House, Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on Wednesday.

Presenting the workshop paper entitled, Interpersonal Relationship Among Political Office Holders, the lawmaker maintained that the three arms of government, being legs of a tripod, were supposed to have cordial relationship, “so as to achieve good governance.”

He also spoke on the need for selfless service among political office holders, stressing that “the two arms (executive and legislature) must avoid lust for money which is one of the causes of tension in the executive/legislature relations.

“Both arms of government must strive to overcome pre

judice, inferiority/superiority complex, narrow mindedness and bigotry to work in cooperation. It is significant for both arms of government to see their roles as mutually supportive. The executive needs the legislature; and the legislature needs the executive to function properly.

“The executive and the legislature should pursue a joint agenda in the service of the masses. They should not work at cross purposes. The executive must enhance the capacity-building of the legislature. Rather than engage the executive over what portion of the budget lawmakers should pocket, the legislature should concentrate on devising ways and means of making the budget to serve the masses.”

Oluwawole went further to emphasise the need to strengthened and sustain the party on which platform the government assumed power, the PDP, as well as the government.
“As the father of the two arms of government, the party must not fail to discharge its functions to the political office holders without fear or favour. This government and the party must be sustained beyond 2018,” he said.

He said the local government chairmen, secretaries, supervisors and the councilors ought to ensure that interpersonal relationship existed among them, adding that there ought to be constant briefing among them.

“They must work together. Iron sharpens iron. There must be open and transparent government,” he added, charging the new political office holders to imbibe the practices of the state governor, who he said whenever he received allocation from the Federal Government, made such open to the relevant stakeholders in order to make the system transparent.