Comparative Analysis between Kenya and Nigeria
How does each country
involve its people in politics?
Nigerians involvement in
Politics
The development of a
stable political system is a function of awareness and positive involvement of
citizens in the governance of their countries. Democracy demands some civics
and political participation of the people. In political systems, citizens
participate in political processes by joining political parties, voting during
elections, participating in community affairs, participating in electoral
campaigns, and other civic activities. In Nigeria, people regard politics as a
dirty game to be avoided at all costs. It is a perception that has percolated
in the country because of the previous culture of the undemocratic management
of public affairs. In the past, the elections were characterized by violence,
deception, and uncertainties. As a result, people are reluctant to participate
in polls. However, the promulgation of the 1999 Constitution, the democratic
culture is changing, and the people are participating in politics by voting for
their leaders.
One of the main ways that
Nigerians participate in politics is voting during elections. After the
enactment of the current Constitution in 1999, Nigerians vote in federal and
state government elections. At the national level, the people vote to elect a
president as the head of the executive. Thus, people determine who exercises
the executive authority of the country by choosing the person directly. He
serves as the head of government and state for a maximum of two four-year
terms. After the election, the law requires the president to have cabinet
members from all the 36 countries. The people also vote in the bicameral
Parliament, which oversights the executive. They vote for a National Assembly
as the House of Representatives consisting of 360 members. Citizens even elect
members of the National Assembly, with states allocated members according to
their population. Members of the National Assembly can serve for not more than
two four-year terms. They also vote for 109 senators, three from each of the 36
states, and a single member for the Abuja. Members of both houses serve for a
four-year term.
Nigerians also
participate in the election of their 36 state governments headed by a governor
with oversight assemblies that serve for four years. The enactment of 1999
Constitution was an important milestone in the democratization process of the
country. The general election held in February the same year marked an end to
15 years of military rule and returned to a democratic culture. From 1999, the
country has faithfully held its elections after every four years allowing the
people to elect their leaders. Although the Constitution declares that Nigeria
is a secular state, it will enable Muslims to practice Sharia law.
However, there are
challenges with the process of participation of Nigerians in elections. There
is a low level of participation in elections in the country because of the
nature of Nigerian politics in the past. According to Arowolo and Aluko (2010),
involvement in politics is a learned behavior. The best way that citizens can
participate in politics is by choosing their rulers and demanding
accountability from them. However, the previous culture of the politics of
deception, violence, assassinations, and intimidation discouraged the people
from participating in elections. Nigerians can be active in the politics of
their country if they learn new behaviors of regular voting and seeing changes
in government.
Kenyans Participation in
Politics
Kenya has a
significantly different post-colonial history compared to Nigeria. Although
both nations were British colonies, Kenya has consistently held elections from
its independence in 1963 when it elected Jomo Kenyatta as its first president.
The Republic of Kenya is a unitary state with a devolved system of government
with 47 counties. Therefore, the country has one National and 47 county
governments. The two levels are interdependent and work through constant
consultation. Leaders to these levels of government are elected by the people
through universal age to serve for a term of five years. The political system
in the country has oscillated between multiparty and one-party states. From
1969 to 1982, Kenya a de facto a one-party state. It became a single-party
country by law in 1982 but reverted to multiparty ten years later in 1992.
Since then, the country is a multiparty society that is the hallmark of its
parliamentary democracy at the national and state level.
Kenya involves its
citizens in governance through the election of its leaders in a general
election every five years. The country has religiously obeyed this tradition
from the first election held in 1963 to the latest held in 2017. The people
elect the government at the national and county level on a single day as
prescribed in the Kenyan Constitution 2010. At the county level, the people
choose a governor who is the head of the devolved system of government and
members of the country assemblies (MCA) who serve as the legislative arm at the
local level. Article 98 of the Kenyan Constitution establishes the Senate of 67
members and a speaker, who is an ex-officio member. The people of Kenya elect
their 349 members of the National Assembly that serve for five years. On their
first sitting, members of the National Assembly elect a speaker and a deputy.
Thus, the people of Kenya elect the members of the national Parliament to
oversight the executive and represent the interest of the people.
The Kenyan Constitution
also provides that the people elect the chief executive officer of their
country in the name of a president. The people choose the president alongside
his deputy as a running mate during the elections. They are to serve for a
five-year term and are eligible for reelection for another period of five
years. The winning candidate must garner the support of more than half of the
votes cast and more than 25 percent support in more than half of the 47
counties. The president of the republic, the deputy-president, the attorney
general, and the cabinet secretaries (ministers) constitute the national
executive. The president nominates the cabinet secretaries who take up their
positions after their confirmation by the national assembly.
One of the main guiding
principles in the Constitution of Kenya is the participation of the people in
politics and the governance of their country. The preamble of the 2010
Constitution states that the sovereign power of the Republics rests on the
people. They can exercise control directly or indirectly by assigning specific
duties to several institutions. Therefore, before Parliament makes any decision,
it has to revert to the people and request for an opinion. All processes of
governance, including budget making, vetting of cabinet secretaries, and
enactment of the law, among others, require public participation.
What are the major
issues facing each country, and how are these being addressed?
One of the main
challenges that Kenya faces is corruption. Every regime that comes to power in
Kenya promises to deal with the problem of corruption in government. As a
result, the citizens are always skeptical about the possibility of a new set of
leaders addressing the issue. From 1996, Transparency International (TI)
reports rank Kenya poor every year. A corruption perception index of 2 out of
possible ten shows that majority of Kenyans think that the country and its
institutions are corrupt. In 2019, transparency ranked Kenya at position 137
out of 80 countries, with 28 percent of perception Index (TI, 2019). Corruption
in Kenya has permeated all sectors of the economy impacting business,
healthcare, education, law enforcement agencies, land transactions, and tax
administration. It is also rampant in customs administration, police, public
service, and in the judiciary.
Corruption holds Kenya
competitiveness in business and slows its economic growth. Fraud is rampant in
public procurement, and a weak judicial system makes it difficult to prosecute
corrupt practices. Under the 2003 Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, it
is a criminal offense to be unethical, to bribe and abuse of office. The Kenyan
Constitution established the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission as a
constitutional commission to help fight the vice. The commission has the power
to preempt corrupt practices and investigate cases. It collaborates with
another independent office, the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute
cases. Additionally, the Bribery Act of 2016 strengthens the fight against
corruption by addressing the supply side of the graft. The Act criminalizes any
form of facilitation payments and provides the type of gifts that public
officials can accept and which they cannot.
Apart from corruption Kenya faces other challenges that are rampant in Africa and other developing countries. Kenya has struggled against terrorism for a long time. The problem began with bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi in 1998. After that, it has consistently fought against the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab that operates from Somalia. At the same time, youth struggle with unemployment whose rate stand at close to 40 percent
Major problems facing
Nigeria Today
Nigeria is the most
populous nation in Africa of approximately 196 million people. The country is
blessed with natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, lead, arable
land, among others. Despite the abundance, Nigeria is still poor because of the
mismanagement of public resources. The theft of public resources has
responsible for the widespread poverty in the country. Nigeria despair to
participate in politics through voting because the majority of the politicians
who seek political office in the country are mentioned in scandals. Therefore,
the ordinary citizen is angry with the political elite and despair
participating in activities that would install one of the corrupt politicians
as leaders in the country. The mismanagement of the economy and unethical
practices in the state make it difficult for political leaders to create jobs.
This leaves the majority of youth jobless in the country.
Although the country is
6th largest oil exporter in the world today, the wealth does not trickle to the
ordinary citizens. Instead of benefiting the people, oil money supports the
political elite to maintain their status in society.
Transparency
International ranked it at position 146 out of 180 in 2019 with 26 percent (TI,
2019).
The Nigerian
Constitution recognizes that corruption is a serious national issue and
empowers the state to abolish all corrupt practices in the country. Crime is
the greatest challenge facing the country today since it is spread to all
spheres of life in Nigeria. It affects the agricultural sector, trade, sports,
and therefore becoming an endemic societal problem. In a bid to abolish
corruption in public, the Nigerian government has enacted an anti-corruption
Act and established anti-corruption agencies to enforce the law. From the
1980s, several regimes have tried to solve the issue using various measures
that were not successful. One of the agencies is the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) that came into existence in 2004. The commission has
the power to prevent, investigate, and prosecute economic and financial crimes.
The establishment of this commission was an important step to prove that the
government was committed to fight corruption in the country once and for all.
Apart from the EFCC, the
country has a Public Complaints Commission. The ombudsman was established in
1975 through a presidential decree by the then-president General Yakubu Gowon.
It was validated by the 1999 Constitution. Therefore, it is a constitutional
commission that can only be removed through an amendment to the supreme law. It
has the sole mandate to listen to complaints from the public regarding the
performance of any of public official. Therefore, the government has the
structure, the relevant agencies to help it fight corruption. If there is
political goodwill, then Nigeria overcomes the challenge of crime.
One of the causes of
corruption in the country is low salaries for public servants. The meagre pay
cannot sustain the families and dependents of the officers. Some states don’t
even manage to pay the workers on schedule. The civil servants see taking
bribes as necessary for their survival. However, some public servants like to
live beyond their means and therefore participate in corrupt practices to
sustain extravagant lifestyles. At the same time, the leadership of the country
is always insensitive to the needs of the people that elect them office.
Majority of politicians embezzle money meant for the public and accumulate
wealth. As a result, people do not benefit from paying taxes or from the
extraction of natural resources in their country.
Security is also one of
the main challenges facing Nigeria, especially terrorism. Boko Haram bombings,
kidnappings, and performance of violent acts are the hallmark of the activities
of Boko Harum. Although President Muhammad Buhari promised to destroy Boko
Haram, he has not succeeded where his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan did not.
Assess each country’s political and social stability, and explain why each would be considered stable/unstable
Nigeria: Key Points
From the time it attained independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has experienced periods of social and political instability. The country has witnessed an oscillation between civilian and military rule. Nigeria has had six successful military coups and several failed coups. The military has toppled two democratically elected governments before the current Fourth Republic began in 1999 with the enactment of a new Constitution. Regional and ethnic tensions led to the collapse of the First Republic and a civil war of 1967-1970. The Fourth Republic has outlived previous civilian regimes witnessing five consecutive general elections and the transfer of power from one regime to another.
Poor governance and the zero-sum nature of Nigerian politics are the greatest catalysts to political instability. Elections in the country are divisive, especially along northern (Muslims) and southern (Christian) lines. Any time politicians exploit these differences exposes the country to political instability. The institution of federalism is problematic for stabilizing the country’s political system. Although the system goes through continuous reviews and amendments, significant segments of the society believe that the status quo do not serve the interests of all stakeholders well. Lack of cohesion at the national level due to political competition does portend good for the interest of the country.
Social tensions in Nigeria are complex, overlapping, and deeply rooted in history. Religious, regional, and ethnic differences are some of the issues that cause violence to erupt. Islam and Christianity faiths are represented equally in the country. There is also a high presence of traditional African religion. If the fault lines do not converge at the national level, social violence may not threaten the stability of a country. The 1960s civil war was a consequence of ethnic antagonism. Social violence is associated with governance problems, although they raise distinct issues. Social tensions demand that the government addresses issues such as identity and the distribution of national resources. If that does not take place, the issue of autonomy arises. Triggers of such grievances are political incitement, economic shocks, elections, regime changes, and institutional turbulence. Today, Nigeria is a socially stable nation although the stability is on shaky grounds that can be disrupted through political incitement.
Economic shocks are the third area that creates instability in Nigeria. From the 1970s, Nigeria relies on Oil and Natural gas to finance its economy that is a volatile source of revenue. The oil riches have led to the mismanagement of the economy as income was guaranteed. At the same time, political leaders have used their positions to increase themselves and their cronies. In the process, they have created economic inequalities that leave the majority of the people in abject poverty unable to educate their children or afford to feed their families. The resulting economic inequalities cause unemployment, deindustrialization, problems with the public service that spark violence and political stability. Thus, unless the economy is performing well, it is impossible to avoid political instability.