The standing orders spell out what a member can say or not say in a debate and there is a speaker of the house to both regulate a debate and maintain order . Unfortunately this safeguard is not available outside the legislative arms .
In the public arena we only have the courts to adjudicate claims of libel and defamation and the process of suing and counter suing is so lengthy and unwieldy . We have even tried unsuccessfully to have a cohesion commission step in to bring order .
We raise this issue because we have noted with concern an alarming deterioration of public conduct of elected leaders that has on too many occasions deteriorated into bar style confrontations and exchanges .
The new constitution gave us a new layer of politicians , the governors who are very powerful but not beholden to the president . This was meant to enhance the separation of powers and spur devolution but has created a new battle front of public contests .
It did not take the governors long to realize that the president had no powers over them and the scene was set for an adversarial contest that we see as a zero sum contest . The existence of counties is synonymous with disgruntled politics .
We subscribe to the notion that it is okay to agree to disagree and everyone has a right to their opinions but we worry that if the present conduct of public affairs is allowed to take root then we are bound to erode the authority vested in the public positions .
We find it unacceptable that a president can go to a county and sideline the local governor from official functions . This is not only disrespectful and a breach of protocol but it sends a message of a country in disunity as the different organs refuse to harness their
‘‘ But worse is a governor who when granted the courtesy to address a presidential function takes it upon himself to upbraid the president in his presence and display such disdain , disrespect and arrogance that is unacceptable .’’
efforts and work together as envisaged .
But worse is a governor who when granted the courtesy to address a presidential function takes it upon himself to upbraid the president in his presence and display such disdain , disrespect and arrogance that is unacceptable .
These unfortunate public spats of puerile political contests only serve to demean both offices and there are really no excuses for such elementary bad manners that run contrary to basic African tenets that you never quarrel with your guest .
So we end up with a catch twentytwo situation where if an invitation is sent out it ends up as a public relation disaster and if the invitation is withheld we have a protocol disaster . To murky up the situation we have deteriorated to hurling unsavory insults .
We cannot imagine under which circumstances this type of behavior is acceptable and our worry is that as the media happily reports the altercations and they should as their job is to report , there are those that are seeing this as an excellent excuse to muzzle the media .
The world over there is one caveat to remember and that dictators are not usually born they are created by situations and vested interests . Those with a vested interest of having a president look good will blame the media for broadcasting negative news .
We only know that a president and a governor are behaving badly because the media let us know and it is a short step from figuring out that since you cannot control the president or the governor it is easier to control the media .
The media has a penchant for being blamed when politicians behave badly . When politicians brawl in public , they hate it when their stories are sprawled in the media and we tend to be threatened with legal actions among other retributions for covering a function .
Fortunately the examples we have given are the exception rather than the rule and the behavior has been condemned by right thinking citizens and we must start conducting our politics in a mature manner without insults .
Once a public figure has been elected on whatever political ticket , it is wise and prudent to always remember that upon election one represents all citizens , irrespective of whether they voted for or against you . There should be no political zones in the administration of a country .
No right thinking citizen would dream of a return to that repression period of yore and it beholds every one of us to jealously guard our freedoms by ensuring that those that represent us behave accordingly with decorum and civility .