Former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
The former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has expressed concerns about the declining condition and increasing vulnerability of state institutions in most African states.
Dr. Bawumia believes that state institutions, which are crucial for determining and significantly contributing to the nation’s growth, are instead being endangered, a situation he has described as concerning.
He suggests that qualified and competent individuals, who may be well-suited to lead these institutions, appear to be overlooked in favor of party affiliates and individuals with ethnic interests.
He pointed to this as a possible factor contributing to the weakening of state institutions.
“Fortunately, whilst the culture of peacefully choosing leaders is being entrenched, these institutions that should determine our growth are becoming weak and endangered. Several reasons account for this.
“First, when we place partisan, ethnic and other interests over and above competence in appointments to these institutions, we are simply creating mere edifices and structures to reward cronies, creating avenues for reluctant democrats to get a backdoor route to autocracy and misgovernance,” he said on January 28, 2025, while appearing as a guest speaker at a conference in Nigeria on democracy in Africa.
Building on his earlier point, Dr. Bawumia further emphasised how certain individuals deliberately undermine state institutions without any substantiated basis, seeking to create discontent between these institutions and the public, as well as subject them to public ridicule.
He expressed concern over how these actions are often carried out by well-educated and distinguished individuals, whose behavior contributes to public unrest and erodes confidence in these institutions.
“Second, there is a growing phenomenon in our democracy whereby people deliberately run down these independent and accountability institutions purely on emotive reasons. Especially when these institutions decide, as they should, to uphold the law in the interest of the masses and in strict fidelity to the law.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is rather alarming that sometimes these bastardizations of the institutions are undertaken by people with loud voices, people with professional and technical pedigrees, and people who know the truth as espoused by these institutions,” he said.
He added, “For these people, partisan and sectional interests are often packaged as technical and professional opinions, thereby setting these institutions up for public ridicule, scorn and disdain. This has often set the stage for people with no appreciation of the issues at stake to run amok, eroding public confidence in these institutions and causing substantial damage to our democracy. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I need to touch on a closely related matter to the quality of institutions.”
Dr. Bawumia added that these developments pose a threat to the democratic nature of the nation.
MAG/AE
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