The Senator representing the Abia North Senatorial Zone at the National Assembly, and former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has again drummed his support for a single term of six years for presidents and State Governors.
According to the Senate Chief Whip, the arrangement if adopted would reduce the cost of governance and also fostering rapid development of the country. This is even as he said that the current system of two tenures of four years each is expensive.
He noted that the politicking for reelection for second term by the President and Governor usually distracts them from concentrating on governance.
Kalu made this disclosure on Thursday evening on a Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’, monitored in Abuja.
Feilding questions on the programme Kalu said; “When I was Governor, I called for a single term of six years. Remember, President Obasanjo said I was after him. That was part of the beginning of our quarrel. I advocated for that because of the cost of going for re-election, because of managing the economy. Because when you become a Governor or a President, their eyes are on re-election.
“They are not even thinking about what people will do or what people will get. Every politician is looking for re-election. So, the only way to solve this problem is by giving no incentive to anybody, doing one term of six years. It will go a long way in boosting performance because most of the people think they need to make money for re-election.
“In my minority opinion – I don’t know the majority opinion – I think most politicians are looking forward to the next election”.
The former Abia Governor, however, advised Government to scale down on unnecessary expenditures. These, he said, included aid given to other countries and regional institutions.
Reacting to accusations that the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate was simply a rubber-stamp for the Executive, Kalu dismissed the allegations.
He said, “I am in the Senate and a lot of things are said about the Senators. And I sit there quietly and watch and most of these things are not true. Some Senators were given aid to buy vehicles and those who could afford it upgraded them. I didn’t get a vehicle. There is nothing like official vehicles. They buy vehicles for the committees. We are elected, yet we don’t have vehicles. But you have someone who is appointed, and he moves in a convoy of six vehicles.
“We are doing a lot because in our constituencies if somebody is sick, they will come to us. If somebody’s child cannot go to school, they will come to us for school fees. So, the way we look down on legislators is something I cannot believe.
Kalu also dismissed the allegation of bogus remuneration and vehicles for Senators.
He said, “As a Senator, I earn N14 million monthly, and it covers everything. That is, my salary, my overhead, the workers’ salaries, everything. From this money, I have to buy fuel to move to my constituency. I have to maintain my constituency offices and I have to sit in the constituency etc. It is not enough”.
On whether he was proud of what his party, the All Progressives Congress APC was delivering to Nigerians today. He answered “Yes and no, because my party is very unlucky. My party has done very well in the things they can do in the indices of the economy. The Government is not continuing from where Buhari stopped. That is where the difficulty comes in.
“They are trying to reform the economy. They are trying to bring back the economy to where it is supposed to be. But it is bringing hardship to our people. The President himself knows that Nigerians are suffering. The President knows that Nigerians are hungry. He is a street person. He knows the streets very well. The President, at some nights, uses his car to go around in Abuja to know what is happening. He is not a president that is locked up in a room”.
Kalu also denied reports of a rift between him and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Chief Whip also dismissed allegation of moves to impeach the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. He stated that there were no such plans.
source: Vanguard
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