The Daily News of 24 June 2014 carried the headline: "Chinese VP snobs Zimbabwe Again" while the Zimbabwe Independent of 20 June 2014 shouted "Zimbabwe must not sign away Mineral Wealth." The Southern Eye Newspaper of 23 June 2014 reported that “Minister (Mpofu) kicks out Chinese” in the Victoria Falls airport upgrade. Leave our country and build wherever they (sic) come from – that they are not even our friends” (p47). The above criticism of the Look East policy is juxtaposed with the statement of the Chinese man in Shanghai, when he sensibly tells the children, "now you want to be made in China, you work, nothing for free" p47).
Conclusion
John Epple's (2011:51) poem Ghostly Galleon captures this military cooperation despite Zimbabwe's acknowledged propensity for violence. So the person accuses China of being involved in the subversion of the people's will in Zimbabwe.
Impeachment as an Accountability Measure in a Presidential System? Views From Nigeria’s Fourth
Abstract
Sumário
Utilizando as teorias do funcionalismo estrutural e das elites, este artigo argumenta que esta falha legislativa na adopção do instrumento de impeachment para introduzir a cultura do executivo responsável no processo político gera a crise de governação na Nigéria. O artigo conclui que um sistema político onde prevaleça a corrupção sistémica reduzirá o impeachment a um mero instrumento de vingança política.
Introduction
2 Section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, assigns the legislative powers of the federal and state governments to the legislature. Chapter six discusses impeachment in Nigeria's political system, analyzing some instances of impeachment in the Second and Fourth Republics.
Impeachment in a Presidential System
Naoko Kada (2002, p. 2) recognizes the importance of impeachment as an "accountability mechanism" in the face of the spreading corruption pandemic. She points to the potential for abuse of impeachment provisions, especially by opposition groups in the legislature.
Political Elites in Nigeria’s Presidential System
One of the main concerns of a presidential system is how to curb the abuse of these separated powers and punish elected officials who engage in misconduct (Kada 2002). One of the mechanisms to mitigate the abuse of power is the legislative authority to remove an erring executive through the impeachment process.
Legislature and the Burden of Accountability in Nigeria’s Presidential System
Nigeria's presidential constitution recognizes the legislature as the principal institution responsible for enforcing the responsibilities of the executive branch. Of particular interest to this document is the power granted to the legislature to oversee the activities of the executive branch in order to ensure accountability.
Impeachment in Nigeria’s Presidential System
Article 188(2b) of the Nigerian constitution defines the offense that can warrant the removal of a governor/deputy governor as 'gross misconduct in the discharge of the functions of his office' (Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended). For them, prosecutorial power of the legislature is essential to ensure effective control of the executive.
Impeachment in Nigeria’s Second Republic
Lawmakers were of the view that the governor should have consulted the House of Representatives on such a sweeping policy statement. The impasse eventually paved the way for violations of constitutional provisions in the exercise of the governor's power by an uncompromising legislature.
Impeachment in the Fourth Republic
It is clear from all indications that the impeachment of the governor was primarily motivated as an instrument of political vengeance, not as a promotion of accountability. The Chief Whip of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Mr. Jerry Kumdisi, provided an insight into the politics associated with the impeachment of the governor (Ndiribe, 2014).
Data Presentation and Discussion
This is an indication of the spread of the culture of impunity, while the legislature remains docile. Every sector of society has its own means of circumventing the rules of honesty.
African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 1(2)pp028-037. Available at http://www.academicjournals.org/. Text of the speech by the Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives at the 2013 International Anti-Corruption Day organized by the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja, December 9, 2013.
Dimensions, Dynamics and Pathways of Addressing Inequality and Inequity among Children in Africa
According to the World Bank, in 2013, seven of the ten fastest growing economies in the world were in Africa. The second part is a discursive analysis of the different dimensions of child inequality in Africa.
Inequality and Children’s Rights
However, it will be expanded to include variations in the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms and rights by all children – including civil and political liberties; democratization of the public sphere in which children live to ensure human safety; and an examination of the systemic and structural issues that perpetuate the privilege and disadvantage of specific segments of society and consequently limit household income and opportunities for children to develop. For Amartya Sen, inequality among children refers to differences in the enjoyment of "substantive freedoms".
Dimensions of Inequality among Children in Africa
Inequalities often exist in access to safe water, hospitals, schools and other essential services for children living in rural Africa compared to urban areas. For example, children in Nairobi County (Kenya's capital) have 15.4 times more access to secondary education than those living in Turkana County, which is approximately 700 km from Nairobi.
Economic Dimension
Save the Children (2012), estimates that a child in the richest 10% of households has up to 35 times the effective disposable income of a child in the poorest 10% of households. Similarly, the proportion of births with a skilled attendant is much higher in the richest 20% of households than in the poorest 20%.
Sociological Dimension
With a Gini coefficient of almost 70, South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. Further allegations have also been raised about selective application of the law based on perceived political affiliation.
Historical and Intergenerational Dimension
Inequality in South Africa, for example, is “a lasting legacy of the apartheid system, which denied non-whites the chance to accumulate capital in any form – land, finance, skills, education or social networks” (Narayan & Mahajan, 2013:01). In Zimbabwe, for example, between 2002 and 2008, concerns were raised about skewed access to food aid and other social services in favor of supporters of the ruling ZANU PF party.
Pathways to Addressing Inequality Among Children
Another way to respond to social injustices is to expand the opportunities for children to participate in development and public spending processes. The State of the World's Children 2014 in numbers: every child counts, exposing differences, promoting children's rights.
Representation without Participation: Dilemmas of Quotas for Women in Post-apartheid South Africa
It is recognized that the participation and representation of women in politics, national legislatures and municipal councils in South Africa has grown steadily, and this has become a topic of discussion in political and academic circles. Others argue that the sustainability of women's economic and social empowerment depends on the degree of their integration into the political decision-making process (Panday, 2008).
Importance of Women’s Participation and Representation in Politics
Therefore, women's political participation is an indicator through which the extent of women's enjoyment of political rights is measured. It has been realized in SA that without the active participation and incorporation of women's perspectives at all levels, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.
History of Women’s Politics in SA
Her argument for necessity rests on the grounds that (1) Having women instead of men in office makes government demonstrably more responsive to women's interests; (2) Participation in government is valuable in itself; and (3) Increased representation of women will change the perception that politics is a male domain. Although only one political party, the ANC, has voluntarily adopted a 50/50 quota system for its proportional representation (PR) lists, other political parties (see Table 1) are making a contribution to the transformation of women's representation and distribution of women on key decision-making locations.
Present State of Women’s Participation in SA
This means that there are several sources for the “offer of women” to mainstream politics. The Women's League (ANCWL) of the early 1990s, which advocated the candidate quota for better political representation of women in politics, had an impact on structural changes in favor of women in local politics (Meintjes, 1998a; Hassim, 2006).
Actors in Introduction of Quotas for Women
However, the introduction of the quota system in traditional leadership deepened women's dependence on male traditional leaders (Myeni, 2012). Women were specifically organized as African women, a sign of the subsequent form the women's movement would take in the national liberation movement (Hassim, 2006).
Major Factors Affecting Women’s Involvement in Politics
Women's activities in their political parties created tremendous pressure on negotiators to make changes to post-apartheid state policies regarding women's participation and representation. As shown earlier, women were more disadvantaged by resource constraints: although there is an increase in the number of women in political office (as councilors elected through PR), women's influence in politics did not necessarily increase.
Representation without Participation
Although there are policy developments to improve the lives of women in the post-apartheid regime, the services they provide remain invisible, unrecognized and devalued. It is clear that expanding the opportunities for women's participation through quotas does not ensure their active participation in the decision-making process.
What Should be Done?
Gender quotas as a strategy to ensure women's political participation and representation remain controversial in SA, as elsewhere. In Turkey, women's rights and the diversity of women's voices gained momentum through democratization and economic transformation (De Brito, 2006).
A Holistic Philosophy of Emancipation and the Post- colonial African State*
Portanto, este artigo busca uma articulação discursiva de tal filosofia do holismo como transformação positiva, identificando os níveis metafísico, moral, lógico e epistemológico de análise da emancipação do Estado africano pós-colonial.
Introduction and Problem Statement
Preliminary Conceptual Mapping
To this extent, we must turn to a non-absolutist account of emancipation in the present work. Furthermore, the reference to human capacities in the conception of emancipation recognizes that the human person is the primary object of.
Critical Engagement with Traditional Accounts of Emancipation in Africa
The first claim is that the development of the post-colonial African state would ultimately be a result of economic development. Furthermore, the economic boom of the post-colonial African state is not necessarily linked to human development in the state.
A Holistic Philosophy of Emancipation and the Post-Colonial African State
Thus, both Arab-Islamism and Euro-Christianity are perhaps not good candidates for the emancipation as positive transformation of the African person. As we could see, our ontology of the African self is co-relative with our cosmology in the understanding of liberation as positive transformation.
Summary and Conclusion
Endnotes
Negative statecraft and the social ills in the modern African state: exploring the concept of political utilitarianism for ethical leadership and management. We are forced to use the adjective 'postcolonial' in the title of the work because there is no better linguistic alternative.
Contributor’s Biographies
Ronald Olufemi Badru (PhD), is a lecturer in Philosophy and Politics, in the Department of Politics and International Relations, Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria, as well as an Associate Lecturer in Philosophy at the Saints Peter & Paul Major Seminary, Ibadan. Nigeria. Sharon Adetutu Omotoso (PhD) teaches Philosophy and Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations, Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Guide for Authors
Referencing
Give the initials and surnames of the first six authors in the reference list, and abbreviate any remaining authors to et al. When the author and publisher are identical, use the word author as the name of the publisher.
