A former lawmaker at the Kano State House of Assembly who represented Kumbotso Constituency, Hon. Aminu Sani has charged politicians and representatives to champion the development of their various constituents by measuring and understanding their peculiar needs during electioneering campaigns.
Sani spoke at the 39th Episode of “Hasken Matasa” a popular radio series aired weekly on Express 90.3fm radio Kano where issues on youth affirmative action and societal concerns regarding overall impact and development are discussed.
While speaking on the theme; Roles and Responsibilities of Legislature at State and Federal Level, the ex-lawmaker suggested that, “when going from door to door campaigning, those that want to be representative should try to always document and map out the needs of the electorates across sectors, so that when they win the elections, the document can serve as a roadmap to a successful tenure.”
According to him, the role of lawmakers at both federal and state level is anchored primarily on making laws, however, other oversight functions include supervising the executive, standing as custodian of both state and national treasury as the case may be, ventilation of constituents grievances, constituency function ie constituency projects, and supervising the judiciary.
“A lawmaker needs to understand the he is an activist for his people. If they have grievances it is is responsibility to serve as their voice in the necessary quarters until that grievance is addressed and the people must know that they have the write to take their complaints to their representative as long as it is not personal but people oriented,” he explained
Going down memory lanem the ex two-time lawmaker recalled how he helped his people secure land compensation by ventilating their grievance.
“When I was in the house, the people of one of my Ward in Panshekara near Zawachiki were forcefully relocated by government in what many may interprete as land grabbing, so the people came to me complaining about their Mosque, Farms and Homes being snatched away from them.
“Fortunately, i was then Chairman of the House Committee on land, i grabbed their petition and tagged along with them to the Commissioner. It so happened the the original indigenes were settled in a waterlogged area while others were settled on some land. I laid all their demands before the then Commissioner, Alhaji Garba Yusuf and he came down with us to the affected area, all the electorates were assembled and we all looked at the plan and the grievance was addressed there and then by doing the needful. So, if a lawmaker knows what he is doing, his people’s right will never be trampled upon,” Hon. Sani quipped.
Another guest of the program who is a State House of Assembly contestant for Danbatta Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hajiya Halima Zubairu Abdulhamid Danbatta, emphasised that women representation in legislative affairs is key to fair representation and gender equality.
“That is why I am contesting for the seat because there are a lot of women-focused concerns that are not being addressed as they should by men in the house. For example, maternity issues are not being priorities as they should,” she lamented.
She further emphasised that electorates have the right to lay their complaints to the representative as long as it is people oriented such as issues of health, power, governance and accountability and accountability among others.
“There is always a gap when people do not channel their grievance through the right channel, like formally writing or delegating a committee, they feel they cool just ambush their representatives, a situation that usually fail to yield result,” she explained.
Both guest tasked elected representatives to ensure that they are accessible at all times to their constituents.
“But there are really times when the lawmaker cannot help being inaccessible. Especially when their safety, security and health is at stake and they take the steps to protect themselves as they were taught during the retreat before assuming office, electorates now interprete this steps to mean that the lawmakers are running away from them,” Hon Sani justified.
Participants who called in on the program raised various concerns especially on land allocation and relocations of residents.
“There are actually laws that permits the government to acquire peoples land and relocate them with compensation especially of the project to be situated on the acquired land is a priority project that is estimated to be for the greater good,” Hon Sani explained.
“However, to be eligible for compensations, residents must have supporting documents such as fencing permit, letter of grant, certificates etc but most people take this for granted thereby making it difficult for their representatives to follow up on their right for them,” he lamented.
He then stressed that constitutents need to be properly guided on the responsibilities that they can hold their representatives accountable to.
In return, Hajiya Halima called on far reaching awareness campaign on the importance of land documentation and responsibilities of elected resprentatives.
“Even if people inherited lands from their forebears, the should take documentation very seriously,” she stressed.
She therefore called on electorates not to just vote in representatives and leave them without monitoring and evaluating their performance while charging Journalists and the media to contribute to creating the right awareness on representation for both electorates and the elected.
Hasken Matasa, which literally translates into “Light of the Youth,” a weekly program on topical youth oriented issues organised by the Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR) and the Youth Society for Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Social Vices (YOSPIS), is sponsored by the Aminu Magashi Garba Foundation (AMG Foundation)
