John Ighodaro
20 November 2008
A research fellow at the Center for Advanced Social Studies (CASS) DR.Sofri Joab-Peterside, has said that citizens in a democracy need to do more than just casting their votes, saying there is the need for extended interactions between a legislator, for instance and his constituents.
He spoke at a capacity building workshop organised by the Centre for Advanced Social Science(CASS) with support from National Democratic Institute(NDI) which held at the Museum Conference Hall in Calabar, Cross River State.
Dr. Joab-Peterside who presented a paper entitled "The importance of legislator-constituency relations" noted "in democratic societies, governments including legislatures consult, interact and exchange views and information with the public so that citizens can express their preferences and provide their support for decisions that affect them."
He argued that "although elections are most common mechanism of linking citizens and their government, they are occasional, and citizens participation in them is generally limited to casting of vote."
He argued further that "interaction between the legislator and his constituents on a regular basis strengthens the relationship between him and his constituents. Effective legislator-constituency relationships contribute to democracy sustenance by strengthening the citizens connection to government."
He said such relationship also "provide assessments of how government's programmes are actually working on the ground. Citizens benefit by having their views and concerns heard in the policy-making process or by having an advocate in the legislature able to act on their behalf when government programmes adversely affect them.," he added.
In his paper entitled "Popular Participation in Legislation: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives", Prof. Adele Jinadu said that participation has to do with getting people involved in political matters that will affect them.
He argued that more people should be involved in making that law that will affect the people. People should not be excluded on grounds of being handicapped and of being male or female or other grounds.
"You don't want to exclude certain groups.
Participation expands the political and economic space," he said.
While arguing that there are levels of participation, he said people struggle for inclusion and political space.
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