In view of the calls by the National Assembly that the executive should respect the independence of the legislature, the chairman of Electoral Reforms Committee, Senator Ken Nnamani has said that independence of the legislature does not mean the recklessness or irresponsibility of the legislature.
This is contained in his keynote address at the National Conference on Political Party Supremacy and the Dynamics of Parliamentary Autonomy organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Abuja yesterday.
Nnamani who is a former Senate President quoting Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court argued that separation of powers does not mean that branches of government need to be antagonist to each other. According to him, working together is what the interdependence seeks to achieve as they are independent but depend on one another for effectiveness.
Nnamani said, “This is the reason the constitution has designed our democracy with checks and balanced. The independence of the legislature does not mean the recklessness or irresponsibility of the legislature. It means that the legislature regulates itself in working together with other branches for the promotion of good governance.”