Our First Lady, the perm sec
Despite desperate attempts to explain and justify it, the appointment of the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, as permanent secretary in the Bayelsa State civil service is an abuse of process, abuse of office and totally without merit. It is not surprising that
the appointment has attracted public criticisms on grounds of propriety. Mrs. Jonathan has already taken the oath of office, putting paid to expectations that she might turn down the controversial appointment. That act of taking the oath even magnifies the impropriety of the wife of a serving president, already playing full ceremonial role at the presidency as the First Lady, being so elevated; more so as she has been out of her career job for more than 13 years, ostensibly on leave of absence.
The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, affirmed that the appointment of Dame Patience as permanent secretary, along with 18 others, was done in a transparent manner and after due consultations with stakeholders. He further said the process was devoid of lobbying, as those elevated were selected from a list of the most senior civil servants in each of the eight local councils of the state. Besides, the exercise, he emphasised, was in accordance with the constitutional power conferred on the governor.
On her part, the First Lady insisted that she deserved the promotion, being a teacher in the state's civil service who had been on leave of absence since 1999 when her husband became the deputy governor of the state. She reasoned further that since the position of the First Lady was not constitutional, she needed to express her career in the civil service and be entitled to retirement benefit upon leaving the service.
Notwithstanding the justifications, the development provokes a number of pertinent questions: What relevant bureaucratic experience has the First Lady to merit her appointment? What is her portfolio? How does her appointment interface with her extra-constitutional role as First Lady? So far, no one has provided the answers. It is beyond doubt that Mrs. Jonathan has no bureaucratic experience for the position she has been elevated to, and since it is a nominal appointment without any formal portfolio, what point does the governor intend to prove by the appointment?
The governor's insistence that the appointment was done on merit and that he only exercised his constitutional powers is face-saving, certainly not reconcilable with the fact of the act being an aberration, meant only to curry the president's favour or goodwill. It smacks of an attempt by the governor at ingratiating himself to the president, given the controversy of his emergence as governor of Bayelsa State. Ordinarily in most civil service regulations, officers on secondment or leave of absence, upon return, sit for promotion examination and if successful, are granted apposite notional promotion to bring them to the levels of their colleagues.
It may be argued that past first ladies such as Mrs. Fati Abubakar and Mrs. Mary Odili had been caught in a similar political-cum-moral web. To be sure, their cases were different from the present one. For example, Justice Fati Abubakar, who was a High Court judge in her native Niger State, remained on her job despite her husband, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar, becoming the head of state. This was under a military dictatorship, and no organ of government played sycophancy to the head of state by elevating his wife to some unearned portfolio. Mrs. Odili was professionally focused as Justice of Appeal Court and hardly played the Rivers State's first lady role, a fact that ensured her career growth and subsequent elevation to the Supreme Court.
Above all, the development points up the ethical component of the state. The ethical state must ensure social justice; it must be accountable to the people; it must be sensitive to the public perception and feelings and it must be self-effacing. In doing so, the state earns its legitimacy and maintains hegemony of sorts. The First Lady's appointment ignores the ethical side of the state and its responsibility. The governor betrays ignorance of the fact that leadership is a position of pre-eminence, not one to be trivialised. By appointing Mrs. Jonathan a permanent secretary, Dickson trivialised his office. The mere reliance on provisions of the 1999 Constitution, without a corresponding judicious use of his powers therein regarding the appointment to the State Civil Service, is simply disingenuous. President Jonathan on his part ought to have advised against it, as the decision constitutes a moral burden on the image of the presidency.
Despite the oath of office, the appointment can still be reversed. As the Scottish bard, William Shakespeare once opined: 'For many an error by the same example, will rush into the state, it cannot be.'
Therefore, the rascality of the 'African big man' should not be tolerated in a democratic dispensation, as it is insulting to the sensibility of the people.
Culled From The Guardian