President, Speaker clash over separation of powers, budget.

President Goodluck Jonathan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, on Monday openly disagreed on the concept of separation of powers and budget preparation.

The President said although there was a theoretical separation, the Executive and the Legislature must work together if democracy must be meaningful. But the Speaker accused the Executive of refusing to sign some bills passed by the National Assembly.

They spoke at the 2012 Democracy Day National Symposium titled “Our Democracy: Progress and Challenges” at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

Tambuwal said the non-signing of the bills by the President had made the process of lawmaking very cumbersome. He added that the ‘anomaly’ had also led to a situation where some of the affected bills had to be re-introduced in the parliament.

He also faulted the disposition of the executive to the roles being played by the National Assembly in budget presentation.

Tambuwal said, “Another challenge is the issue of assent to bills passed by the National Assembly. In as much as it is the constitutional duty of the legislature to pass laws, it is equally the constitutional responsibility of Mr. President to assent to them.

“It is however disturbing to note that the Executive has shied away from this responsibility by not assenting to bills passed by the National Assembly. This makes the legislative process cumbersome because some of these bills have to be re-introduced de novo. This is not a healthy situation for the Executive-Legislature relationship neither does it portray our democracy in good light in the comity of nations.

“Representation is the third function of the legislature; it denotes the power of the people to either act directly or through their representatives. In this regard, I wish to allude to the issue of budgeting.

“The Executive arm of government is made up of only two elected functionaries to wit the President and the Vice-President whereas the National Assembly is a body of 469 elected functionaries. The adage that ‘two heads are better than one’ is reinforced by that which says ‘he who wears the shoe knows better where it pinches’ and both favour the position of the elected representatives.