Posted by By Chidiebere Iwuoha on
The lawmaker representing Ideato North in the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Uba Charles Chukwudi has stated for the umpteenth time the indispensable nature of the press in any democratic setting.
The lawmaker representing Ideato North in the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Uba Charles Chukwudi has stated for the umpteenth time the indispensable nature of the press in any democratic setting.
He said for the nation to practice democracy the way it should be there must be in place a very sound press system whereby the press will report exactly what goes on, mostly in rural areas, unlike when something will be happening in a local government area the press will be reporting a different thing altogether, just because they are very much in contact with authorities here or there and they are accommodated in various ways.
"Without the press criticizing the government, the government will not see anything wrong in what it is doing. When they criticize, they should criticize constructively, give pass mark to the government and criticize it where necessary. In short, the press should report exactly what is going on", he said.
Hon. Uba who is also the chairman House Services Committee described Governor Udenwa's regime as the best when compared with those of his predecessors. For him, "within these six years he has finished what is meant for eight years through the structures he put in place, such as the new Imo state Secretariat, Imo University Teaching Hospital, good roads, etc".
On the expected democracy dividends from his local government council - Ideato North, the honorable member described local government authorities as non-performers. This he said was why Governor Achike Udenwa directed them to tar at least 4 kilometer road in each of the LGA's. "If they were performing, would the governor have given them such directive?" he queried. "Giving them such directive means they don't know what they are doing".
He made it clear that this was not peculiar to his local government council but a general disease among LG chiefs. He revealed that when lawmakers toured LGA's recently they were able to discover that they were not doing anything, their statutory responsibilities were not being carried out. He added that after managing to pay salaries, they would relax and squander the remaining money.