CIVIL RULE IS PREFERABLE TO MILITARY RULE
Good morning. the Chairman. President of the Political Science Association, Head of Department, Political Sci-ence, Students, invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am delighted to be in your midst this day to support the motion which states: 'Civil Rule is Preferable to Military Rule.
Civil rule refers to governance according to a body of laws and rules popularly known as constitution which guides the conduct of government in a country. There is no doubt that civil rule or democracy is the most acceptable form of government throughout the whole world today. In fact, civil rule is the antithesis of military rule which is the governance of a country through the barrel of the gun.
Democracy or civil rule has its own peculiarities and attractions. Civil rule as aptly defined by Abraham Lincoln is the "government of the people by the people and for the people" In a democracy. power resides in the people through which they have the right to exercise their voting rights. The common people have the right to choose their representatives in the legislative and executive arms of government. These political rights can never be violated in a genuine democracy. The citizens have control over the excesses of their rulers and they can curb their excesses by voting any abominable government out of office or by impeaching it.
On the contrary, military rule violates the rights of the citizens. It legitimizes the use of force and the citizens are ruled under the military, by the whims and caprices of the soldiers who subject the civil society to the rigidity of the laws of the barracks. The soldiers are not answerable to the citizens, unlike civil leaders who are accountable to the citizens from whom they get their powers.
In addition to this. civil rule promotes the formulation and implementation of good policies and programmes that are people oriented. Civil leaders think only of the benefit that the people they govern can derive from a programme before they implement it. The military does not consider it as most of its programmes are formulated and implemented in accordance with the whim of the military administrator.
In this way, civil rule ensures the employment of good hands in governance. Civil leaders are usually tested hands who have proved themselves one way or the other in their chosen fields of human endeavour and professions. They bring their expertise and diverse professional experiences to bear on governance. Therefore, they always embark on enduring and long-lasting programmes and projects. The soldiers are shortsighted. This makes their projects to be mere fanciful and white-elephant ones that are transient in values and qualities.
Democracy, if allowed to thrive is the most stable form of government. It guarantees all the fundamental human rights, press freedom inclusive. as it is written in the constitution of the country. These rights are grossly violated under the military who continually roll out decrees and edicts with the aim of silencing the people.
The vogue today, Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, as far as governance is concerned is democracy. A nation wh is still under a military dictatorship is always regarded as a pariah nation. The people, the world over, want to have who a say in how they are ruled. It is civil rule that can give them this opportunity. Military rule only denies them this opportunity. This reason and other ones earlier mentioned make civil rule preferable to military. Thank you