Page 81 - Afrika Must Unite

C H A P T E R EI GHT

P R O B L E M S O F G O V E R N M E N T

I n o u r struggle for freedom, parliam entary democracy was as
vital an aim as independence. The two were inseparable. It was
not our purpose to rid the country of the colonial regime in order
to substitute an African tyranny. We wanted to free our people
from arbitrary rule, and to give them the freedom to choose the
kind of government they felt would best serve their interests and
enhance their welfare. O ur struggle was fought to make our
people free to practise the religion they chose, to give them the
liberty to associate in whatever groups they wished, to create an
atmosphere in which they could say, write and think freely,
without harm ing their neighbour or jeopardizing the state.
We introduced principles basic to the settled and established
democracies of the world, such as the separation of powers
between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. As the
repository of the people’s will, the legislature is supreme. It is
sovereign and unlimited in its enactment of laws, which are
binding upon the people and the government. Election to the
legislature is by universal adult suffrage, and men and women
enjoy equality of rights and duties. T hat all persons in the state
are equal before the law is another principle well enshrined in
our constitution.
The government on the other hand has the responsibility of
directing the affairs of the state and of initiating and executing
policy. It is, however, at all times answerable to the legislature
and could not rule unless it commanded a majority in parlia­
ment. For all legislation it initiates becomes the law of the land
only if approved by parliam ent, and parliam ent can at any time
it wishes throw out the government.
All of this is the recognized machinery of parliam entary rule
in the old-established democracies. In our conditions, as an ex­