Legislative Control of Executive Power in Africa: New Insights

Affirmations of dangers inherent in public are not always attended by concrete examples of practical situations, systematically presented and analysed. This article attempts to illustrate the theoretical proposition that the governmental process is apt to veer towards authoritarianism, in the absence of clear mechanisms of control. The focus is the relationship between the executive and the legislature in the typical African state. The substance of the illustration is drawn from the report of the Miller Commission of Inquiry, which as appointed by President Moi of Kenya in 1983, to investigate inter alia the activities of a former leading Minister, with regard to conduct in the office, to relations with the public, and to various public bodies entrusted with defined obligations. It emerges from the study that, in circumstances of indiscipline, or schism in the ranks of the executive, government malcontents will use a variety of techniques to enfeeble the integrity of Parliament, which appears to be seen always as the true base of national interlocuteurs. Parliament's strength is sapped not only in this way; the now ill-defined formation of executive - in the public eye -becomes still more difficult to control. Abuse of power then has the tendency to multiply considerably. It is the recipe for authoritarianism.