By Olakunle Agboola – At the age of 10, I reflected on my mental faculty asking myself the reason for the Ten Commandments. I grew up in a catholic church and I know how important it is to read the Ten Commandments every Sunday in Church. This becomes a resounding vitality and driver of the conscience to decipher the truth and do what is right.
God gave Moses the Ten Commandments so that He can reveal his expected standard of absolute uprightness, integrity, rectitude, probity and worthiness. Also, God emphasized what will happen to those who failed to keep to the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, which is seen as expected norms for daily living.
Great societies are built with effective laws and expected standards to follow. There is a popular saying that in a community where there is no law, crime is nonexistent. And where there are laws, it means there should be punishment for deviants or lawbreakers. This is the pathway to a successful community or society.
The failure to build an egalitarian society where everybody is equal before the law, cum adequate laws to put lawbreakers in check can lead to a lawless community or a society as is experienced in several countries across Africa. Africa in recent times has increasingly found itself in the grip of widespread lawlessness that manifests itself in many ways. It includes seemingly innocuous actions, such as corruption, and obnoxious behaviors of the political elites.
Lawlessness is not just about a general disregard of the law and the absence of law enforcement, but also about the failures or absence of government. Law enforcement is applying legal sanctions to behaviors that violate a legal standard but when the expected standard is compromised, this leads to social anarchy and sometimes social barbarism. On the other hand, adherence to the law is largely dependent on the reasonableness of the laws, whether they broadly reflect society’s moral values.
Lawlessness is seen as a primordial inequality with a tail end in conflicts as is apparent in Congo, Burundi, Nigeria, Sudan, Cameroon, Zambia, and Libya. It is a general belief that there is no perfect society as lawlessness acts are not limited to Africa alone but a general problem that cuts across Asia, Europe and America.
South Africa’s former President Thabo Mbeki once made deep-rooted remarks speaking on the state of the nation in South Africa. He said, “South Africa faces the danger of protests similar to those that toppled governments in the Arab world a decade ago unless the government addresses growing lawlessness and inequality”. Concerned leaders have continued to warn against lawless behaviors, which are becoming more popular with politicians and the government representatives in Africa.
Lawlessness is not when people commit crimes alone, but when those who are in power dismantle the law itself. Can there be a good society if those who ought to enforce the laws are the ones pulling the law parts? Then, how is it possible to grow as a nation having an egalitarian society, where everybody is equal under the law if bad actors at the highest levels of business and government go unpunished?
It might be a call to stop making excuses for bad politicians, cruel political elites and those who are voted to power to defend the law. The world will continue to suffer from a raft of lawlessness, eroded social cohesion and democratic deterioration if certain political elites who ought to be behind the bar are above the laws, walking freely with their backbones straight.
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