By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
Nigeria’s ambassador to Liberia, James G. Dimka has said in the absence of law, temporary or otherwise, it puts any society in grave danger.
Amb. Dinka has spoken of the crucial need to implement laws on the books for the betterment of society, when he delivered the keynote speech at the annual convention of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) in Sanniquellie, Nimba County over the weekend.
Speaking on four key points, the Nigerian envoy asked: “What would life without laws look like? Has the introduction of laws truly regulated human behaviour in modern societies? Now that we have working laws, how do we keep them effective? Using these effective laws, how do we sustain peace, in a rapidly changing and globalized world?”
Ambassador Dimka recounted that a 17th century English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes aptly described what lawless society would look like. He called it the state of nature. And the state of nature is a concept used in moral and political philosophy, religion, social contract theories and international law to donate the hypothetical conditions of what the lives of people might have been like before societies came into existence.
Hobbes described this life as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short adding that every person has a natural right to do anything necessary for preserving his or her own life, describing this natural condition with the Latin phrase bellum contra omnes, meaning war of all against all.
The Nigerian ambassador to Liberia underscored how the introduction of laws has truly regulated human behaviour in modern societies.
But he said such answer was the advent of modern societies, democratic governments and international organizations had resulted in the rapid development of a more effective legal system.
Among the greatest impacts, he said was the establishment of international organisations, especially the United Nations, and the impact they have on modern treaties and standards central to advancing international peace and security, as well as promoting economic and social development.
He further stressed that at this time, laws have indeed regulated human behaviour in modern societies, citing as one fact that since the beginning of the millennium, many countries in Africa have become more democratized.
With this, he said, one can conveniently assume that the most total extinction of coup d’etat in many countries, especially on the African continent is a sheer reflection of a more lawful society, increasingly integrated in a globalized world.
Ambassador Dimka added that “if we remember nothing from the days of strong military regimes, I suppose we will recall how stifled basic freedoms and human rights, we now proudly call inalienable without the benefit of hindsight.”
According to the Nigerian envoy to Liberia, the consequence of a more stable and democratized government was that more effective laws that were enacted and democratically enforced to discourage citizens from is taking laws into hands.
This, he noted, is particularly significant because in the past, African societies were more inclined to jungle or vigilante justice.
However, for all its romantic appeal, vigilante justice only leads to unending cycles of revenge violence.
And he observed that as African became more convinced that they can count on their governments to deliver fair, punishments, jungle or vigilante justice witnessed a significant and impressive decline in many parts of Africa.
In addition to the law being a source of conflict resolution, Ambassador Dimka said the law allows us to also determine standards of behaviour were determined after the fact, that is after an event had occurred, then the rulers could create law to suit their interests.
The fact that law is created before the fact means no legislator or lawmaker can produce outcomes which are deeply favourable to them, or it at least becomes far more difficult to do so, much to the benefit of larger society, the Nigerian Ambassador said.
The Nigerian envoy to Liberia concluded his speech to the Bar’s annual convention in Nimba by advising that the simple way to keep laws effective is by encouraging citizens to adopt and personalize the .
This, he said, is in addition to an effective policing system to serve as deterrence for offenders, where citizens should be properly enlightened about the laws and towards keeping a better and more peaceful society.