Kilometres don’t pay taxes, voters do

Remarks by some politicians that one kilometre should be equal to one vote are not only ludicrous but ignoble, too.

In elementary law and political science classes, it is taught that democracy is the rule of the majority with the consent of the minority.

This is the very tenet of competitive politics. Republican constitutions embrace this principle through the principle of universal suffrage.

In federal democracies, like the US and Nigeria, every state is represented in the senate by two senators but the population of registered voters determines the relative strength of each state in the selection of the countries’ presidents.

These basics seem to elude some politicians and journalists. The issue of equal or proportional representation is hinged on the state’s authority to collect revenue and the mandate to guarantee territorial integrity and provide security and other basic necessities to citizens.

And what constitutes a state? Territory, citizens and a functioning government. Under international law, a mass of land devoid of human habitation is considered politically dead.

Uninhabited territories

This is why uninhabited territories like the political dead zone near the center of the Arctic Sea are the focus of competing territorial claims between the US, Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark.

Politics is about influence. Successful politics is power, and power is fundamentally about economics and money; who has what and what goes where.

States obtain money through taxation. Elected representatives make laws and determine these relationships as well as codes and tariff rates payable to the state.

Proportional representation is, therefore, premised on the state’s legitimacy to make laws and its ability to raise tax revenue from the citizens. This was the basis of the famous pronouncement by the founders of the US that, "no taxation without representation".

It follows that equal and proportional representation must at all times reflect either the majority will of the citizenry or the economic might of the corporate body.

This is why in all countries today, large community groups and corporate bodies hold sway over legislation and other affairs of the state.

Right to representation

The people of Nyanza, Western and Mount Kenya regions should not beg anybody for more constituencies. It is their inalienable right to be fairly represented.

At the moment, they are under-represented and every person with elementary education knows this.

Those suggesting that every kilometre should be equated with one vote are jokers. Kilometres do not pay tax; people do and hence the adage "one-man one-vote".

Holding large swathes of barren, idle and unexploited territory should have little or no influence on the affairs of any civilised state unless that territory holds invaluable resources or the potential for exploitation.

This is basically why no country is fighting to control or represent the Sahara.

Consequently, anybody advocating for highly populated constituencies to remain under-represented should also campaign for residents from these regions to be freed from paying some taxes.

{Collins Wanderi, Nairobi}

 

 

Read all about: Parliamentary system Universal Suffrage Taxes

 

 

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