The three arms of Government

ORGANS OR ARMS OF GOVERNMENT

The three arms of Government

These are (a) Executive, (b) Legislature and (c) Judiciary
THE EXECUTIVE
It is in two forms (a) Parliamentary Executive and (b)
Presidential Executive
FUNCTIONS OF EXECUTIVE
i. implementation of laws
ii. maintenance of law and order through police
iii. making of law through its power of delegated legislation
iv. it prepares budget
v. it oversees day to day running of the administration
vi. the chief executive signs bills into law
vii. it initiates bills into parliament

THE LEGISTLATURE
It is also known as parliament. Every country has its name
for it, for example in nigiera, it is known as National
Assembly
FUNCTIONS
i. its main function is law making
ii. it approves annual budget
iii. it give approval to nominees of chief executive
iv. ratification of treaty negotiated by the executive
v. it performs semi-judicial function in some countries
vi. it can carry out investigation on issue of public interest
vii. it performs enlightenment campaigns through its
activities like debates
TYPE OF LEGISLATURE
(a) Bicameral Legislature
(b) Unicameral Legislature
BICAMERAL LEGISTLATURE
This refers to the legislature with two legislature chambers
or houses e.g. Nigeria, U.S.A, and Britain etc.
REASONS/ ADVANTAGES
i. To check, delay and reverse any hasty legislation that
would have been passed by a single house.
ii. Distinguished citizens can be nominated where possible
for their wisdom and resources to be sapped.
iii. To prevent emergence of dictatorial government.
iv. In a nominated seconds house, the house can be non-
partisan
v. It allows for efficiency as a result of sharing of works
between the two houses
vi. In a federal system of government, the second house can
be used to provide for sequel representation among states
e.g. Nigeria senate.
PROBLEMS/ DISADVANTAGES
i. there May be rivalry between the two houses because of
problem of power distribution
ii. it is a waste of resources and manpower
iii. the second house may be two conservative e.g Britain
iv. in a nominated second house, it may be seen to be
undemocratic
v. it may bring delay in law making
vi. it is too expensive to run smoothly
UNICAMERAL LEGISLATURE
This refers to a legislature with a single legislative house e.g.
Israel
ADVANTAGES
i. Quick law making process
ii. Absence of rivalry
iii. Less expensive to run
iv. Ideal for a unitary state.
DISADVANTAGES
i. Bills can be hastily passed
ii. It may not be appropriate for a federal system
iii. Legislature can easy dominate executive
iv. Doctorial regime can easily emerge
v. It make it easy for the dominant party to dominate the
legislative

THE JUDICIARY
It is the arm of government that is responsible for
interpretation of law and settlement of disputes.
FUNCTIONS OF THE JUDICIARY
i. it interprets laws
ii. it settles conflicts in the society
iii. it protect the right of individuals
iv. it protects the constitution from both executive and
legislature
FEATURES OF THE JUDICIARY
i. Independent of both executive and legislature
ii. Professionalism – they are legal experts
iii. Stable tenure of office
iv. Judicial immunity in the course of performing their
official duties
v. It operates based on laid down procedure
vi. It has laid down code of conduct
INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY
It means judiciary should be free from the excessive control
of the other two arms of government when carrying out its
official duties

The Executive Arm

This is the law administering (carrying-out) section of state, known as the executive, and its members are drawn from the members of parliament whose party has the bulk of seats within the assembly.

This arm is responsible to the Parliament, and so the individuals, for its actions.

In Western Australia, the executive arm of the state is formally depicted by the executive Council.

The Governor under legal document issued by Her Majesty the Queen choses the executive Council. Formally it consists of all the members of the ministry and is presided over by the Governor.

All ministers conjointly meet as a body known as the cabinet. Cabinet isn’t recognised within the Constitution, however in practice makes the main choices about Government policy and guides ministerial decision-making.

It ought to be noted that in Australia the term ‘the Government’ is usually used to refer to the executive Government.

This can be as a result of the direction of affairs essentially being within the hands of the body that holds government power.