Thomas Mlanga is the member representing Ukum state constituency and Majority Chief Whip of the 9th Benue Assembly.
He has spent barely a year in the House, and has no doubt played his cards well. His excellent performance in the Assembly is due to wealth of experience he has acquired in politics over the years. He is a grassroots politician, having served as councilor representing Tsaav ward in 1999 when he was just 27 years old and was elected leader of the Council by his colleagues in the Council even as he was the youngest person at that time.
He was appointed Director of Mobilisation and Contacts, Suswam Governorship Campaign Organisation in 2007, a position second in command after the Director-General.
In that capacity, he was in charge of all funds that accrued to the campaign organisation and according to him, he was very transparent in handling it.
The young Thomas Mlanga was appointed Special Assistant to Governor Gabriel Suswam on Special Duties on assumption of office as governor of the state throughout the two terms his administration lasted.
As a member of the 9th Assembly which came into power in June 3rd, 2019, Mlanga and his counterparts have passed so many resolutions including appropriation bill of 2019 which was to take effect in 2020. This achievement he said is the first of its kind since the history of Benue Assembly.
The early and timely passage of the budget according to the state legislator was intended to enable the Executive carry out its projects without hindrance and that accounted for why in a recent interview with BusinessDay, he debunked the allegations that the legislature was coerced into hastily passing the budget last year without scrutiny.
He said the Executive did not rush them. “The truth is that, before you can pass any budget, it has to go in line with the Executive and the Legislature to harmonise their concept in any decision that they want to take. That’s why if a budget is passed, sometimes it comes back and goes again because of some mistakes. Budget has a process and once that process is followed, there is no problem. It is not about how long it takes. We acted fast in the interest of Benue people”.
Hon. Mlanga also cleared air on the rumour that the 9th Benue Assembly is nothing but a rubber stamp and is absolutely controlled by the Executive.
He explained that the present Assembly has multiple party affiliations: the PDP, APC and other parties but PDP is the majority and as governor, that fact cannot be ignored. “It is only when opposition has many members that people think it is vibrant. But the party that puts us there has ideology and we are following it, we are working for the government and for the party. If things are working fine, why should opposition make noise again?” he asked rhetorically.
Another achievement Hon. Mlanga said he has recorded is a motion he moved on Jootar Jukun militia attack.
According to him, as Majority Whip charged with the responsibility of calling back members from recess, he caused a session after the Jukuns launched an unprovoked surprised attack on part of his constituency.
He said his people were under severe attack by people suspected to be Jukuns who besieged the area around 3-4am and he deemed it pertinent for them to sit and take a position over the matter since the Tiv people of Benue state were not at war with Jukun or Taraba State but rather a crisis between Tiv and Jukun in Taraba.
He said there was no basis for such attack on Jootar, a town in Benue as if the Tiv people were fighting with the Jukuns and most worrisome, the threats that the military commander up there has continued to issue to Jootar residentS over loss of their officer.
On account of the above, Mlanga called members back from recess with permission from speaker of the House and moved a motion during plenary for members to remember what happened in 2001 when similar threats were issued by the Army over missing of their officers and were subsequently executed which resulted in massive killing of armless locals in Gbeji, Vaase, Kyado, Zaki Biam and Tse Adoor.
The House after due deliberations, urged the state government to call for an emergency security meeting to alert the public about what was going on.
The state Governor, Samuel Ortom in his usual proactive manner, summoned a meeting as soon as he got the resolution and the situation was averted.
Hon. Mlanga said he also appealed that relief materials be given to victims of the crisis from SEMA and it was done accordingly.
In terms of constituency briefing which is the statutory duty of any lawmaker to his or her constituents, Hon. Mlanga has not left his people in doubt. He told our correspondent that he was already heading towards constituency briefing which he intends to be doing at the end of every Legislative year.
This, according to him, is possible as going by the calendar, members can brief their constituents within three to four months depending on how it is arranged in a session as recess takes place three times in a year.
Mlanga said he believed he had so far done well as can be seen in his constant touch with Ukum people as expected of every good representative.
He said he had identified their problems as that of insecurity and has been able to broker peace as well as provide security in Zaki Biam and its environs.
The state lawmaker told BDSUNDAY that he has taken displaced people from Vaase and Igbongom back to their ancestral homes, a project he said took a huge financial toll on him especially to connect them with security to enable them go to the markets. He has also installed security light (solar panels) for the people in his home town of Afia and he is intending to do same in Zaki-Biam which happens to be the biggest yam market in the world. He made it known to newsmen in an interview recently that he would have installed security light in the yam market since, but he decided to hold on because the market was taken over by the Federal Government and so he would wait and see what they will do at the end of their work in the market so as not to duplicate the project. He however, assured that he was watching them keenly so that if the security light was not installed at the end of the day, he will do it.
Mlanga has also proposed a bill which is yet to be passed but it has crossed second reading and he is part of its sponsorship.
As government is about continuity, Hon. Mlanga followed up a motion which was moved in the 8th Assembly by Hon. Kester Kyenge on the crisis between Tiv and Jukum in Taraba State. When he discovered that the resolution was already made, he searched for the clips and took them to Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA), and he was able to get relief materials for the victims of the crisis and handed it over to Ter Ukum and set up a three-man Committee to supervise its distribution to the intended beneficiaries. The Committee comprised one member each from the affected blocks of Torough, Ucha and Mbaterem.
Hon. Mlanga went to the market himself and bought children’s clothes, forty bags of garri and two thousand yam tubers to give the victims of Tiv/crisis again because he knew that what BSEMA gave was not enough.
It is said that health is wealth and in corroborating this, Mlanga has given his people adequate orientation about the outbreak of the dreaded coronavirus pandemic so that they will be extra-careful not contract it.
The former Councillor representing Tsaav ward and former Special Assistant to Governor Suswam is leaving no stone unturned in his determination to unite Ukum political elite across party lines.
He is very prudent in managing both personal and public resources; hence his seemingly fast growing wealth and the ability to perform creditably. He believes in solving the problems of his people. He feels that there are people who are suffering and so it is better to help them than to squander wealth on irrelevant things.
BENJAMIN AGESAN, Makurdi
