Mwai Kibaki Quotes

The government's instinct is to shroud itself in secrecy - to act like the office of a president instead of as a collective cabinet government held to account by the elected House of Commons.

Legislating should be done in a manner that is understandable to the governed.

Opposition will act as an outward conscience and prevent the abuse of power.

When our Founders created this great experiment in self-governance, the House of Representatives became, by design, the body closest to the people. We are the most accountable, and we must be the most transparent.

Good ideas are the backbone of good government.

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

Mexico established a unique three-part governing system shared by the government, the information commission and civil society organisations.

Thank God for our form of government. The media won't let there be any cover-up.

Government must be a transparent garment which tightly clings to the people's body.

Once you are a proper, serious law-maker, you can't break the laws you're writing.

Decisions taken by the most democratic institutions in the world are very often wrong.

And one of the things I've tried to do in my first months in office is to give more Georgians - reporters and members of the general public alike - a closer look at how their government works.

No one in the Emirates is above the law and accountability.

We all learn in school that the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government must check and balance each other. But other non state institutions must participate in this important system of checks and balances as well. These checking institutions include the academy, the media, religious institutions and NGOs.

Administrators are there because of the fans and the cricketers to run this game, so credibility of a game, or a board, or even a government for that matter, is important irrespective of what you do. If you are in public life, it is important.

Our carefully constructed system of checks and balances is being negated by the rise of a fourth branch, an administrative state of sprawling departments and agencies that govern with increasing autonomy and decreasing transparency.

Representative government demands an ongoing conversation between legislators and constituents.

From Watergate we learned what generations before us have known; our Constitution works. And during Watergate years it was interpreted again so as to reaffirm that no one - absolutely no one - is above the law.

The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.

We must have systems of checks and balances to make sure that those people who are making critical decisions for our country are held accountable, and nowhere is that more important than in the area of national security.

As far as the constitution allows me, I will try to ensure that there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country. For I will not have kept my own trust with the Nigerian people if I allow others abuse theirs under my watch.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.

If you present good government, then elections look after themselves.

One must always keep one's government under control.