They say it is an indication of maturity to our democracy, but at best, I would rather call it madness of democracy. We indeed need rains but not floods.
How can we have all our top cream politicians parading for one post whose process whether we like it or not, has the potential of dividing our people at the bitter end? Are we ready for that or is that what we want to see happening?
We have seen so many countries breaking down when it comes to such a stage where indicators of controversy are profusely flashing. It needs political acumen to contain this situation sooner than later. Do we have it? I am talking of the Nyereres, Thabit Kombos and Kawawas!
Instead, we see some of them refuelling the crisis by taking sides. I would think they would have waited until the nomination machinery has done its work.
I have time and again cautioned that our democracy is still fragile and that it needs to be guided and nurtured.
How do we let loose missiles – and aspirants to ridicule this very sensitive post which needs serious soul searching to determine one’s fitness to vie for it?
It needs spiritual guidance or elderly wisdom to entice one to stand for this post. We have seen here every Tom, Harry and Dick coming up to try to grab that elusive post. According to them, the election process is tougher than the work itself, given the big number of aspirants, most of them being cabinet members.
By having such a big number of aspirants it suggests that the work of a president is just like any other job, and this was manifested by that fellow who happens to be a standard seven leaver and who is also vying for presidency!
How do we allow almost the whole cabinet to vie for this post of presidency as if they are contesting for chairmanship of a football club? We have the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Home Affairs Minister and a host of other senior ministers scrambling for that single post!
Precisely almost the whole cabinet is vying for presidency as if they had been waiting in the wings, waiting in anticipation for the day J.K. will complete his tenure.
Maybe they are not happy with his leadership, and that is why they want to bring changes. This should not happen as an accident, because the government has feelers to determine what is happening on the ground, and the situation would not have reached this level if it had been nipped in the bud on time.
Maybe since most of us are interested parties; it could not be possible to advise the government on the way towards averting this fiasco. Definitely this is a bad omen to our political future.
This is a political evolution taking place in our country, and it can easily be termed as the “Politics of the Belly.” Poor people’s ignorance is exploited by affluent politicians with their money using it to lure them.
Thanks to the warning raised recently by the Registrar of Political Parties, Judge Mutungi, who cautioned against excessive use of money in electioneering. Some few years back Jean- Francois Bayart published a pioneering study entitled ‘the state in Africa: the politics of the belly’.
Bayart terms politics of the belly to describe patronclient relations in West African politics. Politicians distribute goods – filling the bellies of clients – in return for political loyalty, obviating the need for democracy and instituting alternative and sometimes moral forms of accountability.
Translated from French, ‘the politics of the belly’ is a widely used term coined originally by Cameroonians. Similarly, in Ghana ordinary people make frequent reference these days to the ‘stomachs’. In our local terminology here, this translates into “ufisadi and mafisadi”. -
A common species prospering in both the political and economic spheres in African countries. Wikipedia equates the politics of the belly as a multifacetted metaphor with neopatrimonial forms of leadership in governance.
It encapsulates a controlling government and the interdependence of the elite in control of the private and public spheres; actors on both sides use their status to strengthen their economic and political power and would not let it slip out of their hands at any cost. That is where we are.
Thanks to the reports from our relatively free local press, we can follow the scandalous deals that had enriched some of our politicians and who can ill afford to mesmerise would be voters to support them.
We have seen in this preliminary stage pronouncement for the intention to stand for presidency and how groups of people are being lured with money and empty promises, forgetting all that had recently been highlighted as scams in this country. These immoral politicians feel entitled to such unorthodox gains because of their talents.
They show no remorse and do not feel guilty or embarrassed, and have the courage to boast of their involvement in shoddy deals which are not beneficial to their people in their constituencies.
They get a hero’s welcome when they go back to their constituents, and it is now obvious that the corrupt are considered as heroes by the inept voters while the clean are punished for their cleanliness. We have seen fundraising functions by some of them for their political gains, because they know they will be paid back through votes.
After all, those who give will be given. Lest we forget, Mwalimu Nyerere once said, a corrupt political party should not be expected to have a strong government; “Chama legelege huzaa serekali legelege.”
We should sift these aspirants because they are the ones who will also be our party leaders, we should be ready for the consequences. We do or we die!
mgosiwasui87@gmail.com johnnyoka70@gmail.com +255754342711 Senior Citizen
/Daily News.
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