Politicians are not to be blamed

It was Workers’ Day yesterday. As a keen observer, I paid close attention to events organised by various groups as well as speeches made. I checked activities of labour unions, labour-related nonprofits and semi-religious bodies across Africa or where the day was marked. My conclusion was that the politicians are not to be blamed for our national woes. Many of these events never lack great speeches only that attendees never do anything with them.

Politicians become rulers or leaders of a nation with the co-operation of the people or the entire citizenry, especially where democracy thrives. It is on record many countries claim they are practising democracy today. Its shades may be slightly different because we have different actors on the stage. A major secret people do not know or many ignore is that politicians are the most insecure breed around. They do not have the capacity to face formidable groups which stand in the way of achieving their goals. The moment they notice any, they use camouflage threat or a divide and rule approach to make sure such groups do not do any damage.

The politicians work hard to upset the system in their own favour. Party affiliations count less, especially the ones in Africa, a common factor is greed. When there is an issue of money or personal interests, they come together within a closed door to resolve the sharing formula. They are very clever at using the media to create a distraction for the populace while they perpetuate their acts.

For many politicians in Africa, they stylishly destroy the educational system as well as pervert the course of justice. More importantly, they make the institutions so weak. This gives them the opportunity to manipulate the system at will.

In all these, the goal of the politicians is to ensure many of the citizens become weary and aloof. They want them to get to the plateau where they do not believe they still have the power to change anything. They cleverly push the citizens to a state of learned helplessness which breeds hopelessness. This they have achieved in Nigeria. Through these processes, the politicians, especially the Nigerian breed, created a middle class which has become aloof and very unconcerned as well as apathetic to governance issues. This new breed of middle class has become the government in their own space.

This middle class provides basic amenities for themselves. Since they usually ‘pray’ for a breakthrough to achieve this status, they hardly care what happens to others whose fortune could not help them.

Now that they have ‘jeeps’ for the bad roads, moved from ‘I better pass my neighbour’ to a bigger generator, many of them become bitter and angry citizens. When they go to their various ‘hangouts’, they criticise the government’s inability to deliver or they may go to social media to vent their anger. Many of them know what is wrong with the system. They enjoy going to meetings where great speeches and truths will be told like ‘The Platform’. They desire and cherish hearing speeches of how things can be better, these they knew before, but only seeking validation for their inherent anger.

Immediately they leave such gatherings, they close their writing pads without a decision to do anything with the speech. They return year in year out to such events. Meanwhile they keep their distance from politics and policies process. These environments to them are dirty and since they are so clean, such a place is not their call and neither will they take interest in supporting a seemingly poor candidate with the right qualities.

This middle class neither organise nor mobilise to champion a cause for change. They do not invest in the change they desire. One illusion they have is they keep wishing a miracle will happen and good governance will be delivered on a platter of gold. They never get involved.  They live in gated houses and are too refined to interact with the peasants.

The politicians know all these facts. So they use this open knowledge to the fullest. They go for the downtrodden and the peasants who can be bought with a small bag of rice. Poverty had dealt with many of their targets.  These peasants do not see any future, their focus is only in the now; how to immediately solve their hunger problem even if it means selling the future.

These peasants see their voters’ card as a mean of survival. They are willing to go through all the trouble to get them. Meanwhile, the middle class is too refined to go through such struggle. In some cases, the middle class through learned helplessness had come to a point votes do not count. The downtrodden never believe such fallacy.

A major failure in our country, which had positioned politicians as the major factor to be blamed for our national woes, is ‘followership failure’. If there has been leadership failure, which we have all acknowledged, why is the followership failure disease allowed to ravage our economy and national development for so long?

What is the essence of our anger on the social media and time invested in attending these great meetings we love to attend every year only to leave such meetings without a decision?  If we cannot resolve followership failure, we have no right to blame the politicians who are in their elements. Where are our formidable groups?  Where are our organised and viable ‘think tanks’ established with the genuine purpose to serve the people and not a ploy to get attention from the government for ‘settlements’?  Where are the pressure groups established to fight basic causes which can lead to noticeable development?