Politics and democracy should not be disruptive to our lives, rather it should be an avenue to build unity, consensus and provide an avenue to educate the masses. It is said that if you want a prosperous, stable and robust economy- the citizens should turn out and participate in their nation building mechanisms so as to keep their country from falling apart. If this is not done what future are we preparing our children and posterity to eventually inherit and to build? As Edmund Burke well put it: ”the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.
The world over, politicians will continue to seek elective posts and control power even at the whims and complaints of ‘passive’ citizens who have become tired of old political rhetoric where what is promised is never equally delivered. My advice to politicians and those whose livelihood’s and source of bread stems from it is to consider the great weight that this has on the ordinary citizen, who may or may not be concerned about who wins or doesn’t win an election but whether their country has laws and institutions in place that are respected and adhered to by all citizens irrespective of your status or role in the society. After all, the politician, sitting president or would-be president will not put food on your table, pay tuition, rent or meet all your lifestyle demands in any significant way once they attain power! Please, don’t allow what you do as a politician or elected leader not to interfere with what I do so that the role of nation building can continue. In the end, the country’s economy will in large measure be run by the taxes of its people and by other grants or sought after loans. It will not be run through noise, demonstrations or the looting of properties.
We all need to be in the know on the direction of our politics as it has a direct impact on our economic activities. More so, those who feel the pinch of political unrest and upheaval’s are those who are small, medium and large entrepreneurs. When noise, commotion and insanity are allowed to influence the governance of any nation, these investors and others who are potential ones withdraw, pack up, ship out and the already struggling economy weakens even further. This has been noted in our world politics with Zimbabwe as an example of once being a “bread basket” for the rest of Africa. As responsible and ambitious citizens of any country, the role of upholding and holding our elected leaders to account should be paramount to our constitutional and God-given rights. We should not allow race, religion, ethnicity and our political drifts to divide, confirm, confuse, define and restrict us to participate and contribute in nation building and in having once ‘voice’, even when our leaders have decided to mislead and malign us against constitutional and against our God-given human rights.
One individual that we ought to emulate in being an honorable and upstanding citizen of their country is the late boxer Muhammad Ali who remained vigilant and active throughout his career and more so after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Any nation or country is bigger than its leaders and is more important than the hunger for power.
Citizens confer this power upon these elected men and women for them to execute their constitutional and elective mandates. These leaders are also accountable to their people and to their God for the discharge of these duties. If you are governed by a president, monarch or prime minister please sustain and pray for them to discharge their duties in accordance with the laws set in place. Whenever, there are individuals or secret societies that seek to overthrow those in governance, use the laws and the powers invested in your laws to protect your country from going to the dogs!
