There is a point beyond which, a nation must hold hands and politics must be secondary as like bereaved, estranged siblings, united for a moment in grief by the tragic loss of a parent. It’s a failing of African democracies that we never rise beyond such. Sadly, its true for my country too. A negotiated, comprehensive response initiative, to the aftermath, is still necessary. Based on the comments to the state of the nation address, you know we are nowhere near all that. Its all the politics of the UDC and Domkrag; of cynical and unsmiling government men who believe that a political adversary must be vanquished comprehensively and that inter party dialogue is concession of failure and abject weakness. A moment of undeniable national crisis has failed to mature our politics, let alone, our politicians. If anything, its laid bare how soulless our national discourse is, and how desperately destitute of common sense and decency even the most garbed we have contrived to elect to Parliament morph to total dimwits when evangelise by the party caucus. It’s a shame.
I genuinely think the country needs a political rebirth. We need to find and to engender a modicum of core national values that can hold us together and keep us focused on the essence of our being. We can’t be a Republic without a soul; whose destiny and essence must be divined by reference to the fleeting reality of the president of the day or the rancor of semi literate party liners who can tell the difference between party and country Each time we have a new president, the country must shape up around him. It must assume his shape or form. There must be a pause to divine his personal character, which then informs the mould of the state apparatus and the legislative thinking. In the process, there’s no consistency and no abiding national destiny. The destination of the nation is tied to the 10-year temperamental vacillations and idiosyncrasies of a ruler or the lack thereof.
