New Telegraph

Governance: Philanthropy or responsibility?

Democracy still remains the best form of representative government, as popularised by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, who defined it as: “The government of the people; by the people; and for the people”.

This lends credence to the fact that government being a social entity remains the responsibility of the state to which it remains accountable, either regularly or periodically. This may strike a thought in most concerned and informed minds that may be inquisitive of the aforementioned.

Well, it is said: “Only the deep call to deep!” By the way, a further, clearer analysis through successive paragraphs, in furtherance of my defence of the old yet lingering assertion, will immeasurably convey as well as help in validating the vagaries we seem to have associated with over time while it may also eradicate some of the capriciousness of our vox populi: that the state is responsible for the government to which it is ultimately responsible. Let me be clear here: “Government of the people”, which means that a government that is formulated, designed, inaugurated by the people, that is, whose origin is absolutely the people—it’s all about the people, it’s people-driven, because it entirely belongs to it. It is also termed a “government by the people”, which automatically means that the day-to-day running of the affairs of a political system rests entirely on the shoulders of a few individuals who have been officially saddled with the responsibilities of ensuring that the very essence of government is felt in all of its ramifications, by the state, that is, the very people, by whom it was instituted.

Quite simply, it is the process of a selected minority mandated by the majority (otherwise known as electorates) to serve it, to which it is either regularly or periodically accountable— being interpreted in Political Science as the ‘government and the governed” Then, by “government for the people”, it also means that it is people- focused, oriented: it was actually designed for the people, to serve the people, protect the people, provide for the people (most especially in terms of necessary social amenities, including other areas considered as responsibilities of the government to its citizens).

In summary, it is people-centred. While the fact remains that the state and the government are just two inseparable entities, it should be re-emphasized that extra-ordinary times certainly demand extraordinary measures. Taking into consideration the salient fact that there are still a few challenges associated with it, it remains the peoples’ choicest form of government across continents.

Its scope accommodates, to some extent, effective management as well as application of necessary principles of Fundamental Human Rights, in line with global standards, as entrenched in the popular Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ contained in the Charter of the United Nations Organisation, whose establishment was the aftermath of World War II, as part of the unanimous resolutions reached among states numbering 50, at San Francisco, California, in the United States of America, on October 24, 1945, with the sole aim of preventing an outbreak of another war on a global scale, following the dissolution of the erstwhile League of Nations, earlier founded in 1919.

We are constantly shrugged by erroneous beliefs that our elected representatives, who ordinarily ought to be serving us by virtue of the oath of office they had sworn unto, that they are doing us a kind of ‘favour’ based on the constitutionally designated service being rendered to us, within the ambit of law, which we are legally entitled to; for which we are ‘fettered’ to show gratitude. Collective measures, I believe, should be taken in reversing the ugly trend which has eaten into the fabrics of our political, socioeconomic life.

Not only that, critical measures should also be taken towards ensuring elected representatives in various capacities, in afloat conformity with existing laws, discharge their constitutionally-recognised, empowered duties which are proportionate to their official capabilities. Even by what may rather look like twisted idiosyncrasies, those of us who are electorates who should be mostly revered by these elected representatives at various capacities as chief architects of democracy, have now, in most cases, suddenly become victims of circumstances sometimes occasioned by the ruthlessness of our trusted political allies—leaving us at the lenience of their so-called philanthropy or works of mercy, when in actual fact they have been elected into that office through our official mandates, via the crest of the simplicity of votes cast: a common signal to our political participation, to influence our collective interests. Although, there has been, over time, quite a recurring incidents of electoral abuses from those who have been exclusively entrusted with the responsibility of governance—- those on whom the genuine task of ensuring the security of lives and property of the state ultimately balances—-from whom so much is definitely being expected, having been equipped with so much to perform with utmost and adequately proportional resolution. Our ardent pursuit of an all-inclusive, egalitarian society devoid of streams of sentimental human rights abuses now and then—where democratic values share a larger percentage of our scenery in spite of the binary of hostilities might really pay off in the light of our persistent drive. Prerequisite to our actions, throngs of reactions might have repeatedly, in the past, trailed our collective decisions, judging most particularly from the prevailing circumstances—-and as a matter of fact, our dire need for a vibrant and resourceful leadership in virtually all spheres of the polity, at least, for a just, holistic and workable scheme even in the wake of another trial of our democratic Einstein.

Oguntoye, a Public Affairs analyst, writes from Otta, Ogun State

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