When is losing the best option in politics?

Jan 06, 2014

All human beings desire change for the better. This is an impulse inherent in man since time of creation. The first couple on earth had it but lost the blissful Garden of Eden by seeking wrong counsel.

By Charles Okecha

All human beings desire change for the better. This is an impulse inherent in man since time of creation. The first couple on earth had it but lost the blissful Garden of Eden by seeking wrong counsel.


How could a serpent know better about humans than humans themselves? Ideas that ruin families, marriages or even nations sometimes come from failures. Careers of many students are blighted in company of those with no hope of success. And the very reason witchcraft and child sacrifice thrive in the modern world.

You must begin to believe in yourself, that you have something unique to contribute to the human society. Without this self-believe you play the copy-cat and struggle for positions you don’t suit.  There are scenarios where keeping a lower profile is the best option. Yet nobody really knows when to do so. The late Julius Nyerere was persecuted for turning Tanzania into a socialist one party state and setting up collective village farms called Ujaama. His country faced a severe economic slump after helping Ugandan exiles to oust Idi Amin. In brief, Nyerere and his country became losers. The whole world had condemned the bloodbath in Uganda but never thought about removing Amin. Apparently, Tanzania is the only African country, where power transitions have taken place peacefully without cries of election rigging, coups or armed rebellions. Tribalism, nepotism and corruption are also minimal.

About two years ago, Libyans rose against their leader Col Muammar Gadaffi. The flame of Arab Spring that had been lit in Tunisia was carried by wind to Egypt, ravaged Hosni Mubarak’s office and ejected him. According to analysts, it was picked by adolescent vandals in the Libyan town of Benghazi who held an aimless, disorderly gathering and tore down Gadaffi’s poster. Soon the whole town rallied behind them and a revolution started. Gadaffi sent troops to subdue the rebels. With the whole world at tenterhooks about the probable genocide, NATO intervened and intercepted his forces.

Unrelenting, he refused to talk to the rebels even in the face of a dreadlock. The result was his overthrow and his death together with his sons. Had he humbled himself to seek asylum elsewhere, the Libyans would be mourning their mad folly and begging him to return.

The war in South Sudan is a consequence of power struggle amidst rivers of oil (black gold) but no physical and administrative infrastructures. Rather one party would just settle down and work to improve livelihood in the country than struggle for power. After decades of struggle and breaking free from the north, veterans are dying in battle at the brink of the Promised Land. A perpetual reproach to black Africa who appear before other races as inferior, greedy, lazy and barbaric primates, who ignore hard work and seek for free things.

Power struggle is a black man’s plague that continues to linger in Uganda. Apparently, a number of President Museveni’s former colleagues are becoming his foes. But some perceive the vanity in the other camps and trot back. Some stood against him in elections, lost, and disappeared in thin air or kept trying. But his former deputy plans to enter the race. Having not wielded much influence in national affairs during his tenure, many rural Ugandans cannot even spell his name making him liable to a miserable loss. This could gallop his life’s hard earned fortunes and register his name among those statesmen who die as paupers. The list goes on and on. Therefore, when is losing the best option in politics?

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});