In the Igbo Nation, the elders have it that no man can cook for the fulfillment of all his kindred, but when the kindred cooks for a man, he has no chance of finishing the food. What they are saying is this: no single tree can make a forest no matter how big it is. Also, in any village square, to keep it clean, everyone must sweep from his house to the square.
We are learning that from what just happened in London: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. He has cooked for the Tories and the UK people with his style of leadership. But over the last 48 hours, they started cooking for him. Being overwhelmed, he dropped the lines: “In politics, no one is remotely indispensable,” he said.
That is the magic of Great Britain. They have got leaders who have the capacity to save a nation when they think it is missing the path. Yes, when “over 50 government members in the last 36 hours” resigned, it came home to Mr. Johnson. It was no more about him, it was all about the nation.
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Contrast that with Africa where leaders face minimal consequences from their parties, allowing them to focus on the party over the nation. This is a lesson for African parliaments and appointees, you can bring the change you desire by putting your country over titles or parties. They cooked for Boris Johnson and he ran away – that is the beauty of mature democracy: the supremacy of the people over any human. Africa needs that prescription at scale.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday, following the resignation of over 50 government members in the last 36 hours. “In politics, no one is remotely indispensable,” he said, confirming he would remain in his role until a new leader was chosen. Widespread calls for Johnson to resign came after he appointed a deputy chief whip who had a history of sexual assault allegations, which Johnson is said to have known. Johnson was already “suffering the after effects of a long-running saga over parties at Downing Street during various Covid-19 lockdowns,” said The Wall Street Journal. (LinkedIn News)
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But this is about the prolonged Russia-Ukraine crisis. The brits are using parties and sexual assault to give the impression it’s about something else. They don’t want to agree that the sanctions and all that was done to deter Russia, did not work.
You cannot build a credible democracy on the foundations of poverty and illiteracy, it can never thrive. The framers and proponents of democracy did not envisage a scenario where poverty and illiteracy would be so prevalent, to the point of corrupting individual decision-making at scale.
The concept of one man – one vote is untenable in societies where majority of the population do not have the presence of mind and independence to make informed choices.
The major task before us is to scale education, banish ignorance, create economic opportunities; subsequently we can return to engage in political acrobatics and gymnastics, because we have taken care of the fundamentals.
The man Johnson had lifetime ambition of becoming a Prime Minister, he prepared for it from his student days, and he has achieved it. He is resigning, but will live to fight another day. He remains an enigma.