BAD GOVERNANCE: WHO IS TO BLAME
Newsry news
7th August, 2024
By Ambassador Kunle Adeloye
Bad governance refers to how decisions are made in government and business. It is also the polar opposite of good leadership.
Bad governance entails systemic corruption and a lack of openness and accountability, arbitrary policymaking, and the deception of those who are ruled.
The result of the decision-making between the ruling and those who are being ruled, the problem of bad governance arises. Decisions such as violations of accepted norms, such as liberal democracy, and poor economic policy, display of arrogance, insensitivity, all by the ruling class, generate this unfavourable relationship. Bad governance refers to government-level administration, although lousy and lousy governments are different. Corruption, deception, and the adoption of unfair policies are other features of bad governance. As a result, other expressions of inadequate management have varying degrees of severity and potential influence in their respective settings.
As the Nationwide protest continue unabated in our country, taking different dimensions in different parts of Nigeria, we have to pause and ask ourselves a question, who is responsible for the bad governance we are facing?
Without embarking on journey of self-deceit, the honest answer to this question is that YOU and I are the architect of our problem. You shouldn’t ask me how. Whenever you and I ask for money before we exercise our franchise and we vote along the province of inducement, we have succeeded in installing bad governance ‘ab initio’
Whenever we voted for party and not individual personality, we have opened door to bad governance. Whenever the outcome of our votes is a product of ethnic bias, leaving the best candidate out just because he is not from your tribe, we have enthroned bad governance already.
Now, if you critically analyze these three points above objectively, you will realize that they are the major tripod stand upon which the outcome of our elections have rested.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the wake of the ongoing protest clearly stated that he spent his personal money before having his way to the presidency. What do we expect when money forms the only yardstick for voting people into power? A great philosopher once said “Wise people think about tomorrow while the fools entangle themselves with immediate and monetary gains”. So what is the rationale behind this protest? You must let go your eggs if indeed you desire an omelette.
As preparation are in top gear for the November 16, 2024 Governorship Election in Ondo State, instead of the government to deploy the humongous resources available to the benefit of citizens, they are stockpiling them to be used for campaign. There is the rumour ongoing that the 20 trucks of rice allocated to Ondo State are allegedly been warehoused and rebranded by the incumbent Governor to be shared for the purpose of his re-election. One will tend to believe in the rumour as the palliative rice is yet to be given to anyone anywhere in the entire Ondo State geography. Why must the Federal Government palliative be kept in the face of damning hunger’s protest if not for ulterior motive?
I urge all eligible voters in Ondo State to eschew acts of voting selling and vote conscientiously. The idea that voters can be induced with money to cast their ballots in favour of a candidate, they would otherwise not have voted for, is profoundly anti-democratic. In fact, it is a negation of the right to vote. It gives a new meaning to the concept of electoral mandate, as sovereignty shifts from people to moneybags. To sell one’s vote to the highest bidder leads to a plutocracy of the worst kind. This is because various governments institutionalized poverty so as to make vote selling attractive to the citizens. However, poverty would not be eliminated as long as people keep selling their votes; a classic chicken-egg scenario. Which comes first?
Ambassador Kunle Adeloye writes from Akure.
