Do We Need Politicians Or Statesmen?

HAVE you been in a situation when you know what you want but then you cannot verbalise or communicate it to the other person? Have you been in a situation when you want to make a choice but options are limited? You want to opt for good and godly, for example, but the only options you have available are lesser evil or more evil?

If options were as many as types of cheese in the Netherlands, it would be easy to go for the best and beneficial one. This is the place where many of us, Namibians in particular and Africans in general, find ourselves. What we are talking about here concerns our people, our future and the future of our sons and daughters, if you live for both the present and the future like some of us do. We are not loathing the past, but learning from it, be shaped by it, and face forward. It is not a good place to be although, ironically, it is a good place from the view of those who are looking for the masses to support their smug political vision. Now is the kairos before election to engage not only with the screwed-up politicians but with one another as citizens, despite our differences and indifference, despite our preferences, on what do we want as a nation in the upcoming elections. Do we want same old, same old? Do we want another screwed-up politician? Or another bunch of critics who look at everything negatively not because they want the good things for the nation but because they want to be in the driving seat for their smug vision? Do we want a bunch of passive and pathetic ‘leaders’ who lack self governance and have failed to lead their own family; charity starts at home by the way. Or do we want a bunch of cynics who turn down our every dream of SME because our surname does carry the letter O?We do not want a bunch of screwed-up politicians. Neither we are guinea pigs for inexperienced leaders to practice on. We need statesmen or stateswomen, to those of us who are gender sensitive. Who are statesmen? ‘Statesmen are leaders who uphold what is right regardless of the popularity of the position. Statesmen speak out to achieve good for their people, not to win votes. Statesmen promote the general good rather than regional or personal self-interest…politicians may win elections; nevertheless, future generations may deride them for their lack of character and their ineffective leadership.’ (Henry and Richard Blackaby: 2001)William Wilberforce, a white English human rights’ lawyer, who liberated black people, is a statesman. Tate Madiba who selflessly forgave his oppressors, the white South Africans, is a statesman. The outspoken Malcolm X was a much appreciated revolutionary but he was not a statesman. We appreciate the most sung heroes and heroism of civil rights’ justice and black consciousness, but were they statesmen? We appreciate you who led and liberated us, but are you a statesman?In closure, ‘what is troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics – the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem’ (Obama in The Audacity of Hope). Jeremiah 6:15 …we are not ashamed to do evil…and we have forgotten how to blush. Let’s vote for the statesmen! PatriqVia e-mailNote: Name and address provided – Ed