by There is an African proverb amongst royalty that says that, “it is the one who wants to suffer for the people that accept the heavy weight of royal beads.”
And truly speaking, royal beads are many and very heavy. Not just heavy in terms of responsibility but physically when measured on a scale. A complete set of royal dressing includes not just the beads but also several age long metals that carry a lot of weight on the scale. Part of the idea is to constantly remind the carrier of the huge responsibility he or she bears.
With all its envied privileges, royalty confers even greater responsibility and denial. Because to lead, is to be in a position of advantage, in the first place amongst equals. To be a pathway, a leading light and bridge for others into a new destination; holding them by the hand to find their way from ignorance; shining as an example for them to follow.
Talking about new destinations, if I were to be a leader, I would endeavour to build on the good things my predecessors did by thinking out new and improved methods of doing those same things for the good of the people.
Assuming that my predecessors many years ago, bought hoes and cutlasses for our people who are predominantly farmers, Me, their new King, should be able to move it further and introduce our people to modern farming tools, to boost resources utilization and yield per hectare, as well as expanding economic opportunities. If they were given fishing nets, can we now explore the chances of giving them fishing boats?
Bringing it down to political leadership, if our leaders distributed Okada to our people 20 years ago, dug boreholes for our people 20 years ago, distributed generators for our people 20 years ago, gathered our people under canopies and trees for health outreaches 20 years ago, campaigned with wrappers and rice, 20 years ago, etc, after two decades, isn’t there any new thinking to improve on, modify or do away with these methods after such a long period? Are we so bereft of innovating new initiatives to improve on executing these same programs by employing new ways of doing things? Or is there a deliberate ploy to perpetuate our state of being 20 years ago?
The budget figures are scaling up yearly and changing rapidly, can the methods of implementing these budgets also change along? Can we intentionally decide to improve on our governance processes and discard this copy and paste model? Is our goal to develop our communities or just to share power? Can these thrones survive by keeping the people down perpetually?
If the King must lead and enjoy the perquisites of the throne, he must not forfeit the sacrifice of appeasement, lest he falls.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo.
Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Agba Jalingo, and does not represent TheLumineNews, its agent or the organization the author works for.
