By Lawrence Pherliam Sumer
In a representative democracy like ours, we elect a representative who will initiate and vote on legislation or policy undertakings on our behalf. Political parties are the basic framework of representative democracy. They are one of the most fundamental institutions for any democratic setup. They offer electorates unique policy choices and bring together individuals who share the same political ideas that strive to attain the party mission incorporated through party manifestos. They give us a window about what a particular candidate stands for based on which party he or she belongs to. Yes, we often vote for individuals during the elections but in reality we actually vote for the party which they belong to. We are busy people; we have work to attend to, kids to care for and probably the task of looking after our elderly at home. We do not understand the ins and outs of governance and neither do we understand any single piece of legislation. In a way, we neither have the time nor the inclination to study each law or policy matter. Hence, we delegate such responsibility to others who volunteer themselves through their candidature and whose primary job is to understand the intricate elements of governance and debate or vote keeping in mind our interests.
If our representatives fail to live up to our expectations and are not exactly representing our interests, then we do have the power of choice, power to alter and change them as and when the time to do so permits. As electorates, we more or less provide direction to our own economy and state of affairs for the next five years or so. In fact, the quality of our representation in our legislative assembly very much reflects the general mind-set of us as electorates. But, the biggest tragedy remains that we usually exercise our franchise with our hearts rather than our heads, which more often than not throw at us representatives that neither understand their obligation nor do they try to study and become experts of governance and legislation when opportunity presents itself.
We do not need a rocket scientist to tell us that a bureaucratic bully is able to raise its ugly head when electorates fail to choose well. As electorates, we do not value our vote to the extent that candidates have to earn them but we would rather offer them as gifts instead. We often fail to exercise our acumen and we are too lazy or laidback to think and ponder what the past five years has bestowed upon us. Why do we always let others think on our behalf and lower our guard emotionally to a point where we are easily wheedled away just like that?
We talk about representatives’ absenteeism from their constituency post-election only to become visible again after five years, but we undermine our own role as electorates, where we have come to believe that our duty is limited only to exercising our voting right. We do not question, engage nor debate during those five years of “political reign” and when our representatives are not made accountable to us during that period, they are more or less free to do what they please. Then there are those eligible electorates who do not participate, they choose to leave their own future and the future of their children to someone else’s intelligence. We have all become disenchanted by our political class, alright, but to run away from one of our most basic duties, which very much shapes the future of our society, is simply not an answer to the general problems we have at hand.
The relevance of political parties are also subjected to election years alone. Forget grassroots membership, presently most parties are only too happy to survive without being pertinent. We do not see much activity in their posh offices except during election year or when the party chooses to renew their office bearers. As for their political beliefs, they are non-existent, nothing much to differentiate one party from another, except for the fact that every one of them wants to uphold the indigenous identity of every community. As such, candidates are rewarded with party tickets not on the basis of their political ideas but more on the winnability factor. No wonder, they jump ship and change political colour every now and then. What else can one expect when their individual goals go parallel with their parties’ ideologies. To sum up, our political parties have failed to play their part considerably.
We may conclude that representative democracy has its many drawbacks but as Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.” It is time we introspect and perpetuate the value of our political participation and do give ourselves a moment to get schooled by the last 4 years or so, leave it behind, alright, but learned and unlearned for the next year of opportunity, 2023.
We have always settled for less, it’s time we play our part and play it well. Maybe, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start looking for a basic character trait again, INTEGRITY, remember it’s always said that a person is only as good as their word.