Maravi

Keep your eyes open to the people's problems

Keep your eyes open to the people's problems
By The Post
Mon 12 Nov. 2012, 10:40 CAT

Dr Guy Scott, the Vice-President of the Republic and the vice-president of the ruling Patriotic Front, says they will keep a close eye on the people's problems during their party's reign. Guy also says that the Patriotic Front will avoid the mistakes made by the MMD which led to their loss of power in last year's elections because they kept their eyes off the people's problems.

This is a good approach to politics. But how this is done is another issue, and a complicated one for that matter. To get it right in practice requires a clear understanding of the role of the political leadership and that of the people in everything that is being done or should be done; and in all the successes and failures.

There is need to realise that those in the political leadership, those running government cannot achieve much by themselves. It is important for our political leaders to understand the fact that no single individual, no matter how intelligent, how committed, how hard-working he may be, can develop this country and give our people a better life all by himself. No single individual can assume the role of a messiah for this nation.

It is a big mistake for anyone, for any single individual to think they alone can move this country forward. The wealth of society is not necessarily created by the leaders; it is created by the workers, peasants and working intellectuals.

If they take their destiny into their own hands, follow a correct political line and take an active attitude in solving problems instead of evading them, there will be no difficulty in the world which they cannot overcome to move their country forward and thus move their lives forward.

This country will only be moved forward with the participation of all our people. The lives of our poor people will only be improved with their participation. Therefore, everything that is being done in this country for the people, it has to be done for them with them. It has to be for the people, with the people.

And as we have repeatedly pointed out, this is the true meaning of democracy. It is a growth in the confidence, in the power of ordinary people to transform their country, and thus transform themselves. It is a growth in the appreciation of people organising, deciding, creating together. It is a growth in fraternal love.

It is therefore very important that the political leadership explains what it is doing for the people and involves the people in everything it is doing and at every stage of what it is doing.

Trying to do things for the people without their involvement and without them understanding what is being done and why it is being done is dangerous. Things may go well when all is well. But trouble sets in immediately problems arise. And in life not everything progresses in a forward line direction, in an easy way; there are gigantic leaps backwards, problems and difficulties arise in everything no matter how well designed or planned things may be.

It is a big error not to involve the people. It is dangerous for people not to understand what the leadership is doing and where it is going. Sometimes it requires a lot of time and hard work to explain things to the people, and some leaders avoid taking the trouble to explain.

Sometimes, especially when things are not going very well, it may be dangerous to explain things to the people, but still more dangerous not to explain. It is very tempting for the leadership to go its tortuous way, over-confident that it only to speak and the masses will follow.

There is need for continuous mobilisation of the masses, for continuous involvement of the masses in everything that is being done for them and in their name.

It is said that a good leader is one who is an excellent listener. And leadership is very vital to the future of our nation. But this good leadership, putting aside all theories and concepts, will not be achieved by the formality of structures, but by the integrity of the participants and by the willingness of the individuals to work together and be inspired by a larger vision.

Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confident. And leaders are there to help the people by working with them. Of course there are some things which leaders can do for the people by themselves. But many things require the involvement of the people because leaders are just there to help, to facilitate, to guide, to lead.

In the end, it is the people who govern, who transform their country and thus their lives. There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. If the people are not willing to get involved in the transformation of their country and their lives, no leader can succeed in transforming their country and their lives. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb himself.

Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there; they cause change. They motivate and inspire others to go in the right direction and they along with everyone else, sacrifice to get there. For these reasons, it is very important that the ear of a leader must always ring with the voices of the people. If this happens, it will become easier for the leaders to recognise problems before they become emergencies. And one of the tests in leadership is the ability to recognise a problem before it becomes an emergency.

There is need for increased participation of the masses in the development of their country. And more people participating means a greater ferment of ideas, more enthusiasm and more energy.

Of course, the political leadership of our country is dealing with a very poor population. This may seem a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action and the desire for deep and thorough transformations of society - for revolution. On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written, the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted.

It is good that Guy and his colleagues in the Patriotic Front are very much aware of the mistakes of the MMD and do not want to repeat them. It is foolish to repeat mistakes that one can clearly see and which one has recognised. "Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet" is a Chinese folk saying to describe the behaviour of certain fools who repeat mistakes they very well know to be mistakes.

And those in the political leadership need to listen to the people because they don't know everything. And they should never pretend to know what they don't know, they should not feel ashamed to ask and learn from people below and they should listen carefully to the views of the people.

It is said that one should be a pupil before one becomes a teacher; one should learn from the lower levels before one issues orders. What the people at the lower levels say may or may not be correct; after hearing it, the leaders must analyse it. They must heed the correct views and act upon them. They must also listen to the mistaken views from below; it is wrong not to listen to them at all. Such views, however, are not to be acted upon but to be criticised.

Labels: GUY SCOTT, PF

posted by MrK @ 4:32 PM