By Comrade Ogbu A. Ameh
In the March – April edition of Socialist Worker; the flagship publication of Socialist Workers League, the cover screams “Bungling Bosses” and with a rider; “Throw them Out”. It ends with the admonition; Build Power from Below”. The cover reads: “The political situation in Nigeria is a tragic- comedy as the country is ruled by a ruinous ruling class of parasitic politicians and self-serving entrepreneurs.”
Given the diversionary tactic characteristics of the Legislative arm of government, which often plays out in the face of serious state of nation issues, we on the left doubt if the bosses can provide leadership for social progress The politicians who represent these bosses while claiming to represent us all are the most obvious players in the comedy of the absurd which they painfully drag us through. For instance; the custom boss uniform saga and the integrity question poised for the EFCC boss. These integrity antics are coming from a legislature filled with predominantly questionable members with low integrity quotient. On the African continent, the experiment with democracy is locked in the deficit trap. The people do not understand the function of the Legislature, this include the Legislators themselves.
If they realize that the Legislature is the is the first arm of government, the real essence of democracy, the moment they realize this, democracy will be stabilize. People of questionable character thrown up in elections that are clearly a mockery of democracy have been the greatest obstacle to growth and development on the continent and Nigeria in particular. The lawmakers lost touch with the people in times of hardship and even recession when the masses are groaning under burden of high cost of living, hunger and extreme poverty.
Yet, our Legislators clamoured for wardrobe allowances and imported official cars. They who enjoy mandates of the people must learn to show concern by jettisoning personal aggrandizement and consider wearing uniform to the sittings in the National Assemblies Chamber. They have been wasting time on compelling the Acting Comptroller of Customs to wear uniform as a diversionary tactics to shift the masses attention from the stark social economic and political realities of today.
Today, what seems an albatross of bourgeois democracy as a by- product of capitalist system has become glaring political elites of all capitalist peripheries are prototype of the metropolis home of the exploiters. Our Legislators are bereft of any historical knowledge of how Europe underdeveloped Africa, hence their unmitigated betrayal of the people who they represent their collective interests. Until today after centuries of unequal trade relations between Europe and Africa that led to Africa’s underdevelopment, African political elites continue to loot and repatriate to develop Europe.
They fail to understand the component of modern underdevelopment that expresses a particular relationship of exploitation. The exploitation of one country by another is a product of capitalist imperialist and colonialist exploitation. Throughout the colonial period, this inequality in exchange got worse. Economists refer to the process as one of the deteriorating terms of trade. The unequal exchange was forced upon Africa by the political and military supremacy of the colonizers. After more than a century of political independence for African nations, they are very much economically dependent on their former colonizers.
The political elites or actors do not see any reason for a paradigm shift in governance, planning, policy formulation and implementation. They do not care about liberation and emancipation of their fellow citizens trapped in the vicious cycle of hardship, poverty that underdevelopment has over time wrecked on the continent. They blindly follow in the footsteps of their colonial predecessors as comprador bourgeois who lack the spirit of inventiveness, entrepreneurship and discovery. They gloriously celebrate oppression, exploitation and abuse of power to the detriment of egalitarianism and social justice for all.
Yet, the State and its failing emasculated and weak social institutions make it easy and convenient for politicians, top military top brass and other state actors in connivance with capitalist agents to plunder the wealth of the nation with impunity.
One characteristic of capitalist society is that the ruling class is divided among itself. They have common interests like keeping wages down and having the unrestricted right to manage. Different capitalists have divergent interest, debates and disputes between different capitalists and sections of capital are central and irremovable aspect of capitalist society. The media owners and elected Legislators act along these conflicting differences to pursue their respective sectional interests. They resort to diversionary antics and odium to divert the masses attention from the true state of the nation.
Comrade Ogbu A. Ameh is Founder, Generation for Revolutionary Change from Below. He can be reached on Onwaters2011@gmail.com
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