GOVERNMENTS,TENACITY AND DISSONANCE

Government can be an  admixture of dissonance and disruptions but policies need  some measure of tenacity, argues Dayo Sobowale

In the post independence coups of the early sixties in Africa ,   political science scholars used the phrase ‘ tenacity of office’,   as well  as corruption as the reasons why most African politicians and leaders were booted out  of office  by the military who were welcome wholeheartedly by the populace   then . Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana , Nigeria’s PM Tafawa Balewa and the Sardauna of Sokoto,  Ahmadu Bello and Togo’s Silvanus Olympio  were victims in an era when  military rule gained prominence and was deemed politically fashionable.   This was  the vogue till the military  became more catholic  than  the Pope in corruption,  and  democracy returned in full swing again as the order of the day for governments  in  many African  nations. That order again has been broken in recent times in Mali, Burkina Fasso, Senegal  and  most  recently in Niger  where and when  the newly  elected Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu put his foot down that the era of  military  coups that was  fashionable ,  pre Independece  would  not  repeat itself . This happened   on  his  watch as the newly elected  leader of ECOWAS . However dissonance on how to call  the Niger military  junta to order crept  in swiftly  on  how to send it  back to the  barracks as ECOWAS leaders insisted.  Meanwhile and most   unbelievably ,  French troops as well as EU ambassadors  have left Niger ,  leaving the junta firmly in control  and the ousted  former  president of Niger in their custody, in defiance of ECOWAS order to release him .

 It is therefore the mood and texture of governments and governance that capture  our attention today with  the premise  that government can  be a mixture of dissonance and disruptions but  continuity of governments  and their policies need  some measure of tenacity and determination as virtues to be cultivated for governments to successfully  midwife and see through  their plans  and goals as expected  of  them .  It is my firm belief  that  tenacity of purpose is a virtue and value  to be coveted  by governments in any democracy whilst tenacity  of  office in spite  of tenure  has morphed  dangerously  into assault  by  politicians on election integrity  by all means to retain power .   

To  illustrate  my  point I will  use the following events  as good examples  of my earlier observations  on tenacity of purpose and the need for governments to  achieve their goals in spite of all odds . The first is the UK Rwanda new  treaty  on  immigration  signed a few days ago  by the two  nations in Rwanda .The  second is the single minded pursuit of the elimination of Hamas by a tenacious and  vengeful Israeli PM  Benjamin Netanyahu after the Hamas invasion  of Israel  on Oct 7 2023 .  The third is former US president Donald Trump branding  John  Kerry  the US Climate Czar and the main champion of the ongoing COP28  as a traitor for pursuing the elimination of fossil fuel and its substitution by  clean  energy as soon as possible in consonance with the goals of COP I in  1995  to  COP 28 in 2023 . The fourth is the transition budgets of the Tinubu administration in adopting the huge financial infrastructural contracts  and commitments of his predecessor Buhari  government  in spite of the obstacles  put in his reelection ,  and despite  the glaring fact of  both  being  from and  in the same party , the ruling APC .   The story however speaks for itself and needs no further elaboration here .

In  signing the new UK Rwanda   treaty with Rwanda on illegal  migrants coming to Britain and being deported to Rwanda pending consideration of their asylum request, the British PM and his cabinet  have shown  respect for the rule of law in   upholding  the judgement  of the UK Supreme Court on its  earlier deportation agenda. But Parliament makes laws  and   not the courts and is supreme according to the British Constitution . The objective of the Conservative Party from Boris Johnson leadership to Rishi Sunak has been to make Britain an  unattractive destination  to migrants  both real and potential,   and especially , illegal.  Democracy and majority  rule took a back bench in Tory choice of Rwanda . A  nation in which a minority of 15%  Tutsis lord it over the  85% Hutus in  the population . It was in the manifesto of the Tories that got them elected to nip illegal migration in the bud and  they have done  that tenaciously without breaking the law  and with  democratic  rights in Rwanda totally guillotined  .

Israel’s retaliatory pursuit of Hamas and the systematic destruction of Gaza is bound to raise a new generation of young Palestinians and  Muslims  globally  that would hate Israel  with the same retaliatory fury of Israel in Gaza. The dissonance is not only amongst Arab youths and Muslims globally but also with present Arab  leadership in the Arab League who also dread Hamas but dare not say so or show it but  who also have not offered to  take refugees from Gaza  into  their nations .  The Abraham Accords under Trump has been a bridge of sorts with UAE and Saudi Arabia stringently and tenaciously telling Israel  to stop the bombing but  unable to do  much in that regard  given  the resolute and unwavering American  support of the Biden administration with the looming 2034  presidential election very  much at play for reelection prospects . Here  obviously it is difficult  to   identify  what  is dissonance and what  is tenacity .  A  real  riddle in a quagmire . 

At a campaign trail in Iowa former  president and Presidential  candidate of the Republican Party blasted John Kerry head of the Biden administration for his climate activism which he claimed  was  destroying the US economy asking that Kerry  should be stopped and that America  can be rich again .  According  to Trump – ‘ We have a country , we have to fire up our  factories. Wind is not going to fire up our factories ‘  .  There is admirable tenacity in the way both camps fire  their  opposition and dissonance on climate change . That leaves no doubt that if Trump wins in 2024 that will be the end of the Biden Kerry achievements on COP28 and vice versa.  But then that is the essence of democracy. Which is that the majority must have its way and pursue it tenaciously. Just as the minority must have its say or dissonance.

Sobowale is a news analyst with Arise News