The paradox of dirty politics and honourable politicians, how come?

By Samwin J Banienuba

Politicians are no imams, pastors or priests (reverend or traditional) but the positions into which they are elected or appointed elevate them into stations of unqualified trust; trust that they will faithfully lead in good times and in bad times, that they will sacrifice sleep and ordinary pleasures of life for the common good of those they represent, and that they will seek most arduously to foster and cement the unity of their peoples when or wherever cracks emerge. This being the case, politicians put themselves forward as some of those conscientious people who have something extra to offer than the rest of us, and dedicated to adding that proverbial extra mile to push and extend the frontiers of equal opportunity for all. And once elected they wield the authority to take policy decisions, fix things and impact change for the betterment of society at large. It makes politics very serious business and an honourable career for that matter.
Of course, there are those who go to lengths and purposes to get elected for reasons of self-actualisation mainly. Having probably made it in business or other career ventures politics becomes the one last pinnacle left to be conquered as the ultimate finality of achievement. But even then, no politician publicly admits this as the reason for asking the mandate of the people. They will not be politicians if they did! On the contrary they point to career successes as living testimony to their ability to deliver in politics where others have failed. In Africa for instance, this calibre of aspiring politicians like to suggest they will be incorruptible if elected since they are already so well off the public coffers cannot and will never be a tempting proposition. And because they might well be better off in the material sense of the comparative they are also more able to oil the wheels of custom and run their campaigns with greater success than their less resourced contenders.
The hallmark is integrity! It is meant to define the personalities of those who seek electoral office or the offices they already occupy. Could this be the reason why Members of Parliament (MPs) in particular are assumed to be Honourable while Prime Ministers and Presidents are assigned the accolades of Right Honourable and Excellency respectively? In many parts of the world these titles are taken seriously, in Africa their inherent value sometimes supersede their actual relevance. Whatever the case, MPs are by parliamentary tradition deemed to be honourable and therefore supposed to act accordingly while Excellencies are assumed to represent the soul of the nation even if symbolically. Many are those of us who therefore look up to these politicians to inspire hope when all else is dim, to innovate and blaze development even when resources are minimal and to deepen human security in volatile environments in ways that augur freedoms from fear and want. They are Honourables and Excellencies after all, whose primary vocation is to make the art of the impossible possible. And for the avoidance of doubt they swear oaths of office by which they commit themselves absolutely and legally.
Such is the degree of politicians that when they are known to stray from that sacred oath in established democracies it becomes a scandal for which public enquiries are swiftly initiated and heads can and do roll for breach of the trust. What is often required instantly as a matter of course is for the culprits to do the ‘honourable thing’ and bow out voluntarily to avoid the more embarrassing public ridicule of being relieved of duties. Democracy is non-existent at worst or fledgling at best in a country where this is not the norm. A recent example is the so-called plebgate affair in the United Kingdom (UK) where the Chief Whip of the ruling Conservative government was alleged to have pejoratively called police officers ‘plebs’ for refusing him a bicycle ride through Downing Street in September 2013. The Police took offence that one who should be exemplary preferred to look down on a service that gives him and the rest of the citizenry protection. Although he vehemently denied the use of the word ‘plebs’ he also had to resign from office almost immediately while the heat of the altercation panned out and the law took its course.
Yet, it is no longer an open secret that most people think of politics as a dirty game in almost every polity. It is said to epitomize intrigues, conspiracies, plots and backroom shenanigans that often belie the righteous pontificating at rallies and other open platforms. Beginning from the moment electioneering commences or even long before, the politicians are the first to take aim and mudsling one another as they descend the gutter in foul verbal attacks in what often seems to be personality rather than issue politics. So dirty is it that wives and husbands are known to have advised their spouse not to enter into politics for the sake of the family name and pride. Indeed, one political commentator reckons that “Few campaigns in the modern era have been completely free of dirty politics ... the use of slander, libel, forgery, or other potentially criminal acts to embarrass a political rival.” He intimates that the only reason politicians hardly pursue legal action against each other is often because they are equality guilty of the same offence, birds of the same feather kind of.
It begins to nauseate when family members, friends and other known associates become legitimate targets in the politics of insults. In the run up to the 2012 elections in Ghana for instance it was difficult not to notice that civility was a major casualty. It was literally thrown to the dogs as the two leading parties in particular tried very hard to out-voice each other in a clear deliberate effort to cause maximum damage to the electoral fortunes of their opponents. In the circumstances lying through the teeth become fair play. When it is not lying about opponents it is lying in the name of promises. The fact that these promises are usually galore but mostly empty brings politics into further disrepute. In America for instance the three articles of faith have become the sky is blue, the Pope is Catholic and politicians are liars. To the extent that voters are no longer persuaded by promises and manifestoes but about the charisma of the personalities suggest some crisis of confidence in politics in which diminutive politicians are more likely to lose out no matter how better suited they may be.
However, the perception that politicians are corrupt is arguably the most damaging to their honourable status. The use of power for illegitimate private gain is perceived as the reason for which many elect to be politicians. In Ghana and other parts of Africa they are called “stomach politicians” in private. In fact the World English Dictionary derogatively defines a politician as a “person who engages in politics out of a wish for personal gain”. While it is true the severity of corruption varies from one country to the other it is also factual that no country is insulated from it totally. In 2009 for instance UK tax payers were scandalised by reported widespread abuse of claims for expenses that honourable MPs made over a long period of time. The fact that the Speaker of the House lost his job as a result and some MPS refunded the claims while others resigned or were jailed did not immediately clean the dirt from politics. On the contrary it became more muddied on further revelations that some more politicians employed and paid family members for jobs in what could easily be described as nepotism albeit they operated within the law.
The British example pales into insignificance when compared to Nigeria where corruption is arguably so endemic it no longer raises eye brows. Ratings of Transparency International consistently rank the African giant rather poorly and lowly. In a country where some 70% of the population are said to live below the so-called poverty line the massive oil wealth generated remain accessible by a very small elite only. Very few politicians are considered to be clean and it construes an equally dim view of their character especially that legislators are paid some of, if not, the highest salaries in the world. While colonialism and patronage have been blamed for the corrupt state of politics with a hint of truth it beggars the integrity of the country’s politicians and their sense of patriotism. It certainly makes mockery of the seriousness with which they take their oaths of office and validates Acton’s adage that power corrupts.
The “effectual truth” of politics once espoused by Machiavelli may still guide many politicians today but they fail to realise the age of the princes is long past. And if politics is make believe then what the politicians have succeeded in doing over the years has had an inadvertent deleterious effect on themselves, exactly the consequence Machiavelli did not want for the Prince. Candidly, it is not politics that is so dirty but politicians who are not so honourable after all.
The writer is freelance International Relations analyst and political commentator