Wind of democratisation has ferociously blown through all nooks and crannies of the vast world that military governments anywhere in the world is now anathematised irrespective of whatever motive might inform forceful takeover of government.
A country that embarks on military adventurism now risks regional, continental and global ostracism. It is for this reason that politics, as a tool of democracy and governance, should be played in ways that depict transparency, morality, justice, and fairness.
Unfortunately, notwithstanding the huge gains inherent in politics and democracy, the long existing characterisation of politics as a dirty game keeps supposedly clean people out of the game or are advised to keep away to uphold their morality and maintain their dignity.
Since democracy is widely defined as government of the people by the people and for the people, and countries employ politics as a platform to elect people to occupy various offices and political positions for the services of the people, the right people, in the main, must be chosen to contest and render these services.
Politics is a neat game but the way and manner it is played robes it with cloak of dirt, and tars it with brush of disdain. When linens are dirty, the laundryman is ever handy to ply his trade. The way politics is played can make a politician an effective laundryman or the other way around.
To play acceptable politics, our brand of politicians must have certain enduring and endearing qualities, viz honesty, morality, and humaneness to launder politics as a game to be played even by the angels and not one consigned to the arena of evil, unpatriotic and self-centred political personalities.
Politics of point and kill does not help the dwindling image of politics. Politics of intemperate language demeans, and wounds the ego of political opponents. Politics of hate speech conflagrates the polity and degenerates from fist cuffs to full-blown theatre of fight between rival parties and political opponents. Most times, this has occasioned arson, maiming and widespread killings. Indecent play of politics has pitched brothers against brothers, friends against friends, regions against regions; betrayed trust, and plunged nations into internecine wars with grave human and retrogressive consequences.
When politics is rebranded, and played with the desired conscience, dividends of democracy will trickle down to the needy electorate who are majorly the masses. When politics is played neat and with decorum, promises made to the electorate will be sacrosanct and our commonwealth not converted to personal wealth. When politics degenerates to total disregard for human lives, it loses its attraction that even the potentially anxious servant-leaders and even angels are scared stiff to be players.
Political thugs do not help the tainted image of politics in any significant way as they heat up the political space all in a bid to ensure they do the bidding of their political paymasters in spite of putting their lives on the line even with risks of being recklessly abandoned then after. Political thuggery holds sway when questionable characters are presented for contests since personalities of these candidates will not win them votes and victory. Marketable candidates are often schemed out in what is anything but selfish and absence of internal democracy in their various political parties, just as rigging robs the nation of thorough-bred and resourceful representatives and other pro-people political servants.
If politics is played dirty, votes cast are often contested and results announced often not in favour of the actual winners but to the highest bidders with the required money clout. When politics is played against all laid-down electoral rules, and in flagrant violation of extant laws, contestants justifiably exhibit litigious tendencies thereby further bogging down the already terribly congested courts, with attendant rights denials.
Politicians have cashed in on the poverty levels of the masses to play money politics. By so yielding, the electorate appear to have enjoyed their dividends of democracy at the electioneering stage as some politicians stay distanced after elections to savour their victory.
Electioneering promises are not supposed to be jettisoned after elections results are announced. In the process, infrastructure absence and decay become the order of the day; projects are abandoned; funds are diverted; and corruption takes centre-stage with consequences on development and the country’s image in the comity of nations.
Politics must be played in a manner that the common masses, who should be the cynosure of all political considerations, must be the major beneficiaries. This should be more so with critical infrastructures put in place, safety of lives and properties assured, social amenities provided, general comprehensive development made commonplace, and human lives made to count. This situation will open the way for participation by men and women ready to serve so that politics should not continue to be derisively regarded as a neat game played dirty. This scenario will attempt to disprove Wendel Philips who posited that, “politicians are like the bones of a horse’s fore shoulder, not a straight one in it”.
Politics and political victory is a call to selfless service. Since politics is only but a concept, indeed an abstraction, the laundry room is not for it but can only be laundered by our characters, conscience and playing in accordance with the generally accepted rules of the game for wide-ranging social, economic, educational and developmental benefits to make democracy ultimately people-centred.
As a major tool of governance, politics must not be synonymous with insincerity, dubiety and falsehood, as Nigerians look forward to 2023 general elections and beyond.