May I swim against the tide? I am not overly enthused (actually I am a tad suspicious) over this cry or clamour for so-called politics of inclusion and the eschewing of politics of exclusion. Three reasons: 1. Democratic Inclusion/Exclusion First, we elect a President to include and exclude. There is the irrebutable presumption that we have vetted him/her and whatever plans were presented on his/her behalf, and have decided that he/she should preside over the country for 4 years. Our election of him over all others, is therefore also an explicit endorsement of the team that he would choose to work with in the pursuit of that his agenda, subject only to Parliaments vetting. He therefore has a choice as to whom he would work with or listen to, and whom he would not work with or listen to. In effect, we elect a President with the discretion (fettered only by Parliament) to do inclusion and exclusion of certain persons and ideas. We should NEVER seek to impose persons on him to work with. 2. Democratic Nitpicking Second, a key and integral part of democracy is that persons outside government and who do not identify with a leader and his policies, are entitled to nitpick and expose the governments mistakes. By the way, nits are lice (edwie). The fatter they are, the easier they are to spot and the better they feel to pick them and squeeze them between two fingernails until they burst with a clicking sound. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from nitpicking, and that is also a democratic right. Thus my suspicion of the politics of inclusion cry also stems from the niggling feeling that it is an attempt to shut nitpickers up, by saying to them that instead of nitpicking, they should join the government. 3. Democratic Chopping? Third, exactly what is one to be included in? Is it the perception that there is something to be chopped in office, and that inclusion means that persons who would otherwise have been outsiders, are now being given the opportunity to chop too? And so what do we mean by politics of inclusion and politics of exclusion in our democratic dispensation? Seriously, is it being suggested to us, subtly, that military governments and dictatorships were more inclusive? If not, from which basis or bases do we describe what a President does as inclusive or exclusive? I guess all that I am saying is that I am yet to be convinced...- Kojo Anan Ankomah
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 16:18:47 +0000
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