Tony Abbot, Australia’s Prime Minister Elect has announced his cabinet 2 days before his Swearing -in Ceremony coming up on Wednesday. This ordinarily should be no news. This is normal and taken for granted in those countries where political leaders are well prepared far in advance for the onerous task they have been elected to undertake. They know well before hand in what direction they plan to steer the nation and to what destiny they hope to arrive. Ideas are many and keep running around in an orderly fashion in their minds while they quickly settle on the individuals that will assist them in bringing those ideas into fruition. These persons are selected based on merit, track record and a shared vision and set of beliefs. There is no unwholesomeness involved. Each head of government and the nomine already know well ahead what role he or she is expected to play and the results that will be demanded of him or her. The team is thereby able to ‘hit the ground running’ as we, driven by our love for cliché’s, always say. Ours is a totally different ball game. Some of our Heads of States, Presidents and Governors found/still find it impossible to select a crew within months of taking over power or of being sworn in. This is only natural since they generally were/are unprepared for public office at such heights and thereby never had any idea whatsoever as to what to do from the next day onwards. Each day is therefore taken as it comes and the fortunes of a whole nation are consequently frittered away over the next few months in a haze of emptiness and ‘directionlessnes’. When they are eventually able to compile a list of generally rag tag individuals (apart from the few lucky hits in the OBJ and the Jona boy governments), it is always the end product of bitter wrangling and unhealthy do or die rivalry amongst possible nominees. In the end you find that in many states an appreciable number of nominees for commissioner make the list with no claim to merit but only strong ties to one ‘first class’ traditional ruler or other leading party or society figure in the State. At the Centre, the only qualification you require to become a Minister or head of a department or agency is the faith and confidence of the Governor of your State. It matters not that the Governor himself is only a bit more intelligent than a complete imbecile. Even then, the nominee at the time of his appointment has no idea where he will eventually fit in in the scheme of things. He may be charged with responsibilities ranging from youth matters to the treacherous world of oil and gas. Not even those who are constitutionally responsible for sieving the proverbial wheat from the dreaded chaff are never given an inkling as to where each nominee may eventually end up in government. Of course, they can only tell them to take a bow and go. In all, we always end up with a team largely made up of ‘anywhere belle face’ ministers.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:09:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015