Before my good people of Rennell Bellona head to the polls to select the next bunch of leaders to lead our province in the next four years, I just feel obliged to share some thoughts about our politics for the sake of those who love, as I do, politics. And I am not going to point fingers at the current office holders in our province so I will talk about them in general terms. Well, let assume that none of them cares to read this blog. There is a saying in our language that goes like this:
Kokoe manga hakabangebange, ai tu'atunga' po ni'a'au ka hai.
People are too scared to speak out because of this, but healthy criticism is important. It is the cornerstone of Western politics, and it doesn't matter whether the criticism is personal or jut about issues. But in our case, this concept often go overboard. So today, I wanna talk about two important things; the word politics as it applies to our system and the role of our leaders in that system.
Politics: Games and Attributes
Politics is about attitude and attitude shapes public perception. We often view politics on the prism of corruption and dishonesty, or in other words, politics is viewed as a subject, thus, the culprits are often exempted from public scrutiny. Wen someone highlighted corruption of political leaders, the reply is often; "ma hem politics nomoa".
Political actors need to rise above this perception and deal with politics as it is intended. Politics is about policy and law making, and development. The our version of the Westminster system is extremely interesting. It is structured in a way that a group of elites are elected by the mass who then become mouthpieces in the legislative process. The anticipation is for these leaders to serve the interest of the voters, in that, actors are expected to make life easier and comfortable for the voters themselves. That is why the "Mantra" of Democracy has always been "The government of the people, by the people, and for the people".
When is politics becoming a "game"? It is when politicians see politics as a life time career not an opportunity. To these politicians, the seat must be retained at all coasts; it doesn't matter how he/she won, what matters is he/she is re-elected. They don't see their being MP as an opportunity to serve. As a result of that, politics becomes a game played by the elected ones at the expense of poor voters.
In parliament, MPs are voted in as law-makers and the Prime Minister and his government set policies for the entire nation. As law-makers, they determined what bill to pass, which policies should be installed and how they should sell these ideas to the average voters who in many ways don't know how to play the game. Who don't know the twist and turns of the game.
However, in the provincial system, MPAs perform similarly but with significant differences. One of the major differences is that MPAs don't hold legislative powers. Because the provincial system was established with limited legislative power, MPAs are nothing more than caretakers of the provincial grants and other funds trickled down from the central government. In this case, it is sufficient to call our MPAs as financial handlers, but I prefer the word "controllers" who don't care whether funds do reach their intended targets.
MPAs as Financial Controllers
These are long economic words or phrase that average voters don't identify with, but it is basically means "distributing of money" or "appropriating funds" according to the way MPAs see fit. MPAs aren't politicians per se but representatives of so-called provincial Wards. Thus, the question whether educated, less educated, and the completely uneducated, should run for the provincial seat is extremely important during campaign season. The answer, in my view, is this--it is "attitude" that matters, not how intelligent a person is.
Yes, it is important to have intelligent candidates who know basic finances, but it is also important to have candidates with the right attitude to filter arrogance and personal greed when it comes to being stewards of the people's money.
Why do we need intelligent candidates? It is important to elected educated candidates because budgets and other financial issues do need radical assessments and oftentimes, than not, MPAs with background in finance or sufficient knowledge in business understand it than say the average and the uneducated.
On the other hand, less educated and perhaps the under-educated (in our standard) with the right attitude toward money may govern effectively by sharp contrast to those we discussed earlier. Many people don't know why Asians who don't hold degrees in accounting become successful business men, its because they are careful about money. We need honest MPAs to ensure our province is developed.
Voting Culture
The main indicator and actor in our provincial system, and in many ways, the decider in election day is "family unit". Educated or not, voters go to the polls to elect their own cousins, uncles, dad, sisters, brothers, etc. At the end of the day, voters created a provincial assembly of very educated, uneducated, clueless, overconfident, and rookies of the villages, a bunch of confused MPAs. Sadly, good candidates are often expelled because of either lack of family support, or just simply unpopular amongst voters.
It is wise to chose the right person based on the of attributes I've laid up there. It is out of character for a voter to caste a ballot for a candidate who is not a relative, but until that day comes, we'll keep electing fools into our provincial assembly.
Again, our MPAs are financial controllers not policy makers, representatives of our Wards, not Politicians. We need members with visions on how to properly utilize ward grants. And we also need a strong Premier and an administration to do exactly that. For MPAs to go in thinking they are bunch of politicians is simply a recipe for a failed provincial government.
I also think it is rather stupid for a provincial government to put forward a BUDGET. Provinces were created as caretakers of the Provincial grants and what it should do is distribute this money equally amongst provincial Wards. Drafting a budget is another way of finding ways to minimize Wards' allocations. Over the years, extra funds were created for administrative purposes with money intended for the people, and they achieved that through manipulation of the budget. That should end immediately because I don't think the system was design to create a filter for Ward grands--people's money.
I hope our new MPAs fight for the rights of villages to develop instead of sitting in the assembly as listeners. Don't let hawkish MPAs take the leading role in what to do on behalf of your voters. Each MPA should pressure the provincial government to give out all due funds to most rhw needed constituents and stop robbing them of their right to their money.
Long live Renbel
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