Pendulum of change
swings toward Government and Social Policy in Africa
The Noble Doctrine
of "We the People" : A perspective for Social Justice
By Jonathan
Awasom
There is no
controversy over the fact that we are in a post-modern age otherwise called
post-modernism, which marks the progressive outcome of human civilization dating
as far back as the 17th century. There is a great expectation that people who
have captured the spirit of post-modernism have a different mentality and
attitude towards life. First and foremost the characteristics of post-modernism
are what makes it very amazing and unique for further exploration. Africa has
hardly been a measuring rod for excellent social policies, which is one of the
main reasons why I am articulating this.
The existence of
unbelievable communication networks through advanced technology and science of
human interaction has defined this age. This has landed the world into what
others call globalization on one hand and global village on the other. Those who
stick to “globalization” perpetuate corporate greed through the unrestrained
practice of owning shares in most of their unethical investments anywhere in the
world while those who see the world as “a global village” emphasize the doctrine
of both shareholders and stakeholders through the universal principles of human
dignity.
In fact it is a
period during, which reasonable and civilized people have resolved to
distinguish themselves from beasts and primates by behaving themselves like real
human beings with a soul and conscience. No doubt around the 17th century the
founders of America emerged with the noble doctrine of “We, the People” in order
to underscore the importance of community and society as the constitution of
every government. So how can the global village be transformed into a caring or
beloved community with respect to “We the People”?
The pendulum of
change will swing towards a comprehensive Social Policy as a measure necessary
to raise the standards of living among our people in Africa. As we suggested the
other day, why should we be talking about social policy? Why should we focus on
public policy? Why do we have institutes of Public Policy like the Humphrey
Institute in Minnesota, JFK Kennedy School of Government, Rutgers University and
Seton Hall University within the United States of America?
A government that
is insensitive to the social needs of the people creates a statusquo of
resistance to change. What we mean is the lack of social policy as a consequence
of colonial and neo-colonial practices in Cameroon and Africa leads to
domination, enslavement, oppression, inequalities and exploitation of the
majority by the minority corporate ruling class. A perfect diagnosis of the
problem has made it possible for us to explore the importance of Social Policy
as one of the indicators of fundamental change.
“We, the people” own the government and if we cannot
hold government officials accountable, then why do we come together as a nation
with people from all walks of life and backgrounds? If the government does not
know that the people own them and that without the people they would not be any
government, then where are we heading to in the 21st century after more than 450
years of the violation of our human and civil rights of our people in Cameroon
and Africa?
It is important
that all Cameroonians and Africans join the new train for truth, justice and
liberty for change because Cameroon is off the rail and is heading to a crash
but we are able to avert any disaster and put it back on track. This must be a
new decade for change because now we know what we want from a democratic
government. Thom Hartman in his book “What Would Jefferson Do? A Return to
Democracy” notes;
“The major
innovation of the founders was the idea that the government is us. It is owned
by us, run by us for the benefit of us, exists solely because we continue to
approve of it, and is 100% answerable to us”
Therefore, if the
government knows very well that they have not been democratic then they should
quit deceiving our people. Just because people appear sometimes powerless or
helpless or ignorant should not be grounds for oppressing them. The worst crime
that a government can commit against the people is to take advantage of their
innocence whereas they never wrote an application to be born and to become
citizens of their own country. To come to think that anybody would be guilty for
making our people who are entitled to own the government, natural resources and
mineral wealth suffer in any form or shape in this world is totally
unacceptable. Again Thom Hartman notes that;
“There are somethings we all own together referred to as “the
commons”, this include the necessities and commonalities of life: our air,
water, waste/sewage systems, transportation routes, educational system, radio
and television spectrums, and, in every developed nation … health care system.
They also include those things held in common trust for us by our government:
the nation’s parks, and forestland, the mineral wealth and grazing rights under
and public lands; our beaches, sky, waterways, and ocean. But the most important
of the commons in a democracy is the government itself. We’re supposed to own
our government and it is meant to be solely responsible to us, the individual
voters and not to corporate special interest. And make no mistake it is
democracy that some want to replace with corporate aristocracy”
It should be
noteworthy that any government in a nation that claims to be democratic should
be the function of the civil society. That means they derive their
constitutional powers to govern from the people who empowered them to lead them.
Therefore, “We the People” must never allow the government to bully,
intimidate, threaten and scare the people worse still torture, arbitrarily
arrest or kill the people. Once we discover that the government is violating the
dignity of the people they claim elected them into government, we have a moral
and direct obligation to stop such irresponsible citizens (government) from such
abuses of our people.
This pendulum will
not stop swinging like the tie of a restless social policy advocate because of
the forces of our common humanity and the common things we own together. Our
common humanity is the desire for people to attain their livelihood in life
through involvement and participation in the civil society. To the extent, which
they become stakeholders in their societies and communities, by birth, right or
privileges they must be educated to organize themselves in appropriate ways
(under better governance and rule of law) so that the resources of the
community, society or country are tapped into for the good of everyone at home
and abroad.
If the Dictator/ President
of Cameroon is always rushing to France to meet their colonial masters to help
them form a government or reshuffle the government, then the President and
government is not owned by us the people. We, the People must question ourselves
about why our government would hate us that much? The Pendulum for change
desires a government that will be owned by the people and not by some foreign
corporate individuals who look down on us and dehumanize us with their unjust
and most often no social policies. I declare this period in history to be one
in, which we must build nations and uphold governments with social policies
directed to empower and improve on the lot of “we the people"
The Pendulum of
Change Swings to Social Policy to be continued
Jonathan
Awasom
Jonathanawasom@yahoo.com
Done on this day
of February 5th, 2010
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