GIJ Politics The Hidden Agenda

“The last act is the greatest treason.

To do the right deed for the wrong reason.” – T.S. Elliot

I.  The Hidden Agenda

During one of the intervening lecture breaks in Level 100, our Class Rep informed us  politely that a gentleman had requested to speak with us so we should all endeavour to grant him audience. We did. Total silence in Level 100B was nothing short of a miracle but we accorded him that. That should tell you how seriously we took him.

In the end, it was worth it. This young man had realized that first years had difficulty accessing past questions and had taken the sole initiative to compile past questions into a book for us. We were impressed to an absurd extreme. He made an immediate conquest of our hearts. What empathy! What selflessness! What a guy!

As he charmed the class with a fine closing speech and received applause for his thoughtful enterprise, I looked at him with all my eyes.  He struck me as an honest person. He even offered to teach us how to calculate our GPAs and encouraged us to keep track of academic performance. In my mind, this guy deserved the Nirvana of respect. Straight. Look, he wasn’t here to make money off desperate first-years. He only wanted to help. What an admirable character. I decided from that time on to follow him closely. 

But, a few weeks later, something happened that nearly disorganized the mental machinery of my mind. I struggled to process it at first but, with time, it became evident that all the good he went about doing and the accompanying rhetoric were all part of a grand scheme to soften the ground for his big political step. Yes, he wanted to be the SRC President. 

I wasn’t disappointed at the fact that he had political ambitions. Far from that. I was rather disillusioned by the fact that everything I had applauded, in the end, was an Oscar winning-performance carefully calculated to lure me into admiration.  Unfortunately,  or otherwise, he didn’t make it to the ballot paper.

The funny thing is this: despite the glaring evidence of glorious showmanship, I gave him the benefit of a doubt; hoping that he would continue to help first years with past questions after his ambition was dealt a blow. I guess I shall have to wait till pigs fly.

Exposition:

I believe that seeking political office is not wrong. No. What I consider wrong is the element of performance and pretense that we attach to such pursuits. Tell us you have political ambitions, show us your policies and give us reasons to believe in your dream. Simple. Beyond that, no theatricals are necessary. Kumawood already takes care of that.  

Exception:

Am I saying therefore that all the seniors who offer(ed) to help first-years must be held in suspicion because they have hidden political agenda? Mostly, yes, but that’s not always the case. There are some who are genuinely interested in others and are always willing to help with no strings attached. I am myself a beneficiary of the benevolence of such great people.

For the likes of those, we ourselves desire to reward them with power to enable them to do more. We plead with them to take up positions because one good turn deserves another. I see nothing wrong with that. If anything, we empower a great personality to do greater works as the story of our former president, MTN, powerfully demonstrates. 

Cheers.