FINISHING STRONG – AN OPEN LETTER TO SECOND TERM GOVERNORS.

 

Dear Brothers and Friends, Your Excellencies,

MAKING THE MOMENT COUNT.
Pondering the human capacity for contemplative action, famous American writer, Sarah Dessen once observed “there comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your heart.” If I know anything at all about life and political leadership, it is the fact that I am sure that some of you must be having your own Sarah Dessen moments by now. This is the moment when the gun of life goes temporarily silent and we are left a small window of time for contemplation. This all important indulgence is a necessary fragment in the life of any conscionable public office holder who has enough reflective power to worry about history’s inevitable verdict. Naturally, such leaders would also show a great concern on how to make every moment of their 'last lap' count.

As your approach the final bend in the river of your administration, the time has come to make the moment count. This is not for only those whose terms are grinding to a final halt but for even those who have their sights set on a second term in office. Regardless of the stage you are in your elected office position, it is always important to make every moment count. Truth is, no one has travelled this route more than twice.

ENDING WITH A FLOURISH
Watching the National Convention of Democratic Party at Charlotte, North Carolina, it struck me just how America’s greatest orators always ended their speeches with a flourish. A purposeful political leadership should be like a great oration – it should end in a flourish. There should be a sequenced progression from inauguration to heightened project execution and service delivery and finally a glorious handover. It is true that not many political office holders have shown any real concern about how their tenures had ended since our current democratic experiment. But our democratic culture is still evolving and must improve with every term. Hopefully, what this means is that if we have any will power at all, we should be able to change things for ourselves. We should be able to eschew the bitter pull-down-and-destroy-if-you-lose tone of our politics and begin to give our actions and utterances a new and weighty tone of statesmanship. We should be able to de-emphasise personal interest and re-emphasise people interest. If we set our sights on people interest, we would be able to appreciate the fact that the only way we can firmly secure our political future is by completing projects and programmes that we either initiated or met on ground.

SUCCESSION BLUES
As the curtain call draws nearer on the present term, it is natural that some exiting governors would worry about whose hands their legacies would end up in. For the conscientious governor, the enthronement of excellence, and the sustenance of legacies come very high on their worry-list. For the power-mongering, underachievers, the priority is often how to stay relevant after office through the installation of sometimes clueless puppet as a successor. This set of governors have little or no capacity to recall the events of yesterday with any clarity or cautionary awareness. They forget that the territory they preside over with the brute force of an imperial conqueror was once the fiefdom of a 'deposed' king and would soon be the playground of another potentate. But I would urge you to do the right thing. This democracy must begin to evolve a capacity for self-redemption. This democracy must begin to instil certain timeless lessons in us. It must be clear to any discerning observer of our democratic experiment that the era of the over-awing godfather whose king-size influence perpetually loomed over the weakling he imposed on the people has come and gone. As unpalatable as this might sound, no elected, or 'installed' governor of a state is willing to be anybody’s BOY. No state chief executive officer who is in full awareness of the enormous powers of his office would like to be bossed around by anybody whose only claim to fame is that he was in that same office before him. So, the usual delusion of imposing a loyal boy who would neither ask questions about your activities in office nor resist the unrestrained tendency to exercise power is certainly over and done with.
The best that any wise governor would do is to guarantee a level playing field for all and stay on the positive side of history. By so doing, he would not only be earning the respect and trust of his successor, he would also be ingraining himself in the memory of the people as a true statesman. The fundamental question to ask is, after all the pomp and pageantry of office is gone, would I be able to live with myself? Would my conscience return a not-guilty verdict on me?

WAY FORWARD
One of the biggest legacies a political leader can leave behind is a climate of peace. Peace is so important that no true and sustainable progress can be made on its absence. Apart from hoisting the white flag of peace, there are three important things that the exiting governors must do.
Set up an immediate "FINISHING STRONG" Cabinet - The most reasonable thing to do is to constitute a Finishing Strong Cabinet. This cabinet will take little or no consideration for anything other than competence. You may wish to reconsider the wisdom in having a 2015 political office seeker as part of this FINISHING STRONG cabinet as you must beat all distractions for maximum effectiveness. With the governor and his FULL cabinet undistracted, FINISHING STRONG is assured.

Silent Succession Team: This Team -constituted at the right time-, will handle all succession issues; the choice of candidates, the basic criteria, the surrounding buzz, free and fair party primaries, and the eventual general elections campaign machinery. With relatively free and fair primaries, there is almost full guarantee that virtually all the aspirants in the party will line up behind the eventual candidate. This team will also divert the distraction that is always created by succession politics and enable the executive governor to concentrate on lending deeper roots to his legacies.
• Project Categorisation and Prioritisation - For greater effectiveness and sharper focus, all projects must be categorised and prioritised. There must be projects that will serve as monuments to the administration. There should also be projects that will alter the lives of the people for good. Theres is always a sprinkle of such projects across the landscape. The Project Categorisation and Prioritisation Committee must identify these projects and work assiduously to ensure their timely completion before the handover date.

The first search for solution to the human condition must start with the self if it must stand any chance of success.

MY dear Excellencies, search your heart. The answers lie within.

Arc Nya-Etok Ezekiel.
A Brother and Friend.