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COUNTDOWN TO INAUGURATION: SYCOPHANCY AS IMPEDIMENT TO SOCIETAL PROGRESS


Now that the euphoria of electoral victory is over and with some days to the inauguration ceremony, the President-elect and Governors-elect should take a deep breath on the challenges of sycophancy in our system.

As William Shakespeare succinctly opined ‘give every man thy ear but few thy voice. Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment’.

The greatest impediment to our political and economic development is sycophancy. There is no way a leader can sincerely gauge the feeling and sensitivities of the people, if those closest to the corridors of power shy away from telling the hard truths. While the buck stops at the leaders table, every member of government is a direct stakeholder. In the era of social media, propaganda must go with performance on ground, which has bearing on the people and the environment.

When a leader allows sycophancy to take over his sense of direction and sense of responsibilities, the fundamental challenge is that the large majority of the people will suffer for it. Sycophancy and eye service kills governance. No society, State or nation can be enriched through it.

The purpose of meetings, especially Executive Meetings is to exchange ideas and arrive at sound decisions to deliver good governance to society.  It is therefore, not a crime to speak truth and do so objectively, if not, the system will be reduced to directives, which is the beginning of autocracy. An executive meeting that is not stimulating during sessions arising from sycophancy will lose its worth and significance, the Chief Executive will lose faith in the council and downgrade it.

At the State level, once that happens, government policies and decisions will begin to emanate from outside the system. It is here that copying of projects and programmes of other States without due consideration to local relevance and need becomes the vogue, because the domestic system no longer generate ideas for running government. Copying of projects of other States without due consideration for the local relevance and demand, create disconnection and distortions.

Government should also be mindful of the promises and commitments they make. Government should not over hype promises, thereby accelerating the peoples hopes. Government cannot do all things at once. All that a government needs to do is set out priorities with targets, strictly based on disciplined completion timelines. This does not preclude individuals and communities from making demands on government.

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