Let us retool our people

Let us retool our people

We deserve better leaders in this country but we don’t seem to get them. Why? With the entire hullabaloo we make as to who should be elected as the next president in the 2010 national elections, we overlook the importance of the role our people play. We should remember it is our people who are going to elect the president and nobody else.

It is understandable that we look for in the next president or any other elected official qualities of honesty, commitment, hard work, and with moral courage. But this is less significant if we take a preview of the qualities of our people who cast their votes. It does matter of course that a presidential candidate is electable or winnable but it does matter too how the people vote. The presidential candidate may have all the sterling traits of a president but these are rubbish and even anomalous when people do not mind them.

Our people are too busy to stay alive as they live through privation. It is likened to not making a conscious choice of food being served when one is suffering from toothache. They stare wide-eyed into their empty pockets and their empty tummies give a moan of frustration. This is the most unfortunate predicament of most of our poor people nowadays. Many of our people are more interested on what they can take away from the candidates like money. It is a common knowledge that elections in our country are ruled by money power. Candidates woo our people through the distribution of money to them. Money, not the qualities of the candidates, assumes the biggest role in every election in our country. Money rules and it is what it takes to win an election. Worse, moneyed candidates even prefer to lose our respect than lose an election.

I have long wondered if our people can be more serious with their role as electorate in the 2010 national elections because many of our people have not really given much thought on the importance of electing better leaders. They don’t have the time to digest all information about the qualities of the candidates nor their programs of government. They spend more their time on filling their stomach. They sidestep the question “Which candidate will bring about change in the country” with the question “How much money can we get from these candidates?”

It is time to retool our people. Let us teach them that they should demand for change in this country. It is important then that we have to have a serious voters’ education program. Let us prepare our voters to choose the right leaders.