I have absolutely no intent to spend the words of this post talking about the 'Du Covenant' as it, to me, bears no credence. I will also not talk about the videos on the internet, showing an alleged initiation of Gov. Jang and his wife, nor will I talk about his apparent imposition of GNS as the PDP flag-bearer in the state - these are tales for another day. What I want to talk about is the era of nepotism that is ever-proudly represented by Gov. Jang.When Jang contested in 2007, he appealed to our sense of morals. I remember vividly, though i was just about 15 then, how he so proudly flaunted his principle of integrity and contentment. He told the voters tales of how he had only one old house despite being governor in the military era that preceded our democracy. There was no doubt that this was an entirely selfless servant who represented service, morality and discipline. Or so we thought.
The recent acts of nepotism carried out by the government is a testament of the fact that we were all fooled. Today, we are governed by a regime that so closely resembles the
'demo-autocratic' governments of Mugabe and the monarchy-like administrations
of the ousted Egyptian and Libyan heads of state. A regime where systemic
nepotism is the order of the day, and a regime where meritocracy is but a
concept that has long receded into the deepest realms of distant memory.
Our governor who is part of the elder-class, who we were thought
were the custodians of society’s sacred mortality, has openly expressed his
disrespect for the unwritten laws that govern democratic societies – merit,
equality and justice.
Make no mistake, I am not disputing the governor's quest for the overall development of the state, nor am i questioning his ability to lead. What I am against is the disturbing lack of integrity that has plagued his last few days of rule as governor.
The very first red-flag we all saw but refused to do anything about is his appointment of his son as special adviser, yet we patiently ignored it. The next red-flag was his acceptance to chair the governor's forum, a post which by virtue of post-election evidence, he did not merit. I naturally expected that a man who was ordained 'pastor' in the first few months of his first tenure by fellow 'men of God' will humbly reject this undeserved bestowment of leadership, but he went ahead and received the position, and the congratulations that followed.
Now, there is a new red flag - Jang's appointment of his son as acting commissioner of the state ministry of Lands and Urban Planning. What could the explanation to this possible be? Will it be that Jang Jr. is the most qualified individual for this post in the whole state? Or will it be that he is so special that he has to double as commissioner? Or maybe it is just that he is the Governor's beloved son and an offspring of the great Du race. This is an act that everyone outside the Governor's clan should consider disrespectful.
The fact remains that there can be no excuse or explanation to satisfy the appointment of the Governor's son as a commissioner, and we would be all hypocrites if we'll frown at late Gaddafi's regime and pretend there is nothing role with the nepotism of the current administration.
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