Give credit where it’s due

POLITICIANS are easily the first to be blamed for anything that goes wrong in a country.
Whether it is the high cost of living for households or lack of employment opportunities, there is always an easy target for the citizens to vent their anger at.
But as the 10th parliament rises and the 111 men go out to face the verdict in their electorates, it is worthwhile also to give some credit where it is due.
Collectively or as individuals, members of the house have generally given their best in service to the state.
That much we can and must appreciate.
This parliament has had its constitutionally allotted time and rises this week.
And the 111 men who have represented every open and provincial electorates will be facing their voters again.
Sadly, seven members of the house have died while serving, leaving their seats to new comers.
History shows that anything upwards to 50 per cent of the MPs could lose their seats.
But that not has not be wholly due to non-performance during their term as representatives of their people.
There are a number of reasons for the failure of MPs to retain their seats.
This Parliament has seen the passage of a number of important pieces of law that the country can only fully appreciate in the future when they become operational.
Making laws is the principle role of elected MPs but this has over time been overlooked.
Instead with the creation of district development authorities and service improvement programme funding, that primary role has become secondary to that of being managing and controlling budgets.
So one of the basic questions or considerations to judge an MP’s performance is simply to ask how well or equitably he has managed such funding.
That is the reality because the bulk of the parliamentary seats are representative of rural electorates.
To those electorates, the supply of goods and services is the primary concern when it comes to voting in the elections.
Where the member has failed to or tried without fully delivering as expected, the odds are heavily stacked against him.
Members of this parliament and more so the Government, have been severely tested in the past three years by the global pandemic and its resultant economic hardships.
The Coronavirus (Covid-19) has created an entirely different socio-economic environment for governments all over the world to operate under.
Some have successfully emerged from the ravages of the pandemic and are on a road of recovery.
Some are still struggling under the stress of the pandemic.
Locally, the Government has tried to ease the suffering by certain economic interventions such as subsidies for small-to-medium enterprises and the like.
The successes of such interventions, unfortunately have been debatable in the least.
So individual MPs from either side of the house will be going out to face their electorates with the memory of these events fresh in their minds.
In a few days, writs for the 2022 elections will be issued and campaigning will start thereafter.
And while it is every individual’s right to stand for public office the least that is expected from those out campaigning is to try to stick as close as possible to the truth.
To all political aspirants who think they are the answer to country’s long history of development woes, all that is needed is a realistic election campaign.
Not far-fetched dreams designed and sold only to win just to be disappointed later that delivering the dreams is not easy.