Why political office holders must showcase their achievements

Politicians seek the mandate of the people via election to represent them at the various tiers of government.

This is why the politicians embark on vigorous campaign to intimate the electorate with the agenda (campaign promises) of what they intend to do if elected into office.

The electorate on the other hand invest their trust (by voting) in a politician of their choice out of the many contestants jostling for their votes. 

This is after they might have considered the agenda of each contestant, and thereafter settle for who they think can best serve their interest in office if elected.

However, experience has shown in the past, and presently too, that some elected politicians, on getting to office abandon their campaign promises and begin to pursue their selfish personal agenda at the expense of collective interest of the people who voted them into office.

Some even make themselves inaccessible again, thereby making it impossible for the electorate to monitor their activities and performance in office.

All these have led to blanket condemnation, allegations of non performance and embezzlement of public funds against political office holders.

However, there are some exceptions to the blanket allegations.

While there are elected political office holders who turn their back against their people on getting to the office, there are still some of them who hold their heads high and can still be proud of their achievements in office.

There is no doubt that lack of trust has bedeviled the political landscape, as the politicians no longer enjoy the confidence of the people who voted them into office because of perceived non performance and personal aggrandisement being displayed by some of the political office holders.

But, in order to regain or continue to earn the confidence of his/her people, an elected political office holder needs to keep the people who voted him/her into office, and society at large abreast of his/her achievements in office.

This he/she can only do by giving his/her account of stewardship to the populace from time to time via every known means of communication.

Such elected political office holder can take the advantage of personal contact (Meetings, Rallies), social media (Whatsapp, Facebook), conventional mass media (Television, Radio, Newspapers/Magazines) and others to showcase his/her visible achievements in office.

By so doing, it will remove doubts of non performance, lack of achievements and misinformation.

It will also afford the electorate the opportunity of giving an unbiased assessment of the person they voted into office to represent them.

A politician giving his/her account of stewardship by showcasing his/her achievements in office may not necessarily be doing so to earn praise singing as some people may erroneously or mischievously want to misinterpret it, but rather, it should be seen as a way of engendering transparency and accountability, as well as assuaging the feelings of some people who are disenchanted with the performance of elected political office holders.

As desirable as showcasing their achievements in office is, the elected political office holders must be careful not to present the achievements as what they earned through their personal resources.

The public should be made to understand that the projects being showcased are only facilitated through their representation, as the projects are financed through the people's commonwealth.

Written by Yomi Ogunsanu