12 Jul 2009 |
|
Two years and two months into President Umaru Yar’Adua‘s government it would be fair to say that the President is ripe for comparison. Halfway through his term as president, opinion about the person and style of the President is about well formed in the mind of the populace and international community, so barring any last minute rebirth with little caveat a trajectory of the remainder of his term can be traced with some confidence. I choose to compare President Yar’Adua to John Fredrick Kennedy, the thirty fifth president of the United States. Why JFK? JFK and Yar’Adua share some subtle similarities providing a platform to start a comparison or simply because JFK is regarded as one of the great contemporary presidents. An open secret concerning President Umaru Yar’Adua is that the president is sick and he has refused to come clean about the nature of his illness not allowing an honest assessment of his fitness to do the job. Critics of the President correlate this “sickness” to inertia in his governing style and constantly deride the “cover up” to explain the President’s occasional disappearances. In one of the most detailed accounts of the health of JFK during his presidency, Robert Dallek in his book An Unfinished Life, showed that JFK was anything but a healthy man. Dallek gives a rare account of the history of JFK’s illness and the elaborate PR to project JFK as healthy to the public despite his serious medical problems (remember President Yar’Adua’s squash challenge?). So in this regard both men are on the same page. Joe Kennedy, JFK’s elder brother was the most likely Kennedy to be president and groomed to be president by the senior Joe Kennedy their father. Joe Kennedy died untimely and the Senior Kennedy had to turn his energies to the unlikely sickly JFK. Remember Musa Yar’Adua? Second in command in the first Obasanjo Administration and politician whose political machinery produced daring upsets and whose coattails men like Obasanjo and Atiku rode to public office? He was the most likely Yar’Adua to be president and he obsessively worked towards that goal till his untimely death in Abacha’s gulag and yes he was President Umaru Yar’Adua‘s elder brother. Both men had their “more likely to be president brothers” die untimely before the sun turned their way. Another tenuous comparison is the barriers both men broke in being president. JFK became the first catholic to be president in a rabidly protestant America perennially suspicious of the influence of the pope. Being so young JFK also signaled a generation shift in governance in America ushering a new era of youthful vigor. President Umaru Yar’Adua is Nigeria’s first leader with a university degree, a surprising first in a country this educated. Though most critics would say he was “installed” by Obasanjo, the fact remains that President Umaru Yar’Adua represents a break from our recycled leadership since independence and his election was to represent that generation shift in political leadership in Nigeria. Similarities at this point elude me but contrasts are in the multitudes. What JFK lacked in being sick he made up with inspiration. JFK pushed the American spirit to reform, working in a charged and splintered America JFK managed to make Americans believe in themselves and push their country forward. Half way through President Umaru Yar’Adua‘s tenure, the president cannot be accused of generating excitement amongst Nigerians much less inspire them. The closeted nature of President Umaru Yar’Adua reinforces the notion of a leader incapacitated by a failing body and a weak mind. Unlike JFK, President Umaru Yar’Adua is losing the PR war to look healthy and at the same time robbing the country of stability due to uncertainty about his health. The jury is not out as to whether JFK was brilliant, especially with regards to the controversy surrounding the authorship of his book Profiles in Courage. What cannot be contested is the class of brilliant minds that surrounded JFK. JFK’s cabinet was made up of first rate minds with enviable accomplishments such as the recently deceased McNamara, Dean Rusk, RFK, Douglas Dillion and politically astute individuals such as Lyndon Johnson. The young and inexperienced president (JFK) made up for his lack of experience by building a field of strong ideas as seen in his cabinet. President Umaru Yar’Adua’s cabinet is south of the JFK cabinet. In less than two years President Yar’Adua changed his cabinet and did so in a sloppy manner, taking a lot of time and nearly grinding to halt the business of governance. The cabinet constructed, one expected a band of accomplished technocrats and astute politicians but voila we have the present FEC! Inspiration, competence, ideas, pursuits (such as going to the moon) would shape the short JFK presidency and would forge a stronger America ushering advances in civil rights, American dominance of space, innovation and progress that far outlasted the short reign of JFK. Though corruption has always been endemic in Nigeria, more than ever corruption, waste and missed opportunities represent the economic rent Nigeria is paying for the frail leadership of President Yar’Adua. It is disheartening that the drums of a second term are already being beaten despite little or no progress in the last two years. It borders on insanity. More time is not what President Yar’Adua needs its more progress. Unless the trajectory of the last two years is not predictive it is hard to honestly imagine where President Yar’Adua turns the corner on this national lethargy. For JFK’s unfinished life the trajectory was clear and though he did not complete his run, his ideals, myth (despite his failings) outlived the two-terms he was eligible to and set the trajectory of America as if he were alive. One hopes President Yar’Adua, his cabinet and spin doctors would borrow a leaf from JFK and share more positive similarities with him rather than ask for more time.
|
|||||||||
# 
Your Comments
Please make The Square an enjoyable experience for everyone by refraining from gratuitous ad-hominem contributions, defamatory comments and off-topic posting. Such posts will be removed.