Bukobawadau

THE BUKOBA POLITICIAN


1.  My cordial compliments, dear politician, I hope you can lend me your ears,
     The message I convey to you today,  has its provenance in the grapevine,
     You must know as well as I do, that such news is often mixed grill,
     Nevertheless, for you as a politician, it makes good food for thought.

2.  Your detractors have been scathing; they believe you're stomach-driven,
     They fault you for lacking vision, to propel Bukoba to the next level,
     They disdain your occasional handouts, for lack of sustainable value,
     They see this as money thrown at problems, thinking you're solving them.

3.  During vikao, your performance is watched; they see you blather and blabber,
     They see your brazen sycophantic displays, which add no value to the debate,
     They clearly see lack of preparation, resulting in incoherencies and inconsistences
     They see a propensity to play to the gallery, rather than debate the issues in hand.

4.  Your soft underbelly is lack of fair play; you tend to be biased and egregiously partisan,
     Constantly fighting unnecessary battles, based on phantoms and bogeys.
     By so doing you fritter away your energy, and in the process achieve little.
     Your people see you as a let-down, and will be happy to see the back of you.

5.  But you also have acolytes and followers, who support you in everything,
     These feel you are doing your best, in a hostile and difficult environment,
     They think people are not being fair, to come down too hard on you.
     They believe even if an angel came, he would find the going really tough.

6.  They see the problem as people's ingratitude, since they're ignoring your hard work,
     In a country with empty coffers, what miracle can one perform?
     Obviously one can go only so far, unless the current conditions no longer obtain.
     People must be made to understand this, otherwise leadership will be impossible. 

7. They are like the children of Israel, who kept carping about the desert conditions,
    They were ready to stone Moses, forgetting that he delivered them from slavery,
    So if people had the nerve to reject a prophet, what about a lesser mortal like you?
    So long as you are leading people, be prepared to be misunderstood or rejected.

8. But, if you allow me, let me weigh in, and proffer you some useful counsel,
    Love your people more than you position, and meet them on their turf,
    Make effort to reach out to them in passion, and they will rally behind you.
    This is a time-tested kernel of leadership, and it will not fail you.

 CREDIT; Enock L. Kamuzora
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