WHERE ARE THE NON-NATIONALS POLITICIANS:

WHERE ARE THE NON-NATIONALS POLITICIANS: By Chris Okafor

Transformations and changes in ones lives are often inevitable and this can sometimes lead one to abandon his plans or ambitions in pursuit of others. As such, empirical studies of human behaviours and dispositions have shown that people do things for number of reasons.

Plato, the great and influential Greek philosopher noted that human behaviours flow from three main sources: desire, emotion and knowledge while Johann Wolfgang, a German playwright, believes that behaviour is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.

The general election that was conducted in Ireland in 2007 was indeed, an affront in which most non-nationals have endeavoured to show their image. Within this period, I had looked almost everywhere to see those posters and flyers of those vying for one position or the other as the case during the last election in Ireland to no avail.

From Dublin to Galway, Limerick to Cork, the story is the same and I have consistently pondered why this is happening. Could it be that those involved in the last dispensations were just out to register their presence in Irish political scene and vanish or have they succumbed to threat and victimization of some people who believed that they should go back home to their respective countries for election?

I was one of those pessimists who believed that the time is not ripe for few of us who have hardly spent 3yrs in this country to be contesting for elective post. I have, as a matter of fact, explained this to one of my close friends who had resorted to driving taxi now but he bluntly refused to have any of it then as he was busy distributing flyers.

Of all the various definitions of the word politic and act of politicking I have sought in dictionaries, non have a clear meaning than John Kenneth Galbraith who observed that “the modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness”

In my fit for private honesty, I sincerely believe that politics is reserved for those who are well versed in and out of environments, towns or cities where they live, the urgent need of the people and most importantly how to actualize these needs of the people that one is out to lead. It is not all about putting posters everywhere and claiming what one hardly understood.

The Irish constitution could, in theory, provides for non-nationals to vote and be voted for. It is difficult for this to happen in practice. I mean, you could vote but to be voted for at the moment is still very much open to conjecture.

One needs to understand the population of non-national in Ireland and most especially in various counties where these people were seeking an elective post. In most cases, it is not up to 3% or are there any gimmicks that could have been used or employ to woo Irish voters to their favour?

Basically and like I said earlier, people do things for a number of reasons and I am well convinced that those who participated in that election knew that they would not win a single vote. They were only there so that their names would be heard. I am sure I have been disillusioned.

Chris Okafor

This article was originally written and published in 2007 after the said election was conducted.