But not necessarily where you want to go
IN my last official meeting in July, I made it clear that the hire and fire of political appointees is the prerogative of the government of the day.
“As such, I am prepared to exit as I am not above the government. But I also raised the question: given that my departure would be seen and was seen as a win for former deputy prime minister and MP for East Honiara, one wonders whether my exit was all the number two boss wanted.
“Are there more to this than what meets the eye? Or was the push for my termination a strategic move to advance the cause to get the number two man to fill the number one spot?”
A week earlier the Hon MP for East Honiara had announced in the PMO car park that Friday afternoon he was seeking Cabinet consensus for my instant dismissal. He did.
It has now turned out as I had predicted – that the whole thing was never about my dismissal.
It was about the Hon MP seeking to elevate himself to the top position. Well, sometimes even the best shooters missed the target or worse as the Biblical Lucifer discovered.
On hindsight the DCC leadership had put too much trust on the people around him, people who would abuse the trust to undermine government solidarity.
Now it is public knowledge.
The spectacle of the political upheaval we all witnessed last week has little or nothing to do with government policies.
It was about putting the East Honiara MP, a man I had deep respect for in the past, in the Prime Minister’s seat.
Tragically, the plotters had misread the outcome.
Consequently, they had all missed Noah’s Ark when it set sail on Sunday night, loaded with six MPs who were members of the Independent Group in Parliament.
The group was a circuit breaker in a way in a political turmoil that was headed nowhere.
Some obviously waking up to reality came knocking for the final time on Monday morning.
Their pleas to be reunited with the DCC Government boat, was met with a firm no.
“Noah did not shut the door. God did,” was the response.
The plea to return to the fold continued to play out.
On Wednesday one official said that despite the door having been closed by the Invisible Hand, some were still trying to get back in through the window.
Which begs a series of questions including, why did they go out in the first place?
Who pushed who? And were there unkept promises in terms of palms being greased?
Why senior ministers were easily moved. Is it because the grass is greener or rather the promised grass is greener elsewhere?
We simply cannot go on allowing ping pong politics to continue to dominate our way of life. People are fed up.
Investors are frightened off by political instability. And so really, there is nothing to gain in all this.
It is time wasting, it saps up all the energy and it clouds our vision to move on as a nation.
All it does is it provides an opportunity for those who are satisfied with hammer and spade development to encourage the handout mentality.
So what is the outcome of all this for the ordinary people, the voters?
I suppose one obvious observation in all this is that it provides voters an opportunity to see whose interests are being advanced by the plotters.
The question you, as voters, should be asking is: How you saw your MP’s behaviour in all this.
Was it consistent with honorable and respectful. Was it something you should be proud of?
I now believe what I read in my younger days as a journalist. It simply says: All roads end somewhere.
For those who tried unsuccessfully to oust the DCC Government, their road ended somewhere.
Tragically!
By Alfred Sasako
