In April 2022, Nzuko Arochukwu worldwide will head to the polls to elect new members of the Central Executive Working Committee( CWEC). As always, Nzuko Aro general elections come with buzz and razzmatazz that sometimes go even beyond what we have in Nigerian general elections. This is not surprising because of the stakes that come with it. The first stake is that you are putting in place an executive committee in Aro Community that is relatively highly enlightened. Every eligible contestant consider himself qualified and therefore entitled to lead the community. While nothing is wrong with such gut feeling, the challenge was that the electorate sometimes gets mixed up on who actually has what it takes to lead, and who does not.
The second stake is that the existing standards set by the outgoing executive requires programmes and policies that will actually improve on their record. In this context, the easier part is for contestants to lay claim that they all have what it takes to dwarf the achievements of the current regime. Fair enough. Such is also part of the territory of elections. To always canverse issues that will put you on a higher pedestal in order to win. The challenge with this eligibility claim is that propaganda takes over from where reality and responsibility stops. Claims and counter claims on how to sale manifestos become so warped that it attempts to bury the real issues that should determine who gets elected or not.
Having said that, the challenge lies in defining the issues that will guide the electorate in their choices. No matter how we pretend to know how Nzuko Aro works, it is not easy to determine the real issues from outside. I can see the wisdom why our forebears emphasized on leadership succession plan. Such a plan will naturally groom successors in the mechanics and rudiments of Nzuko Aro leadership responsibilities. This is important. Some of us before joining the main stream of Nzuko Aro leadership was actually involved from outside. It does not matter whether we have a position or not because there are lot of assignments to go round for any interested person.
We made ourselves available for assignments and actually had a feel of what the community needs to function and stave off crises that occasionally erupt unannounced when bad policy choices are made out of ignorance. Therefore, the real issues, in my own opinion, that the electorate should keenly watch out for before casting their votes are as follows:
- Availability:
Running Nzuko Aro can be a 24/7 job. Therefore, the issue of availability cannot be taken for granted. Many of the issuesthatrequire attention of the leadership come in consistent pilling layers, and must be given adequate attention without which a vacuum will be created. Such a vacuum could pave way for factors that should have been kept at bay to begin to contest for attention, possibly take center stage, and influence decisions wrongly. Therefore, anyone who puts himself up for an elective position must be prepared to make his time and energy available at all times, if he wants to make meaningful impact in delivering results.
- Sacrifice
Sacrifice, as a concept can sometimes be elastic. That said, the central theme in sacrifice for leadership positon is that you must be prepared to deny yourself certain presumed privileges and invest such privileges in the service of the community. For instance, one of the critical elements of sacrifice the outgoing executives gave themselves was that you could never rely on NzukoAro resources for your travels accommodation and feeding. This decision was informed by the fact that a look at previous regimes accounts showed that payments for transport and accommodation consumed almost 70 percent of the resources that should have been made available for the development of the community. Another sacrifice that was decried by the outgoing regime is that, as much as possible, members of the Exco must contribute to crowd-funds raised for purposes of projects and programme implementation in Aro community. You must lead by example.
- Transparency:
One clear fact about running Nzuko Aro is that resources are scarce. No one person can boast to provide all the resources needed to run Nzuko Aro sustainably. The outgoing executives decided that if Nzuko Aro must rely on funds from individuals from the community, they must enthrone the highest level of transparency in project and programme implementation.Projects and programmes are tabled first in the CWEC platform for vigorous debate on whether to commit to such projects or programmes or not. If an idea on how to resolve any developmental issue comes up from an individual, it was then takento CWEC for debate that sometimes seem like the British Parliament. Resolutions from discussions are then presented to the Body of Patrons for their advice. If the body of Patrons sign off on it, it then goes to Arochukwu Development Platform( ADF) for rigorous global debate. It is when the jury is out on the debated project and programme that it is then tabled for crowd –funding. Therefore, because most of those who will provide the funds had participated in the debate, it was easy for people to willingly contribute to its implementation. Not a single project or programme that was executed, to my knowledge, was done in secrecy.
- Accountability:
The issue of accountability is key in the management of the affairs of Nzuko Aro, especially with the current executives. To ensure that monies contributed for development of key projects and programme by Umu Aro is used for what it is meant for, Nzuko Aro created the Arochukwu Development Fund (ADF). All monies contributed for specific development projects and programmes are warehoused in the fund. Arochukwu Development Fund is not managed by the Executives of Nzuko Aro, but by a Board of Trustees made up of some of the best and accomplished personalities in our community. They appraise the projects or programmes, interrogate its budget and then if they are satisfied release funds for it and follow the expenditure on a continuous basis.To further emphasize the issue of accountability, the accounts of both the ADF and Nzuko Aro are presented publicly during General Assembly meetings and shared in hard copy for members to go home with and study, and perhaps, raise questions if there are areas they needed further clarifications.
- Qualification for Positions
The electorate should pay attention to the qualifications of those who are likely to put themselves up for elections. As a community, we have overgrown where anybody could just assume he has the capacity to do the job and then feel entitled to be voted in for it. Let us keep in mind that a chain can only be as strong as its weakest link. Elect one pretender to the throne and the executive will spend quality time quarrelling and abandoning the very task they were elected to perform in the first place. Paper qualification is important, but more important is what you have done with it.
- Experience and Exposure
Somebody might have all the paper qualifications there is but could lack the experience and exposure that come with practicing what he or she had leant in school. It is easy for people to intimidate others with such qualification, but when it comes to putting it into practice in problem solving, their capacity fail them. On the other hand, someone could claim to have experience, but such experience lacks appropriate exposure. Let me give an example here, somebody could be an expert in engineering with relevant qualifications in that field but has only practiced in one remote village where serous engineering problems are neither presented nor tested. If you take him to a place where many engineering challenges abound and with many others to compete with the rest of the engineers, he goes timid- this what makes the difference between experience and exposure?So, Nzuko Aro election delegates should differentiate between those who tout experience but lack the relevant exposure to make a difference in a given task.
- Integrity
Integrity is a very, very fluid concept, often given to misinterpretation. This is because it lacks standard measurement criteria. However, one philosopher described integrity as ‘What you do alone behind closed doors’. Everybody claims integrity, but the real test of integrity comes with accepting responsibilities that demand integrity and delivering on it unblemished. Those who shy away from such integrity demanding assignments simply says that when in a closed door, they probably will do a different thing. Integrity demands courage and ability to be who you are at all times and to accept mistakes honestly when one was made because we are all mortals and fallible.
The most difficult thing about claim of integrity is that it will expose you when you least expect it. For instance, if you claim integrity to get elected, when responsibility of trust are thrust upon you, you find yourself returning to your real self- someone without integrity. Therefore, for Nzuko Aro Election delegates, if you must base your choice on claims of integrity, the only available guide for you to follow is to look at the antecedents of your chosen candidate you want to vote for based on integrity.
In conclusion, I want to make it clear that every Nwa Aro has the eligibility to ask to lead his community in whatever capacity he or she thinks he can make a difference. Therefore, nobody among the contestants should run a campaign of calumny to impugn people’scharacter simply because of showing interest in serving Aro community. The issue though is that, why it is in the remit of the contestants to present themselves for the elections, it is the responsibility of the electorate to hire them or not to hire them as the case may be. When you, as a candidate, recognize and respect the primacy of the electorate, then you are a DEMOCRAT. Good luck to all contestants. Ndewo Nu.
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