THE SUG PRESIDENT WE NEVER HAD
As we take in the outcomes of the Great SUG election results phase of approval and the messages being given out by the observers, in his State of the Union manifesto there is plenty of rhetoric being bandied around that illustrates the ill humours being nurtured by some segments of students and the wider godfathers .
In some respects, a belligerent students stance is atypical of their politics for close on years and the very existence of, first SUG and then SUG has been like a red rag to many – though not all – of them. And that same underlying sense of students welfare and the ruling body being at odds with each other shows through very readily in the concluded election .
To lead the student body through such troubled times requires individuals of skill, competence one often patience but in all cases the leader sets the tone and embodies the position that one leader will take against challenges . Such leaders need not only skill and competence, they also require a force of personality, a style of conducting themselves and a palpable purpose that inspires confidence and loyalty. In the SUG we see some elements of this, though perhaps that loyalty stems from a political position rather than a student oriented one. What most of the 21st century leaderships of this student body have not had is a leader who has been comfortable in their own skin, aware of the challenges and variances of view but strong enough to manage these and promote unity, purpose and faith.
So, let me speculate a little further. There is a politician, not of a mainstream political umbrella , who is diligent, competent and charismatic with a personality force to get things done. Unfortunately, the godfathers – perhaps driven by established political alliances – have chosen to denigrate and marginalise this man and he has become a figure of some ridicule and scathing dismissal amongst the old school factions of our establishment. Now I grind no political axe, I have no especial political bias, but I am interested in people who potentially might deliver what zikites requires quite irrespective of the Faculty they may come from. I am, of course, talking about Dirichi Mmesirionye Patrick .
Unless we find a Dirichi or quickly – then we will sink further into the slow pace of ping-pong that negotiations currently show. And that is leading us nowhere because we are not leading the negotiation. Leadership is key here and that leader needs the qualities described above coral his/her team into pushing through the obstructive minutiae that is in the student’s favour to deploy as a smokescreen.
The template is a new game and it is too important to play at with existing political and Whitehall machinery. I see no evidence whatever that this new government has a plan, purpose or even a clear objective in delivering SUG as it needs to be. Someone of Dirichi character, temperament, knowledge, experience and strength of personality who is, perhaps, outside of godfathers political boundaries just could be the choice to make. Highly controversial, I accept. But we’re living in a very different world to any we’ve experienced before.
For the love of Zikites
In the spirit of Aluta
#Team better zikites SUG
