The Grass-Cutting Governor: My Take

To every event, there are two sides; the positive and the negative. What one sees depends on the angle of view.

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq rather than going on a grass-cutting expedition could have sat confidently, conveniently, and authoritatively in the comfort of his office, order his CPS to issue a statement or mobilize media practitioners to the government house reading before them a prepared speech that read thus.

"Distinguished Kwarans, most importantly, parents, guardians, and school authorities. I recently observed that our schools have been taken over by weeds and grasses as a result of about 7 months of mandatory lockdown order imposed on us by COVID-19 pandemic exigencies. However, now that we are set to resume, as a caring leader and parent, I can't stand it while watching our children resuming into grasses and weeds hijacked school environments. It is on that note that while the government is working on steps to address the situation through the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, I hereby enjoin you all to take responsibility for clearing the bushes in our schools. Remember, public facilities belong to all of us and we must not leave their management to the government alone. Thanks." 

With the above speech, newsmakers and sellers would make patronage out of it and life would move on. However, to me, it is like a leader showing the way. 

The other possible approach is what the governor chose and it seemed not to augur well with many elites analyzing governance on the streets of social media. 

The governor walked around, saw the unfortunate situation, went home, and thought the first thing to do is to demonstrate it to the people that we are all stakeholders in the Kwara project. Then after, he went to one of the bushy schools yesterday with a cutlass to cut the grasses albeit for some minutes. To me what he demonstrated was leading by example through simplification of the office he is occupying. The governor on many occasions has tried to show that he belongs to the people, high and low.  He always shows that he is one of the led with the privilege to be the leader, thus he must let them feel it truthfully and in real sense. Such efforts acceptability is a subject of debate and will continue to be especially amongst us the elite with the privilege of the portfolio on social media. 

What Gov. Abdulrahaman wanted to prove is that, he is not too big to cut grass. At least grass cutting with cutlass and or Langa-Langa is not a big deal in our society, maybe not amongst the privilege. He tried to show also that we all have roles to play in making our society better no matter how little. We may all not agree, the government action was an inspiration to many that witnessed it. We have all heard of a  MILAD, I think Col. Latinwo or so, we heard of how he used to jump over the fences of public institutions to observe situations going on there. A grass-cutting governor is an addition to our polity. Why I think his action was an inspiration, I heard from the short clip someone saying "...we shouldn't allow the governor to cut the grass, we should do instead."

The publicity aspect of the show. One, it is hypocrisy to expect any action from a public figure not to attract media attention not to say a serving governor. Another thing, we are in the era of what I am calling 'Android Journalism'. Every smartphone user is a potential cum accidental reporter if not a journalist. One Yoruba proverb said 'Ki eegun o wọle ki Aja o ma gbo, Kii ṣe gbogbo ara aja lo le gbaa.' This can be translated as "For a dog not to bark on the sight of a masquerade, is not what all dogs can take." This suffices to say that, not every one of us with camera phones and have access to the internet would see a governor cutting grasses and would see nothing worth reporting about. To date, many of us are still in awe anytime we see the governor driving himself. Just a few days ago, I happened to be the news breaker of the governor's attendance at a book launch of a young Kwaran. I did because I was overwhelmed by such humility displayed by his excellency. A governor attending an event of 'daughter-of-nobody' uninvited was a big deal and newsy to me. It may not be a big deal in the advanced world, but, it is no doubt a food for eyes in our clime. We hope to grow over it very soon. 

Truth be told, we can all bear witness that it hasn't been like this before except some hours to politic o'clock. Before now, before you can see a commissioner, you will need to lobby a P.A to P.A to S.A of that individual before you could dream of headway. On many occasions, you got turned down. Otogẹ has indeed brought a change.

Way forward, the event showed that the expected steps to make our schools conducive for learning still remain, but we have announced resumption. Thus, it is imperative for the state government through the two ministries involved - education and environment to swing into actions to arrest the ugly situations before schools commence teaching and learning activities in full. The bashings should be taking in good fate and as calls to bridge the loopholes. 

Importantly, governance should be the responsibility of all. We must all be involved without waiting for the government to do it. What are you doing to make your society better?

Written by Bolaji Aladie