Somebody might say that it is Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s ‘business’ to choose his new cabinet the way and manner he wants; after all, we have been talking, writing and making suggestions on how to move Rivers State forward, but such efforts lack major implementation in his administration.
They say, one beaten, twice buffoonery. Amaechi should eschew any form of sentimental perception by bringing in men and women of reputation into his cabinet. Integrity and honour should be his first priority in selecting those that would work with him. Character qualification is divine but paper qualification without character qualification is mundane. Amaechi has to choose between the two which he feels is most important.
As there are two sides to a coin, it’s a known fact that Amaechi is not selfish when it comes to developmental strides (let’s not talk about the indigenous and non-indigenous dichotomy in Rivers State in his first administration). So, he has no justification in his second missionary journey if he surrounds himself with selfish people whose stock-in-trade would be to buy all the exotic cars in the market and own all the five star buildings in the world, thereby betraying the “leadership to the people” which was why they were called to duty.
The interest of Rivers State should be paramount to the appointees, as this is regarded as a selfless act. Amaechi should wash his eyes proper to avoid appointing treasury looters, who would subjugate the Rivers Masses to untold misery occasioned by their corrupt practices that would mount into piles of mindsore and eyesore activities.
This should be a reverberating suggestion and admonishment to Amaechi; he should not make the mistake in the cabinet members due to party alignment or ethnic oversight. He cannot afford to disappoint the state if he does that. He should make sure that the team now are not going to be those will who “show him” their efforts in the first few months of appointment and spend the rest in laziness and in “looking for trouble” because their bank accounts, they see them as overfed.
Only Amaechi knows what he wants, but only him cannot and will never determine the length and breadth that Rivers State has to go. But if peradventure he thinks otherwise, then he can afford to disappoint Rivers State with self-conceited thoughts which only a fool is at his best.
He should be wary of political jobbers and lobbyist as they are on the prowl. Amaechi should be brave to resist the different discordant voices in the market and pick the ware from the shop or table he likes. By doing so, he can be able to ascertain and have an impeccable but not obsolete goods at hand.
Because they say that the constitution of men are not written on their faces, it is however essential to say that the ability to deliver, by his team, can only be ascertained in the course of their duties. Amaechi should mirror and have an eye among the genuine critics of his government and bring them closer. This is because they are the true lovers he has, and not those praise singers, who see nothing “bad” in his administration, because of the garb of yesmen they wear. Though, every person likes praise, but Amaechi should be very careful in appointing those who never saw any “wrong” in his administration but only “good” for the past three years.
Amaechi should avoid recycling the “old people” in government because newness is one tenet of democracy. Amaechi should appoint “new people” into his government, because new people bring news ideas, but “old people” continue to recycle the already old ideas in circulation in the premises of power.
