Africa is not being held back by politics. It is being held back by politicking: the moment ambition for the nation is quietly replaced by ambition for the party. It Begins the Moment We Stop Asking What Is Best for the Nation.
There is a distinction that Africa can no longer afford to blur. Politics, at its finest, is among humanity’s noblest pursuits: the art of organising society, balancing competing interests and improving citizens’ lives. Without it, democracies cannot function, and institutions lose their direction.
Politics, properly practised, is indispensable to civilisation itself. Politicking is something else entirely. It begins the moment political survival becomes more important than national survival, when defeating an opponent feels more urgent than solving a problem, when every policy is judged not by whether it improves lives but by who proposed it.
Politics asks: what is best for the nation? Politicking asks: what is best for my side? That single substitution has cost Africa incalculable decades of development.
“Politics builds nations when it becomes a tool for solving problems. Politicking destroys nations when it becomes an end in itself.” NyansaKasa — Words of Wisdom Read that slowly. The same institution, the same parliament, the same election, the same political energy, can either build or destroy depending entirely on whether the people inside it have placed the nation above themselves.
The Elephants and The Grass There is an old African proverb: when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. Today, however, the elephants are no longer fighting over the grass. They are fighting while standing on the very future they claim to protect.
Summary from source