Gibril,
     This post is very interesting. It is more so that you are not talking
about systems, but political realities. The systems put in place the
mechanisms that evolve the state machinery of power and governance. The
character of this dispensation, and the characteristics of the people who
guide its orientation, more or less speaks about the political reality you
have fathom. The reason also, why politics is not only about power, wealth
and prestige as you rightly stated, but also about interest.

    There are motivations that dictate the course of many a struggle; the
course of many political struggles. It is true that people may be united
against a common enemy, but the fact of the matter remains, that all
political struggles are motivated by interest. Within the course of a
political struggle, when the interest that are represented becomes more
apparent and spelt out, this is where people who even share the same platform
start to struggle against each other. This is where they also solicit the
support, and appeal to the sentiments of those who share their interest. This
is where they promote and sustain the interest of the groups they represent.
This is fundamental to the political reality you exposed, and it shaped our
relationships as a people, and as a society. But who are those who genuinely
represent the interest of a people, the interest of their people, in these
political struggles. This is the question.

   Rene

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