STRIKER: For The Love Of Rules

Rules are popularly defined as guidelines and instructions for doing something right. From the smallest unit of society, the family, all the way to nations and the global stage, rules are made for orderly relations.

Whereas rules may be general and flexible, regulations stringently and specifically detail out the rules, often going further to specify penalties for default.

Whereas most rules are officially written and spelt out, a measure of the backwardness of so-called underdeveloped countries manifests in citizens wanton ignorance and disregards for rules and regulations. A clear demonstration of this is seen in the way instruction manuals for basic household gadgets are thrown away without a glance after purchases; “I Agree” usually cliqued without reading Terms and Conditions; rules of engagement on social media platforms and groups disobeyed relentlessly. Such are the reasons why generator fumes in enclosed environments still kill citizens in their sleep till tomorrow!

If any reader casts his or her mind back in time, since our growing-up days callers-in to radio programmes are warned to move away from their radio sets if they cannot put it off during phone-in programmes. Till today, that same plea is still being made without any end in sight! Wanting to talk to the world on radio and wanting to hear oneself on radio at the same time is a manifestation of the crass opportunism and self-centredness that has come to characterise our lives based on love of shortcuts to gain undue advantages in disregards for rules of engagement and terms and conditions. With the majority of citizens tuned this way, it is only by miracle from above that we can produce service-oriented, law-abiding leaders for any organisation.

This attitude, carried over into politics and governance is at the roots of our endangered democracy, the woeful status of public service institutions, and bad governance, crime and insecurity that obtains today, as fear of deterrent measures disappears in the face of a justice system totally inept; only the most menial infractions are punished, often severely, while the most atrocious crimes mostly go unpunished – that is even when perpetrators are apprehended at all. This is the foundation for a chaotic society stranded in underdevelopment and insecurity.

There are clear rules for political party operations, interparty relations and electoral contests for a healthy and growing democracy. The reason why we forever keep saying our democracy is young, and why it may sadly remain forever “young,” is refusal to “grow” through obedience to rules by all stakeholders. Cutting corners is the general order of the day via the deployment of all sorts of open-secret cons and strong hands. It is what could occasion no less than 150 armed thugs heading for Ekiti in the dead of night for God-knows-what role in a scheduled intra party election!

In a land of serial contempt for the rules by majority of the “leaders” and the led alike, the Israelite’s tortuous and long-winded journey to the Promised Land is a child play compared to what inevitably lie ahead of us. If a change in attitude to rules and regulations will not be championed by the elites who benefit the most from and are less punished by lawlessness, why should it not be championed by organisations of the masses that are the pawns and mainly at the receiving ends of disorder? The sooner we begin, the sooner we will be done.