By Donald Georgestone, USA.
Poliitics is like a game of cricket . In the game of cricket ,
you have the batting team , the fielding team , the umpires
and the referee .
In politics, the party in power represent the batting team , and the
oposition party represent the fielding team.
The game is adjudicated by two umpires who make all decisions
on the field and whose words are absolutely final. In politics,
these umpires are the people. They watch , observe and take
note as the game is played and make their decisions on
election day.
The game is also presided over by a match referee , who
watches from outside the field . The referee makes no decision of
relevance to the outcome of the game , but determines penalties
for breaches of various rules and misconduct.
In politics , the Head of the Electorial Commission takes the
place of the referee. He or she makes sure that the election
is conducted fairly and freely according to the constitution.
If the party in power plays well , and play by the rules ,
they will win that inning. The people will vote them in for
another inning , because they are pleased with their performance.
If on the other hand , the people are disatisfied with their
performance , they will be voted out of office .
If the latter be the case , then the party in power should
leave the playing field honourably , get ready to field and
give the other party a chance to bat.
At the same time , this should be a period of reflection for
the party that is voted out of office. They should go back
to the drawing board , see what they did wrong , make the
the necessary adjustments , so that next time around they
would do a better job and win the game.
Since politics is like a game of cricket , I am appealing to
all political parties to show sportmanship in the comming
run off Presidential election.
For the sake of our children , grand children and those yet
unborn , it is time we learn to accept defeat and move forward
with nation building.
We had eleven years of rebel war , we saw the suffering
of our fellow Sierra Leoneans , we do not want another war.
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