Cross-carpeting
occurs in a political setting or environment where there is a movement or
“decamping” of party members from one political party to another.
Sometimes this movement or decamping may involve a large number of political
party members or sometimes it may involve just a few. But the issue of concern
is why they leave their party to another party in the first instance.
Edo
State governorship election commences just in a month and a few weeks and the
state has witnessed a lot of decamping activities by political party members.
These decamping activities have been significant between two major political
parties in the state, which are the People Democratic Party (PDP), and the All
progressive Congress (APC).
This
mass movement from one political party to another can arouse certain issues for
the citizens in the state and also for the political party members. I want to
discuss some of the issues that may arise as a result of decamping activities in
the state.
To
begin with, these acts of dumping one party for another by political party
members in the state can lead to a situation whereby the acclaimed or professed
loyalty and love of these politicians who are involved in these decamping acts
are questioned and laid down for scrutiny. To explain, these politicians were
once members of a political party before they decided to make a change to
another party, but while they were in their former parties, they professed love
and loyalty to that party, its members, agenda and structures.
This
professed loyalty and love is now being thrown to the wind in their bid to join
another political party where they would profess thesame love and loyalty which
they declared in their former party. The rhetorical question therefore is: “were
they truly loyal to their former parties or was it just pretense all along?”
That is a question that only these politicians
have the answer to. In addition, these decamping acts may also lead to a
situation whereby there is distrust among members of the same political party
in the state. To illustrate, when these decamping activities become rampant in
the state among political party members, there is bound to be distrust among
members of the same political party. The seed of distrust is automatically drawn
into their minds against their fellow party members because they now think that
any of their party member can leave that party for another party at any time
when the opportunity presents itself.
This
is worrisome because these political party members are also citizens of the
state and if they do not genuinely trust and love each other, it suggests that
there is little or no love among the citizens of the state and this is not good
for progress.
Above
all, decamping activities can also lead to lack of trust and confidence in the
system of government by the citizens of the state. In the same vein, the
citizens of the state are liable to start seeing these decamping activities by
politicians in the state as an act that is done mainly for their own interest
and not for the interest of the state. This will lead to lack of trust and
confidence in the government of the day by the citizens of the state, since
they now feel that those that are occupying positions of authority in
government do not have them in mind.
This
is a matter of concern because the citizens are a major feature of the state, and
without the citizens there would be no state or government. In conclusion,
cross-carpeting in the state, especially when it is done in large numbers can
create certain issues for the state, its citizens and also its government. To
curtail these decamping activities, these politicians who are members of
various political parties should work towards resolving any issue that may
arise within the party to cause disunity in the party and not see decamping as
the only way to resolve the issue.
Since
there is no family or friendship that does not have moments of disagreements, but
they are resolved amicably in most cases. Also, these political parties should
put measures in place to discipline any party member that would want to create
mischief by disturbing the peace of the party by creating problems for the
party with irrelevant matters. When these party members are found out they
should be dealt with according to the party’s laid down laws. With these
measures in place, decamping activities in the state would be reduced or
totally eradicated in the state.
Isaac Ologbosere writes from Benin
city, Edo state. 08128362829.
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