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Between Machiavelli And Macbeth: What Are President’s Mill’s Worst Fears?

By Benjamin Tawiah
Sat, 20 Jun 2009 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version
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There are three types of fear: The fear of the known, the fear of the unknown and the fear of not knowing what to fear. And, perhaps that is the most dangerous thing to fear. Former United States Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, puts it even more poignantly: There are known knowns. That is there are things that we know that we know. And there are known unknowns - the things we know that we don’t know. Then, there are unknown unknowns: the things that we don’t know that we don’t know.

A politician ought to fear something-necessarily; it is part of the rules, which by the way, Rumsfeld advises, shouldn’t be more than ten. Macbeth’s worst fear was failure. That also happens to be every politician’s common fear. “If we should fail-?” he asks. The assurance from Lady Macbeth was instantly reassuring: “We fail. But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail.” How do we get to the sticking place in modern politics? It often takes some tactics and manoeuvring, among them the Machiavelli. The philosopher might not have exactly intended the modern interpretation of the theme of The Prince, probably his most popular work, but many politicians today are eager to justify the end of nearly everything with the means. Machiavelli used the story of The Prince to call for unity in Italy and also end foreign intervention. The main idea was that princes should maintain firm control over their territories, and that they should employ all available means, including deceit, to realise this goal. This was in 1513, when public opinion did not wield the power it commands today. Still, Macbeth and Prince needed some public endorsement to exercise the full extent of their power.

In modern times, Barack Obama has identified four stages of fear that most politicians go through: Denial, anger, bargaining and despair. The rules differ from country to country, and person to person, but in the long run, there is something to be afraid of, even if it is fear itself. Last week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for an inquiry into the Iraq war, to see what lessons can be learnt. He insists the objective is not to apportion blame. So far, the British people have not used the word witch-hunt. The announcement has provoked a lot of commentary from the conservatives and the liberal democrats, as well as civil society organisations, but the ‘ghost’ of Tony Blair has been made to rest. It is no so much the person who defied public opinion to commit troops to fight a needless war; the focus seems to be the circumstances of the war and lessons that could be learnt. Yet, this is a war that has killed 179 British citizens, a top civil servant committing suicide, leaving many Britons traumatised for life. Billions have been wasted.

Is Gordon Brown calling for the inquiry because he fears something? Does he fear the same thing that President Fiifi Mill’s fears? What are President Mills’ fears? Are they known or unknown? Or, perhaps, he doesn’t know what to fear, except the unusual feeling that there is something in the womb of time that could prove fearful with age. His main fear may even be a certain Lady Macbeth, who, in this drama, is a Man. He has since the return of the NDC to power, been calling for a cracking of the whip. Besides, it sits well with history that security agencies must invite people for friendly chats whenever there is a change of government in Ghana. Often, those who do not survive such investigations are sent to prison. The previous NPP government sent a few talents of the then opposition NDC to prison. The former First Lady had questions to answer regarding losses brought on the state through corruption and sheer mismanagement of national resources. Other prominent people, including Tstatsu Tsikata, received an anadiplotic form of justice that saw him sentenced, jailed, and then pardoned almost immediately thereafter, as if to say that he wasn’t jailed at all. There were a few others who were named and shamed, jailed and then shamed forever. If the cracking of the whip was inevitable then, to promote a certain agenda of positive governance, then it would appeal to those whose bottoms were whipped to also try a few strokes.

Here, too, Machiavelli could be invoked to explain the situation. He tells the Prince “The first way to lose your state is to neglect the art of war; the first way to win a state is to be skilled in the art of war.’ Lately, some appointees of the former NPP government have been receiving invitations from the Bureau of National Investigations for questioning. Former Chief of Staff, Kwame Mpiani and a few others have so far had their turn. The most recent incident involved a former Minister of the Kufour administration, Asamoah-Boateng, who was prevented from boarding a plane with his family to the United States on a family holiday. His mother died a day after that. His wife, who faced up to the group of men who had accosted them at the Kotoka airport, is reportedly to be charged for “obstructing justice.” Mr Asamoah Boateng was needed to assist in investigations into the award of a contract to Plexiform Ventures when he was minister. His deputy, Frank Agyekum and an employee of Plexiform have already been questioned.

But perhaps, the worst is yet to come. Last week, Vice-President John Mahama announced the inauguration of a three-member committee of inquiry into the Ghana@50 celebrations in 2007. This time, it may not be the BNI, but a few known faces would answer to Ghanaians how some GH71.70 was used on celebrations that some sections of the population felt were unnecessary, considering the plight of the average Ghanaian. Since then, the secretariat that supervised the festivities has received lots of public criticism, in some cases, ridicule, with some Ghanaians openly accusing it of misapplying the funds in an extravagant showcase of wasted state resources. A recent Auditor General report faults the secretariat of overspending and undertaking some commitments without parliamentary approval. Most of the Jubilee projects have been abandoned. And to date, just one of the 25 Jubilee toilets has been completed. Surely, there are more questions than answers, and the committee of inquiry may have a lot to deliberate on.

Even though he was said to have made the notorious prescription that a holder of political office should employ whatever means to make expedient what was necessary, Machiavelli himself was a moderate fellow. He did not see too much in too little; he took government for what it was, and the form it usually takes, not the ideal we want to see. In the long run, what are these investigations meant to achieve? If President Mills decides to be a Macbeth, then he would like to see all those who stand in the way of progress and development dealt with. The sort of punishment does not matter; they just need to be out of the way, just like Macbeth killed to stay on. But if he prefers to be a Machiavellian, then he would be employing tactics, spin and sheer intimidation to show how power works. Either way, he cracks the whip, just like his predecessor. But how does that sit with his style of governance? What does it say about his person and his government? So far, Ghanaians know President Mills, but do they know so much about Mills the President?

John Atta Mills is not very difficult to categorise. Even when he pretends to sound tough, his very peaceful nature betrays his willingness to compromise. Yet, we know we haven’t quite explored the full extent of his patience. He could be difficult to contain when he goes ballistic, but we are sure he wouldn’t lose his cool anytime soon. Between Machiavelli and Macbeth, he is not as easy to fix as George Bush Jnr, who, perhaps typifies the metaphor in the comparison more than anybody else. If the Florida election was the Machiavelli that brought him to power, Iraq did his Macbeth pretty fine. Not John Mills. He hasn’t done much to dispel the ‘Be your own man’ fear, but suddenly, nobody is talking about it. It is quite obvious that he is in charge, even though the forces behind him seem to be working for his good. He is gradually holding things together firmly, even if his hands are jittery. There is nothing enigmatic about him; he is just a president trying to do something, like all the others.

Still, there is something unusually good about President Mills. For the first time in the last 40 years, we are able to divorce the personality of a political party from the person of the President. In Kufour, we saw a fine NPP President of the republic, but Mills doesn’t wear the party on his sleeves. When he says he will be president for all, it is not difficult to believe him. And perhaps, that is why he won the elections. Nana Addo, as presidential candidate, was only another face of the NPP, but Mills was a breath of fresh air who gave the impression, albeit, very mildly, almost morbidly, that he would give the country a new direction in leadership. Despite the huge party support, especially at the grassroot level, the win was more his win than the NDC as a party. So, when Kwesi Pratt recently said on a TV talk show that he trusted Mills to be a more modest and honest man than Nana Akuffo-Addo, we could associate with the difficulty with which he made those statements, as he had known the two men in very personal capacities, but it also communicated a certain virtue that people have always known Mills to possess. So, Ghanaians expect President JEA Mills to be different, at least in style. He can neither be Machiavelli nor Macbeth, scheming or killing to get things done. He must be Mills.

What are President Mills’s greatest fears? He went through the stages of fear that President Obama identifies with political organisms. Having been denied the presidency by Ghanaians on two occasions, his third try wasn’t tipped to earn him the highest office. The challenging periods had seen him bargain with his health and peoples idea of the state of his wellbeing, like Nigeria’s Yar’Adua. His latest bid for the NDC flagbearership was met with a contest from other promising hopefuls. It hadn’t been a particularly heroic journey to the Castle, but in end, his surprising win may have justified the means. But, now as President, Ghanaians expect to see him deliver on his campaign promises. His government is not as lean as he promised. His pledge to review the tax component on petroleum products has not been fulfilled. Instead, there is a 30% increase in fuel prices. Women do not have a fair representation in his government. And he has recorded his Insha Alla moment in Mubarak in just about the same time that Mallam Issah became Kufour’s first black sheep. He may have awarded himself 80% on his 100 days, but now Ghanaians may be wondering whether that score didn’t have a Machiavellian motive.

Benjamin Tawiah, Ottawa, Canada
Email: quesiquesi@hotmail.co.uk

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