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27.04.2016 Feature Article

Till You Sit On The President’s Seat…

Till You Sit On The Presidents Seat
27.04.2016 LISTEN

From January 14, to May 21, 2007, FOX Television Network released season 6 of Television Series titled, 24. This Television Series, at least, exposed the general public and viewers to tough decisions and challenges governments make especially during terrorist threats and attacks. In this particular season, there was a power struggle between the President, Wayne Palmer and his Vice President, Noah Daniels concerning launching of missiles to the country of a known terrorist, Abu Fayed. There had been devastated attacks by this terrorist, killing hundreds of Americans including an assassination attempt on the President.

The Vice President, who was then executive presidential functions, ordered for the launching of missiles to retaliate the actions of the terrorist on American lives. The President who was in coma had to be brought out of coma to abort the launching of the missiles initiated by the Vice President. The decision of the president to abort the operation did not go well with the Vice President.

The Vice then invoked the 25th Amendment of the Constitution which allows Cabinet to vote on the capacity of the sitting President. Though there was a tie, which qualified the sitting President to continue to act as the President, the Vice contested the validity of one of the cabinet members which was to be determined by the Supreme Court. The desperation of the Vice made the President stated that he would not allow the Vice to steal the Presidency.

Eventually, the Vice had opportunity to act as President due to health condition incapacitating the sitting president. As events continue to unfold and tough decisions ought to be made, the Vice President really came to the understanding that indeed, there is a difference between being a Vice President and President. He confessed, it is easy to know all the answers when the ultimate responsibility is not on you, till you sit on the President’s seat, you don’t know anything.

In many instances, we find what the Vice President discovered about sitting on the President’s chair to be true. At times, we believe we can do better when given the opportunity. We tend to have the ideas and prove beyond reasonable doubt that we are more capable of executing functions and showing great level of leadership when vying for a position. The same zeal, promising ideas, convincing manifestos and commitment to serve easily evaporate when given the opportunity. The statement is still true, till you sit on the president’s seat, you don’t know anything.

In our current world, we have witnessed people who criticized coaches and provided welcoming solutions but when they were given responsibilities, they performed far worse than their predecessors. In the family setting, children make resolutions and even demonstrate to be better fathers and mothers than their parents when they grow up but became worse off parents. This is true in almost every aspect of our lives. Things seem different when no responsibilities are laid on you. During such moments, it seems you have the eyes to identify every problem, you have the brains to provide solutions to all the problems and you have the power to implement all your solutions. As soon as the mantle of authority is placed on your shoulders, you lose sense of direction. The statement still holds, till you sit on the president’s seat, you don’t know anything.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.” This is true. Either people who tagged you as incompetent during your candidature will now see you as competent after your tenure of office or become fully convince even beyond reasonable doubt that their knowledge of your incompetency was just the tip of an iceberg. There are invisible and indescribable forces associated with power that make you powerless though you have been entrusted with power. Most leaders attest to this fact. Till you sit on the president’s seat, you don’t know anything.

It is not a joke to bear responsibility of over 26 million people. In fact, people are being crashed for just bearing the responsibility of one child. As a country, we need to value the position of our presidency and therefore be more mindful of the type of people we put them there. We, therefore, need to support and respect those we put on the president’s seat irrespective of our political affiliations. The power to excel on the seat of the Presidency goes beyond winning elections. It is about the type of hearts your people will support you with while you sit on the seat.

My message to the president and those who are aspiring to become future presidents of this country is what the Bible says in Romans 13:1b, “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God”. You need to acknowledge God as the source of the power you wish to seek and he alone can help you perform your responsibilities. The success of every office depend fully on humility and humility is the measure of your total dependency on God.

If there is an opportunity to demand something from your people whom you are serving, then it is their prayers, for with that, you can do all things. Man is more spiritual than physical. In my personal observation, I have discovered that the willingness of citizens to support their president with prayers has a direct correlation with the performance of the sitting president. The more citizens pray for their president, the greater his inputs. The more a president becomes honest with his people and seeks support through prayers, the more willingly they do so to support him.

The power to excel on presidential seat is not bound to how knowledgeable a person is, rather it is connected to how one unifies and garners support through prayers from his people. With this, it doesn’t matter how deplorable the state has become, you will acquire divine wisdom and power to move this country forward. The presidency is not a matter of words, campaign promises, academic qualification, number of experiences, age, color of your skin, height, tribe nor fame. It is about how much sincere and willing prayers you are able to garner from your people to support you. Till you sit on the president’s seat, you don’t know anything but prayer support from your people can make great difference and make you excel.

Jeffery Amo-Asare

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