J.S. Mill, a political theorist, says that democracy is the only form of governance that can maintain utilitarianism – a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing total benefit and reducing suffering. In the study of governance and its various forms, one will come across what is called the social contract. The social contract in political philosophy is an actual or hypothetical compact, or agreement, between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each. This simply means that the state is responsible for protecting the rights of its citizens, ensuring that the economy is conducive for growth and development so that the standards of living for the citizens will be at an optimum level and in turn, the citizens must carry out their duties and responsibilities to ensure the smooth running of society.
Once the governed or the government breaks
such contract then it can have deleterious effects on the people or the
government. Without a doubt, it is palpable that the government continues to
break the social contract, and thus the utilitarian principle is failing along
the continuum. The national outcry for better governance and management of the
affairs of the country has become such a cliché. The evidence is there. Most of
the people think that politicians are corrupt, and that the country is not
being managed effectively. The debate of old vs. young in the political arena
is something we ought to examine carefully. The apologetic article “dinosaurs
are people too”, seek to defend the notion that age should not be the major
concern but the performance of a politician, of which I concur.
As I read that article, and thought about
the word performance, it brought me back to the idea which cause debate among
the populous – the concept of performance-pay vis-à-vis teachers. The concept
stem from the fact that we have too much failing schools and failing teachers
and if teachers are paid by performance then that would allow them to put out
even more effort in their job. As a teacher in training, I always seek to
defend teachers by showing the impracticality of such a concept. As I reflect
on that ideology, something came to me, why not pay politicians by performance?
It came from the same idea. We want higher the standard of education that
students receive so, pay teachers by their performance. Then I thought to
myself, we want better governance, better representation, and better management
of the country’s affairs. We want to see the economic grow, the debt reduced,
lower unemployment rates, more jobs available, lower crime rates so why not pay
politicians by performance?
I am not oblivious that nowhere in the
world politicians are being paid by performance. But maybe if that was the case
we wouldn’t have so much failing economies. The people need hope; the man at
street level is finding it difficult to make ends meet. I declare that if
politicians were being paid by performance, Gordon House would be almost empty!
