I want to share today an insight I gained from listening to a wise old man, who was explaining to a group of us the reason rich men often do not make for good politicians.
In most communities the elders are a great repository of knowledge and wisdom.
This is because of their intrinsic understanding of human nature, and their ability to use this understanding to explain the complex issues of life.
This man, who was perhaps in his mid-seventies, was explaining the difference between a successful businessman and a successful politician.
This is what he had to say.
A successful businessman is one who has managed to multiply his net financial worth by investing whatever resources that he originally had. The benefit of this success accrues to the businessmen’s families and is evident in where they live, how they dress, what they drive, what schools their children go to, what they do for recreation. What is less evident is how much money they have in the bank and what else they own.
A successful politician however is one who has managed with the resources he has access to better the lives of the community which he serves.
This benefit may take the form of better equipped schools or hospitals, increasing access to fresh water and sanitation, enabling development of income generating schemes and ventures for the grassroots population. All this done while ensuring the dignity of his people is not compromised.
The irony of the whole situation, my uncle continued, was that often, the politician’s family must make huge sacrifices to bring about the politician’s success. And such sacrifice is made without any guarantee of re-election by fickle voters come the next elections. This makes the politician's family envy the comfort enjoyed by the successful businessman’s family. The businessman on his part, having achieved the pinnacle of material success, will very often envy the level of recognition and respect that a successful politician is accorded.
In the businessman’s world, the rules are clear; one sells products or services they have acquired to the consumer at a price that is over and above the costs.
But approaching the political arena with this mindset does not necessarily give the results desired. The businessman will want to transact with the voter immediately yet the proof of having secured the vote is in the future.
The certainty required in such a transaction is thus the province of actuarial sciences, which is yet to produce a foolproof formula for success.
Hubris, which is defined as pride that blinds due to previous successes, is another impediment to the successful businessman’s debut into politics. The fact that they might have more wealth than the politician leads them to believe that they are superior.
There have been many aspiring politicians in Kenya, who came from a successful career in business, and assumed that they would have no difficulty defeating the much poorer man who was their chief rival. Only to fail miserably while the “poor man” triumphed.
I have heard of one such rich man who was so bitter of his defeat at the hands of a “poor man” that he then went about asking his campaign agents to refund his money.
Research indicates that 74.4 per cent of people are basically honest, while 19.6 per cent are intermediate liars. The remaining 5.7 per cent are prolific liars.
Studies also show interaction with the voter is eight times more impactful on determining decisions than giving them money.
This may be because the voter also wants respect, which is demonstrated by demanding that which the voter seeker has less of which is time and not money.
This set of circumstances makes for very uncertain conditions for someone approaching politics as a transaction, as he does not have guarantees on whether the transaction shall be honoured, yet the demands on his time and requirement of humility are monumental.
In conclusion, the wise old man said that astute successful businessmen often do not make successful politicians as they are geared to maximising for self and not for the community.
For that reason, if somehow elected they are very often a disaster in waiting.
The writer is a lawyer