IRRESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP AND THE DENIAL OF TRUE DEMOCRACY

SUMMARY

Democracy is a system of government that guarantees freedom for the masses and ensures that the poor people’s welfares are taken care of regardless of class and beliefs. Failure of leadership has however posed a serious challenge to the place of democracy in Africa. Osundare’s Random Blues identified irresponsible leaders as a threat to dividends of democracy. This study points attention to manipulated processes that produce incredible leaders that are responsible for retrogression in society. It also draws attention to the outcome of a conscientised masses. Osundare’s Random Blues is written such that it highlights the dangers of manipulating democracy. For example, itpoetically reveals that the use of thugs and violence to win election foreshadows bad leadership. The crops of leaders presented in the collection of poems under study are weaklings who solely depend on the use of force to gain public offices. The bitter politics of Old Western Region during the “Penkelemes” politicians’ days is alluded to. The politicians of that era see politics as a do-or-die affair therefore they use thugs to find their ways to public offices. Osundare’s Random Blues indicts the first and second generation leaders as evil men in power. They exploit the downtrodden by using them as political mechanism through which they enthrone themselves into public offices. Marxist theory employed in this study clearly reveals two 44 classes of people in society. The leaders and the led, the poor and the rich and the mighty and the lowly are revealed. The poems in the collection reveal that most African societies are not balanced because a set of privileged people lord it over others that they keep in yokes of servitude. This is a societal challenge that Marxist stands against.