TO DEFECT OR NOT TO DEFECT

ACCORDING to the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, one of the definitions of the verb defect is “…desert a cause” or “country.”

The dictionary, on the other hand, defines defection as “…desertion from allegiance, loyalty, duty… apostasy.”

Desertion is a very serious act of betrayal as it amounts to abandoning what one believes in or betraying a common cause of a group or community to which one belongs.

In the case of nationality, it is, in fact, treasonable and punishable by death for one to desert his or her country.

So, how well does defection sit with one abandoning his or her political party and shifting his or her allegiance to another political party?

Well, before answering this pointed question, let us examine what should ordinarily inform and guide one in choosing which political party to belong to and support.

In an ideal political environment, every political party should have an ideology to inform and guide, not only the formulation of its policies and programmes, but also mechanisms for implementing them on the ground.

Broadly interpreted, an ideology is a set of doctrinal beliefs that define and project the identity and actions of a social movement. Implied in this is the understanding that, for one to join a given political party, one must truthfully and unreservedly believe in its ideology.

He or she should believe in and uphold its beliefs and practices to the point of being ready to defend them at all costs. So, to answer the question, defection from a political party should, ordinarily, not sit well with anyone who genuinely and unreservedly believes in and espouses its ideology.

One might argue that it is an inalienable democratic right to shift allegiance from one political party to another. Well, this is only true to a limited extent.

Firstly, when defections become an accepted culture of a country’s political party architecture, opportunities for building and sustaining a credible governance system get compromised.

This is largely because in a political setting that appoints government officials, such as ministers, permanent secretaries and the like from among political party members, some appointments might target people who do not stand for anything.

Secondly, defections (especially unprincipled ones) are not associated with admirable political attributes which those wishing to participate in politics by joining political parties can emulate.

This is especially true of the youth who are desirous of looking up to and treating those already belonging to political parties as role models.