By Ronald Austin Jr

IT is an opportune time to reflect on the famous moral anecdote, ‘The Sword of Damocles’, brought to our attention by the ancient Greek historian, Timaeus of Tauromenium.

Once upon a time, way back in the 4th century, there was the character Damocles who served in the court of the tyrant Dionysius 2nd of Syracuse, Sicily. Every day he worked for the king with passionate envy and a heart filled with a wish that he could one day sit on the throne of the dictator he served.

He was of the opinion that this was the key to his happiness. Every day he pandered to Dionysius, reminding him that he was a great man of power and authority, surrounded by magnificence. Dionysius decided that he had enough of this constant pleading by his servant who wants to be in his shoes. He agreed to switch places with Damocles for one day but under the condition that a big sword hangs over his head while he sits on the throne, held at the pommel by a single hair from a horse’s tail.

Damocles was told that if he manifested any sign of unhappiness or fear, this will prompt the sword to fall on his head. Damocles quickly accepted this opportunity which he desired his entire life. After a few hours on the throne, he begged to quickly depart, realising that with great power, comes along great danger and fear. The moral of story is, with great perks and responsibility, there is much fear and danger, be careful what you wish for.

There are those who live their sometimes simple, unbeknownst, happy lives with a sense of grudge or disdain for those who hold power, especially in the realm of government. Some are of the view that this is the life of ease and would often opine that the likes of Ministers ‘got it good’. It is only those who sit in the seat can tell you of the stresses of exercising power. It is only those who are within the halls of administration can testify to the worthy battle of trying to deliver a life worth living to the people.

This is no attempt to denude the lives of those who have it rough, it is simply an attempt to show that having more than some does not automatically mean instant happiness. Fighting to see the development of a country that has faced decades of underdevelopment with a difficult geographic terrain can be no facile task. Of course, if you are corrupt or irresponsible with power, this analysis has nothing to do with you.

Let us say I am the Minister responsible for the police force, I come to office filled with a desire to double the salaries of my policemen. I know for a fact that this will lift their morale and will lead to the better delivery of public service. It seems like a straight forward solution. I travel for hours both locally and internationally to consult about my plan. I come up with the perfect plan, I crunch the numbers and I see that it is fiscally possible. I raise the hopes of my security services, they have high expectations.

I finally present my plan to the decision making council, everybody thinks it is good idea. As the debates about my plan ensues, the Minister of Finance cautions about the ‘Domino effect’ and reminds me that international organisations do not lend money to pay salaries and this would have to be funded by raising taxes. The other Ministers demand a raise in the pay for nurses, soldiers, public servants and more. My plan is I dead. I cannot reveal this information to the public because it came from an internal meeting.

The people on the outside have no knowledge of this inside information. I have to face the scrutiny of my service men and the public. I am vilified as heartless and not caring about the people I lead. Ridicule and caricature appear in print and electronic media and my face becomes a subject of memes (distorted pictures on the internet). The sleepless nights start, my family members observe the stresses and ask numerous questions. Disillusionment kicks in and it begins to affect my health. I finally confront the reality of the sage words of William Shakespeare: ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’.

The captain of the ship cannot enjoy the frolic because he/she has to worry if something goes wrong; the coach of the football team has to account for any poor performance and cannot blame anyone, the captain of the cricket team stays in the field with his mind preoccupied with the headlines if the team fails. In some cases, the perks that come along with power and authority do not match the impact on your sanity and health.

This is the burden of leadership and if you do not possess the mettle to have your life constantly disrupted and under constant scrutiny or being blamed for rain, careful what you wish for.