5-Year Action Policy Projections for Mbaise USA.

5-Year Action Policy Projections for Mbaise USA.

I have just called Mr. Nwanne to thank him for his services for Mbaise people and Mbaise USA. Politics and especially unpaid public service is a grueling adventure. It is challenging and unless you deeply love your people or actually enjoy being in the public eye I will not recommend it. And so, we all owe a big debt of gratitude to everyone and anyone who is willing to put his private life up there for target practices. It causes frictions in family and marital ties and takes away time from loved ones and close friends. But at the same time it is truly the greatest honor that one is acclaimed worthy by his own people for any leadership position. It is much easier for total strangers to recognize your abilities than it is for your own siblings or indeed your people. As such, we expect all recipients of this privileged trust to execute it to the best of his or her abilities. Congratulations to all outgoing executives and Board members and a big thank you to all those who have been entrusted to lead our organization for the next two years. We all hope you will make us proud.

Mbaise USA has come a long way already. I was intrigued with the level of participation and interests in elective offices. Lots of heavy weights and politics at its finest. Some of the campaigns were a little over the top but sometimes it comes with the territory. That is why I have always advocated for MORE Speech instead of less. The only remedy for bad speech is more; so that right thinking people can correct or call out those who are extreme in their attacks or have misrepresented the facts. There was over personalization of campaign rhetoric and we will all be well served in the future to stay with issues instead of besmirching our opponents. I am also very hopeful that very soon the majority of people will totally discredit anyone in this forum who disguises their identity in order to throw mud. If you cannot stand behind your allegations under your own identity we don’t want to hear anything you have to say because there is the higher likelihood that you are lying or exaggerating the facts.

Elections have come and gone and this is now time to pull ourselves together… One Mbaise Nation fighting to survive together. I am encouraged by what I have read about Mr. Nwanne’s maturity in accepting the voice of our people. He has embraced the new administration and congratulated Mazi Osondu on winning the elections. I have not heard the same from Mr. Mbaise himself. In fact I read in one posting that he is contesting the results of the elections. That will be a very dangerous precedent from a man who is highly regarded in our Community. If the facts as I have gathered them are true that the margin of votes is eight to four against Mr. Mbaise; that Mr. Uwakwe who distinctively served as the Electoral Chairman (a personal friend of Mr. Mbaise) is also from New York Chapter as is Mr. Iwu; and that the candidates had personal observers working with the Returning Officers and electoral Committee, it will be hard to maintain a challenge to the results. I will have my faith that Mr. Mbaise will reconsider his positions and even lend his hand to grooming this new regime. If they succeed, all of us will succeed. Mr. Mbaise I am still waiting for your always entertaining Rating of Conventions for this years in  New Jersey.

But moving beyond the elections and our Convention we need to access the last regime fairly and see if there are any lessons that will make our Union stronger. One of them that jumped out at me as an impartial observer is that our electoral circle is too short. A two year term seems to me too short for any serious contemplation and putting in motion a serious policy initiative for our people. I would advocate to the BOD to consider a minimum three year term for elective offices. The current circle will lend itself to the Presidency pursuing only the most populist agenda because elections are right in the corner instead of effectively mapping out a substantive policy outline that will impact our people the greatest in the long term. It is my believe that the short circle of elections and re-elections is why our Presidents have been overly focused on “the next medical mission” instead of figuring out how to improve on it or even consider if there are any ways to achieve same or similar goals. And so I was extremely disappointed when Mr. Nwanne did not take advantage of the opportunity offered on this forum by Chijike Ndukwe. I am looking for leadership that listens or finds ideas and co-opts them for the good of Mbaise. It would have been a no brainer to partner with Mr. Ndukwe on his Medicaid drug program for Ihitte and extend it to all of Mbaise. It would have taken just the same amount of effort, resource allocation, sourcing and commitment to put Mr Ndukwe in charge of an Mbaise Drug Medicaid program to benefit every elderly person in Mbaise. This singular policy would have freed us of the enormous responsibility and expense on an annual medical mission. It is perhaps time to formulate a standard operating process for Mbaise USA to partner with Private Charities operated by our indigenes. If we have processes in place to require that elected officers cannot personally benefit or be paid by a private charity, it may be for good that Mbaise can partner with an already established charity in a particular area of interest to serve our people. On the other hand we can as well tap in to the expertise and personal training or work of our citizens to help us fund raise or think tank in their areas of expertise or service for our people.

There is as well another serious consideration I am recommending to the new Executive and BOD Meeting for consideration … As we know, our cultural bias makes it difficult for the majority if not all of us to be opposed to any form of Insurance option for permanent disability or death benefits. In fact for many of us if our spouse dares to bring up the topic the first thought process flashing in our mind is “hmm, it looks like this woman wants to kill me and enjoy the money”. We can use our numbers to cover every Mbaise Person for pennies on the dollar. This will be easy to fund too. I promise you that every Mbaise family will be happy to pay an extra $5.00 monthly levy to their local affiliate and this gets remitted to the National Mbaise USA Administration. If the National Executives offer our respective Mbaise citizens a death or bereavement insurance, and other peace of mind guarantees in Immigration attorney representation, a scholarship fund for our kids or to kids at home who would otherwise be denied access and other catastrophic events, there is no reason our people will not eagerly pay an extra National Benefit Membership levy. This is only an idea in process but I think we can fine-tune it to make it work. It will also build a strong allegiance to our National administration. There are many cost-effective Community or Group benefit programs out there and there is no reason why we cannot explore them. In fact, if we structure it properly, the National administration can guarantee loans or even fund Community Halls for local Chapters on an equitable sharing formula for the proceeds; We can venture into Community Banking or business loan guarantees for members

I want this new administration to be bold and find its own path for delivering for our people. As much as we try to cater to our aging population, we must think of the new and upcoming generation. Mbaise USA can bring leadership in areas like Trade, Confectionary and or Technical education to stem the tide of youth unemployment at home; We have to explore ways to implement a funding program for scholarships in education or Trade and apprenticeship for orphans and poor children. I have called in the past for exploring how we can partner with Churches at home to give aid and comfort to widows and poor women or training in a trade or microfinance for business startups. I want to see us someday invest in our own hospital or health Center. We can start small by sourcing drugs and medicines to the health Centers. If we sound the right tones we can require the local government Chairpersons to build a computer lab at each LGA Headquarters and we can equip those for education and training of our youths. Let every citizen join hands and lend a positive voice or  idea to this new administration. I know that I have given them a lot to chew on. I am not expecting them to buy into any of it but this is an exercise to let them know that our Union has come a long way. Now is the time to be bold, for big ideas and responsible leadership. Our people expect and deserve it. If we build a strong Union, we will have more clout to influence policies and events for ourselves and at home. Let us rally together behind Mr. Osondu and his regime. We will all succeed or fail together. May God Bless us all. May God Bless our homeland, Mbaise. Long Live ala Mbaise.

--------- Charles Abiahu.