Power And Its Encumbrances

Power has been there since the creation of man. From the prophets such as Moses to Judges, to kings and the last bus stop- democracy.

Sweet as power is, it has its encumbrances or excess baggage which have been haunting those in power and eventually lead to their downfall.

I will try to paraphrase a literature book called Macbeth which i read about 40 years ago in secondary school days to situate the encumbrances of power.

Fenny J Fwa

Power from demonic forces

A lot of people come to power having acquired it from satanic forces. Macbeth a loyal fearless soldier of King Ducan was deceived by witches to violently take over power by killing the king. Satanic powers come along with disastrous consequences. They give power with the right hand and used the left hand to brutally take it. The witches saw him and said all hail the king. That he shall become king, but with a caveat that no man born of woman will ever defeat him. And he could only be defeated “until Birnam woods (forest) comes to Dumsinane." They also urged him to be bloody, bold and resolute.

Well he eventually had to pay dearly for the blood of the slain King. When they were fighting with Macduff he boasted that no man born of women could defeat him. It was there that Macduff revealed how he was born “let the angel whom thou still hast served tell thee that Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped (equivalent of Caesarian section)."Earlier when the forces of Macduff was coming to fight Macbeth as they approached the forest of Birnam woods, the soldiers were instructed to cut of branches of the wood to disguise their numbers and Macbeth was in Duninane waiting. So when the soldiers were advancing, it appeared as if the Birnam was moving to Duninane, the position of Macbeth. A report reached Macbeth that the Birnam forest was advancing and that sent fear in Macbeth which confirmed the two prophesies of the witches. This totally demoralized Macbeth and coupled with the death of his devilish wife. It therefore became easy for Macduff forces to decapitate Macbeth forces and for Macduff to kill him and carry his head to the new king. Power mongers be wary of powers acquired from demons. They will definitely come back to consume you.

Being wary of the companionship while in power.

In power be wary of the close company you keep. When Gen Murtala Mohammed was swearing the newly appointed 12 military governors in 1976, he titled the speech a man is known by the company he keeps." That they should be wary of bad company who will prod them to commit all kinds of atrocities against the state. The greatest undoing of Macbeth was the bad company he kept with witches and and Lady Macbeth. But for these two people, he wouldn't have forcefully acquired power which turned up to be his albatross. Lady Macbeth was a very strong character, vicious, inhuman and more ambitious than her husband. She used women's trickery, persuasive and manipulated skills to convince her husband to murder king Ducan. So even in power be wary not only of your friends, but even your wife as the wife of Macbeth contributed to his disgraceful and violent downfall. Today a lot of leaders are derailing because of bad counsel from close associates. Several First Ladies out of office and now in office were/ are accused of this.

Hypocrisy and betrayal.

Hypocrisy and betrayal had contributed to leaders reading the lips of close associates wrongly. Remember king Ducan trusted his friend Cawdor who organized a rebellion against him, but Macbeth determined efforts and sheer bravery crushed the rebellion. Macbeth was to later betray king Ducan who also had absolute confidence in him. Because of the hypocrisy which Cawdor showed as being loyal while plotting his downfall, Ducan uttered this sublime character trait that had compounded human existence: hypocrisy and treachery. “There is no art to find the minds construction on the face. He was a gentleman on whom i built an absolute trust." Those in power look around, you will find so many hypocrites and treacherous people that will be your undoing when you need them most.

In concluding this piece, let me leave you with this profound statement of Macbeth on the emptiness of life that we are killing, persecuting and undermining each other for. He had already lost his wife and was about to lose power" life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." That was the calamitous and disastrous end of Macbeth as he was hallucinating. “Macbeth has murdered sleep and Macbeth shall sleep no more" and he slept no more. And it shall come to pass those that are murdering sleep ie leaders that are using the state apparatus to mercilessly kill innocent people because of the acquisition of temporary power, they too shall sleep no more. It's a matter of time.

By Fenny J. Fwa