Good Luck to British Parliamentary Hopefuls, Chuka Umunna and Kemi Adegoke

Just last week, Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, went into Buckingham palace to secure a formal right from the British Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II, to announce the date for the next general elections in the country.
After a meeting of about 45minutes between the monarch and the highest political office holder in the UK, the latter drove down to his office at the popular No. 10 Downing Street to make a public announcement, before a pool of anxiously waiting newshounds, of the date, May 6 2010, for the general elections.

There is no doubt that it was a piece of news the British public has been keenly anticipating, especially political aspirants who have been girding up their loins for a while, to present a new set of manifestoes and agendas for electorates in order to win their votes into various positions.

No sooner had the electoral timetable been rolled out than the leaders of the three main political parties, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, of Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat respectively, began their campaign activities which are planned to continue throughout the country till the date of the election.

The forthcoming elections have been predicted by many close watchers and political analysts in the UK to be keenly contested, challenging as well as fun-filled; an expectation, which has given rise to the speculation of a hung parliament in decades, at the end of the electoral exercise. A wide range of issues have contributed to these assumptions, which are Britain’s economic recovery plan, unemployment, policy on tax, NHS, immigration, poverty, violent crime and ethnic minorities engagement in governance, to mention a few.

The first ever leaders’ live television debate has been introduced for the election, an initiative that is hoped would enable the electorates to meticulously choose the kind of leader that should be voted to drive the affairs of their country. One particular point of this election, which looks really fascinating to me, is the seemingly changing face of British politics in relation to the numbers of candidates from different ethnic minorities that have been brought in by the leading political parties for representations at various elective posts. From Labour to Conservative parties, politicians from ethnic minorities have received unusual unanimous nominations for positions, even as parties’ parliamentary standard bearers!

This development has been a subject of divergent views; while a section of the public argues that it is a mere political shenanigan by the parties to win minority votes as a collateral advantage, others are of the opinion that the emerging political balancing is the new irresistible status of Britain as multicultural and tolerant society. I am particularly gleeful to see two candidates, Chuka Umunna and Kemi Adegoke, both of whom are of Nigerian extraction, representing the two leading political parties in Britain; Labour and Conservative.

Chuka Umunna is a brilliant and articulate employment lawyer who continues to enjoy publicity in the British media, as he is often mentioned as a likely replica of an Obama political figure in the UK. Chuka Umunna is Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham in the next elections. The vibrant youthful politician, Chuka, has recently expressed his deep concern alongside Britain’s Foreign Minister, David Milliband on the political situation in Nigeria, especially on issues around the sickness of Nigeria’s President, Umaru Yar’adua, which is shrouded in secrecy. Chuka has reeled out his alluring manifestoes to the electorate in Streatham and its constituency areas, which he has emphasised to be his priorities if elected into the parliament.

Kemi Adegoke, on the other hand, will be representing Conservative party as the party’s parliamentary candidate for Dulwich and West Norwood. No doubt, eyebrows have been raised, especially amongst some Black and other ethnic minority people in the UK on Kemi’s preference for Conservative, a political party that is perceived to have apathy for ethnic minorities.  But the highly cerebral systems analyst and lawyer, Kemi Adegoke, will never cease to underscore the weakness of such perception, as she always states that her nomination to represent Conservative in the parliament stands contrary to such notion.

The proactive young female politician also has in her kitty a wide range of beneficial policies for her constituency. Kemi, in a recent interview with Checkout magazine, said she got her political inspiration from the former British First Female Prime Minister and Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher, a huge political figure who will go down in the world’s political history as the most pragmatic female politician ever produced by British politics.

Miss Adegoke and Chuka Umunna are certainly on their journey to making history in a lot of ways, especially as the first individuals of Nigerian heritage to be elected as Members of Parliament in the UK. Though I am sandwiched between the two different constituencies represented by these illustrious British politicians, my voting right does not extend beyond Streatham, my constituency, where Chuka Umunna represents.

I am, however, going to drum up support for these wonderful fellows in their various constituencies where I know a number of people, not only because I am a friend to both of them; but because they represent the enormous potential and capability of my generation, and the fortitude of people of my age bracket.

I can only wish Chuka Umunna and Kemi Adegoke a Good-luck at the moment, while hoping that the politicians in a country presently and providentially led by a man called Goodluck would borrow a leaf from British politicians, by using the valuable capacity of their younger generation as a resource for national development and economic growth, and not for political thuggery and societal violence that seem to have taken the order of the day in Nigeria.
  
Lekan Fatodu is the Publisher/CEO of Checkout magazine and dimp.tv, UK.

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