By Edgar Benjamin
Hippocrates nicknamed the father of Medicine, was born on the Greek island of Kos.
He studied medicine under his father Heraclides. In his early life, he traveled extensively, practicing medicine and also teaching.
In the later days, he founded the Hippocratic School of Medicine and has authored numerous medical texts, including the famous The Hippocratic Corpus.
Hippocratic Corpus are oaths and laws that govern the code of ethics for physicians and guidelines for medical practice.
The Greek physician Hippocrates born 460 BCE and died 370 BCE is the first physician to recognize Cancer as a distinct disease.
Cancer is a complex and multifaceted disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth, invasion and metastasis.
It is a group of diseases marked by Abnormal cell division and growth leading to tumor formation and invasion of surrounding tissues.
Politically we have a cancer as a group of Politicians marked by fractionalism and divisions in the political parties and institutions.
And most of these divisions have grown to be tumors and total invasion of the principles and values of the founders and ideological background.
When political parties are experiencing fractionalism and divisions a lot of factors such as unity and development are all compromised.
The growth of hatred in our political arena mostly in our modern world today has caused more harm to innocent people and their lives have been ruined by politicians and their decision-making processes.
Political Cancer is a metaphorical term that I have used to understand the harmful and destructive elements within our present political arena.
This cancer has threatened a lot of stability both in Political institutions and Government.
The most destabilizing infection of Political cancer is corruption and ignoring the effects of corruption until the whole society has collapsed.
We also have polarization, which is the extreme divisiveness and social fragmentation within our political parties and institutions.
Our political institutions have been weakened by ignoring our values and principles.
Mostly we have violated our ideology and constitution because of emotional thinking and attachment to certain individuals and groups.
The cancer in most politicians is self-enrichment using people’s power and trust they have given you as a leader.
We have witnessed most politicians putting more energy and resources concentrating on power and suppression of other fellow members and supporters.
It’s now a normal day when they are ruled by a small elite, who use money, food, and handouts to manipulate the poor and those who are loyal to the principles and ideals of the organization’s ideology and constitution.
Within our political parties and institutions, there is growing inequality where those who don’t have will always have to live at the mercy of those who lead.
When Political cancer manifests we witness Economic decline, where everything else is stagnant and there is the erosion of public trust and confidence leading to political isolation towards the larger group.
It is very important to strengthen our political parties and institutions by allowing independent decision-making processes and not taking those with different opinions or ideas as enemies.
It’s very important to promote discussions and political debates within our political parties and protect the values and principles of the political party.
Ideological Education and inclusive decision-making should be encouraged at all levels within a political party. On any disagreements let’s foster constructive dialogue and respectful disagreements in our political parties.
Discovering political Cancer within our political organizations is a complex and evolving process that needs to enable a cancer diagnosis.
Let’s always do away with political Cancer-causing substances such as hero-worshiping and constitutionalism.
Let’s develop our treatment of spreading political Cancer by avoiding divisions and fractionalism.
By EDGAR BENJAMIN
- political and social Commentator and Analyst
- author and founder of the 7-day Theory..19-10-2024!