LEADERS OR OPPORTUNISTS?

Luis Munguambe Junior"

Where is the leader? This is what we ask ourselves every time we see his faces in the newspapers or hear his rehearsed speeches on television. Is he really a leader or a mere opportunist, using the people’s disillusionment and hunger for change as a springboard to rise up while dragging others down?

The truth is that politics, in many parts of the country, has ceased to be a public service mission and has become an art of disguising personal interests and excessive ambitions. Those who should be the nation’s guides are now figures who feed on the ignorance, problems and hopelessness of the people. They appear on the streets and on the stages of election campaigns as if they were the saviors of the nation. They promise everything, they talk about change, progress and a bright future. But their only real intention is to ensure that their pockets are filled, while hunger spreads, education deteriorates and hospitals collapse.

Where are the leaders who care about the people, their needs, their suffering? Where are those who sacrifice their comfort for a greater cause? If they still exist, they are being drowned out by the shrill sound of empty speeches, by the incessant search for power for power’s sake. And what about the people? The people, in their eagerness for change, follow them blindly, believing that one day, those very same people who deceive them will save their country. But no, what we see is a nation handed over to opportunists who have no intention whatsoever of changing the state of things. They are not serving the country; they are serving themselves.

They become rich, powerful and influential, while their fellow citizens continue to be victims of the system they helped create. The leaders the people need do not care about governing for the common good, but rather about perpetuating their power, about staying on top while the bottom of the pyramid continues to sink. Their strategy? Manipulate the masses, exploit the weaknesses of the population, and offer crumbs while fortunes accumulate in their bank accounts. It is their empty promises that fuel the cycle of disillusionment. Every time they speak, it seems as if they are close to a new dawn, but what awaits them are dark, endless nights. And yet they continue to be revered, they continue to be followed by those who blindly believe that they are more than simple instruments of manipulation. And those who dare to question? They are seen as traitors, as enemies of the nation. For in the land of opportunists, truth is a luxury and courage a weakness. True leaders are those who put the people first, who put themselves on the front line of the battle for justice, for equality, for opportunity. They do not sit in air-conditioned offices while the people fight for survival. They do not hide behind a veil of power to subject others to a fate of misery. They do not talk about change as if it were an empty word, they bring it about. They do not seek applause or recognition; they seek, above all, the well-being of their compatriots. The country does not need more vanity, more inflated egos. The country needs leaders. And these leaders must be those who have the courage to confront the system that sustains them, who have the courage to fight for freedom, justice and the dignity of the people. What we see today, more often than not, are opportunists disguised as saviors. They are not fighting for change; they are only fighting for their next electoral victory, for the next opportunity to accumulate wealth and power. The time to wake up is now. The people need leaders who truly lead, who put the interests of the people above all else, who do not treat the country as a hunting ground, but as a homeland to be honored. Because, at the end of the day, who are we? We are citizens with rights, we are the nation, we are the ones responsible for giving voice to change. We cannot continue to be victims of this farce. We cannot continue to allow opportunists to govern us. We demand leaders, and we demand them now.

2025/12/3