[You must be a Spam VIP subscriber to view this post.]
[You must be a Spam VIP subscriber to view this post.]
The Nexerus
Member
Sui generis
- Last Seen: 4 yrs ago
- Joined: 12 yrs ago
- Posts: 4060 (0.89 / day)
- VMs: 5
-
Username history
- The Nexerus 12 yrs ago
Status
User has no status, yet
Bio
User has no bio, yet
Most Recent Posts
[You must be a Spam VIP subscriber to view this post.]
In
DEMOCRACY: Politics in Samgola [Political Party | Single Nation RP]
→
8 yrs ago
Forum: Nation Roleplay
Democratic Alliance for Reform
Obiang Melembe Nguema sat at his immaculately organized desk, an ornate black pen engraved with his initials in his hand as he looked over a steadily shortening pile of legal documents neatly laid out before him. Obiang's diligent dedication to the work ahead of him belied a cool, relaxed acceptance of his recent promotion to the cabinet; it was an added responsibility that he acknowledged as a genuine reflection of his talent and expertise, without allowing it to at all imbue him with an overconfidence that could affect his psyche, and therefore his work. Obiang's antipathy for self-congratulations did not also extend to an antipathy for criticizing those he had succeeded, however. At the moment, the new Minister of Justice was half way through the documents he'd assigned for himself to complete by the end of the day—which was as much work as his predecessor in the department seemed to have been able to accomplish every week.
The task of taking over the Bureau of Justice held unique challenges, due not only to the fundamental importance of the office, but also the mismanagement it had previously languished under. The SPP's misrule had been a drag on both Samgola's justice system as well as the perceived competency of the Bassong Administration as a whole; it was a lingering issue that Nguema had been sent in to rectify. A Samgolan national with foreign credentials from the legal programs of prestigious Cambridge and Yale, Nguema had been using his status as one of the country's top jurists to criticize the National Regime since well before Rubusana's fall. Predictably, he had been jailed for it, having attracted the president's ire for his opposition to its extralegal actions and spent several years in prison as a consequence He had escaped only because a national militia—one lost to memory—had managed to take over the prison in which he was being held, and granted him freedom. His cold demeanor was unaffected by the experience, but his dedication to individual liberty was strengthened by it.
Nguema was an MNA in addition to his new cabinet portfolio, and was seen as being a leader of the liberty wing of the D.A.R. Technically not an émigré per se, despite his foreign education, Obiang was also a lapsed Christian. His religious beliefs were unimportant to him, though, helping to balance out the sometimes zealous nature of the religious divide in the D.A.R. In fact, Minister Nguema was utterly dedicated to laïcité, and to keeping the protection of liberty as the main function of the justice system. Obiang M. Nguema's diligence and dryness would hopefully be perfect to do away with the laziness and corruption that had plagued his office (and his government's reputation) before his elevation to cabinet. One could only hope, for the country's sake, that it would be so.
Nguema's earliest challenge was the Obagmeni case. Under any other country's justice system, assigning it would be a simple feat, but Samgola's laws were infamously arcane and poorly written—a strain on the country left over from the errors of the Rubusana Administration. Each court's jurisdiction was poorly defined, and delays and fines incurred from bureaucratic mistakes were a serious hindrance whenever cases were misassigned, which happened often. The process was, unfortunately, little better than random chance. Still: a decision needed to be made. Minister Nguema chose to assign Ms. Obagmeni's lawsuit against her employer to State Court, where the typo-ridden court procedures of Samgola specified that cases would be heard relating to "suits wagered(sp) between individuals and other entities". Hopefully, Samgola's grossly ambiguous and wasteful legal system would not claim yet another victim.
Workers employed by the Bureau of Transportation and Urban Development continued their work in Fetima, constructing the news routes of the national highway system that would more permanently and efficiently connect this region of Samgola to the wider economy of the country. Their superiors' superiors had not received any indication to stop or delay or reroute their construction, and so they did not.
Environmentalism was a minority issue in Samgola. Although Samuel Bassong and the DAR did have their connections to ecological groups, their sympathy for the preservation of nature did not exceed Samgola's need to move forward, economically and socially. The Brick & Mortar Act had been a massive success thus far, cutting unemployment and homelessness nearly in half, and permanently increasing the interconnectedness and infrastructural quality of Samgola's national economy. Progress could not and would not be stopped in the interest of saving the trees. A bone could be thrown to the environmentalist movement later on, and in a way that would further Samgola's interests—but it would not be here, and it would not be now.
In
DEMOCRACY: Politics in Samgola [Political Party | Single Nation RP]
→
8 yrs ago
Forum: Nation Roleplay
Democratic Alliance for Reform
The Story of Jayamma Gobeni: Part 2
As a politically connected member of organized labour, Jayamma Gobeni sought to use his prior talents as an agitator for the Revolutionary People's Front of Samgola to maximum effect. The transition was a simple one: he would become a leading enforcer, in charge of ensuring payment of dues by workers and compliance with union action such as strikes and picketing. Drawing from his experience as a ne'r-do-well in Kamidye, Gobeni employed legally questionable tactics aimed at advancing the labour agenda. Though a fundamentally moral man, Jayamma was not above using actions bordering on violence to advance the interests of the working class, and many a scab was given a beating by Gobeni and his compatriots, to defend those interests.
Over time, though, this heavy-handedness came to take a toll on Gobeni, reminding him of why he'd left his criminality behind in the first place. He was determined to set a good example for his daughters, and avoid setting them down a path that would lead them to accept—or even to adopt—violence, as a means to any end. Therefore, Jayamma began to take more conciliatory measures in dealing with organized labour's enemies, making appeals to worker's families and aligning himself with pro-union employers and lawmakers to remove the impetus for free-riding. Mr. Gobeni's new measures proved more effective at endearing the unions to the workers and increasing both enrollment and compliance, and they helped to turn him against the principle of aggressive action. This moderation turned Jayamma's reputation from one of an enforcer to more of a conciliator; a change in hats that made capable his formal entry into the political scene.
Democracy in the old days of the National Regime was a farce, barely existing in any meaningful sense. Elections, when they were held, were far from free or fair, with opposition parties hampered both in the campaign process as well as in the electoral system itself. Rubusana loyalists counted the votes, drew the boundaries and set all the rules. President Rubusana and his cronies won every election in a lopsided landslide—but they still needed an opposition of some kind to exist, to legitimize their rule internationally. Jayamma knew that the opposition had no chance of opposing Rubusana democratically, but he still eagerly campaigned against him, earning support for himself and his ideas, for when the regime fell and the people of Samgola would be free to exercise their democratic will. Gobeni was active in this faux-opposition for years, playing a major role in amounting what opposition he could to Rubusana and his oppressive administration. Only when the People's Front launched their revolt, and the regime's order collapsed, did Jayamma's political career once again evolve.
Gobeni was strongly opposed to the People's Front. To him, they represented the past—an ideology and set of methods that Jayamma had long since laid to rest for himself. He was deeply concerned to see many of his compatriots in organized labour and the opposition side with the People's Front, trading one brutal regime for another and allowing Samgola to fall to civil war. Ever the caring father, Jayamma used what money he had to ensure that his now adult daughters could escape the country, helping his eldest Mmeri to relocate to Paris, and his youngest, Asha, to find refuge in the United States. For his own party, Jayamma retreated to internal exile back in SPF-controlled Nambé, using his connections within Samgola's socialist movement to ensure he would not be troubled by the People's Front, even as he refused to support them.
As the war continued, Jayamma remained in contact with Mmeri and Asha, and was pleased to find both following in their father's footsteps and becoming political active in the émigré community. Mmeri focused on appealing to international organizations, helping (alongside the efforts of countless others) to establish popular support for Task Force Europa, which would eventually enter into Samgola to end the conflict. Asha Gobeni, though—who shared her name with her dearly departed mother—became involved with the Democratic Alliance for Reform. Asha was successful in turning her father Jayamma in favour of the D.A.R., and he became one of Samuel Bassong's main contacts in Samgola, reporting to him from the ground on the conditions in the country and the atrocities committed by all sides involved in the fighting. Although he did not formally join the D.A.R., Gobeni's views came to closely align with theirs, intoxicated as he was by their fervent opposition to continued armed conflict: a position his contemporaries in organized labour, so many of them aligned with the People's Front, did not share.
When Task Force Europa arrived in Kamidye, the war had already begun to wind down, with the National Regime putting the People's Front on their last legs, at the cost of thousands of dead and the ceding of an immense amount of power and authority to the ascendant National Militias. Jayamma Gobeni, turned off from the red flag by its supporters' violent, revolutionary methods, instead decided to join the Democratic Alliance for Reform. He returned to Kamidye, now under the firm control of Task Force Europa, and met the future president Samuel Bassong in person for the first time. Gobeni's campaigning in favour of the D.A.R. in the ensuing election helped turn many of Samgola's urban poor, among them many former socialists, to Bassong's side. He was elected an MNA in his hometown in Ayoullo, and rewarded for his efforts with a cabinet position after Samuel Bassong and the D.A.R.'s victory. Gobeni became Minister of Transportation and Urban Development, a role that allowed him to implement his dream legislation, the Brick & Mortar Act. He is now among the most popular members of the Bassong Administration's cabinet, having played a pivotal role in reversing the unemployment and homelessness crisis thrust upon Samgola by the devastation of the civil war. He is among the most personally popular political figures in the country, and, due to bureau's successes if nothing else, is seen as the number three man in the D.A.R., behind only President Bassong and Prime Minister Yombi. If anything were to happen to either of the D.A.R.'s two main political figures, Jayamma Gobeni would make a worthy successor to either one.
The Democratic Alliance for Reform's reaction to the unrolling of the Gaza Scandal was one of dismay and of disgust. The Samgolan Patriotic Party, once seen as ideological compatriots during the election and as strategic allies during the first period of the administration's governance, had revealed themselves to be corrupt and weak. The Minister of Justice, Inge Gaza, who had long before proven himself to be incompetent, had also testified to corruption, and resigned in disgrace. President Bassong had come down hard on the SPP, calling for the party's dissolution in private talks and making public statements during his tours of Kamidye that sharply criticized its former members.
Asked by a journalist during an event in the capital if he would consider admitting any former SPP members into the DAR, President Bassong responded with strong words.
"The Samgolan Patriotic Party are a disgrace to this country; they have betrayed Samgola, plain and simple. They have been involved in scandal and corruption—near every single one of them—behind closed doors, and I would not trust any one of their number to join the Democratic Alliance for Reform. I am immensely glad that their party has been dissolved. Their kind are exactly what our party is trying to excise from Samgola: corruption and indecency and misrule. I could not imagine any place for any of their former members in the D.A.R. And, I would add, that I am eager to see the future ministers Nguema and Ewanè clean up the messes that the SPP left behind in their bureaus. I have a close relationship and great confidence in Mr. Nguema in particular, and I'm eager to see him demonstrate the excellence of his skill and character in the Justice Bureau."
In
DEMOCRACY: Politics in Samgola [Political Party | Single Nation RP]
→
8 yrs ago
Forum: Nation Roleplay
Democratic Alliance for Reform
The Story of Jayamma Gobeni: Part 1
The Minister of Transportation & Urban Development, Jayamma Gobeni, was an old man with a long history in Samgola. He was from the country's east, born in the slums of Ayoullo, where he'd grown up as the youngest of three sons of a single mother. A bright young boy, Jayamma had worked as a child laborer to put himself through school, learning French and the classical sciences in a preliminary school run by the colonial government established by the France, who were Samgola's imperial overlords in those days. Jayamma was a diligent, quiet student, assertive but friendly, who stuck up for his classmates and endeared himself to his teachers. He had remained largely ignorant to affairs of state and governance until after he had completed his education, when political consciousness was thrust unto him by a climactic event affecting his family.
His eldest brother, Alexandre, had been disgusted with his family's destitution and had become an active participant in revolutionary, anti-imperialist socialism in the country, seeking to overthrow the French to restore liberty and equality to all Samgola. Shortly after Jayamma had graduated, Alexandre was imprisoned, and months later his mother was informed that her son had died in prison. His brother's death in custody hardened Jayamma's resolve, and he soon took his brother's place in the revolutionary socialist organization, the Revolutionary People's Front of Samgola. Jayamma served as an agitator for the RPFS, recruiting his friends and neighbours in Ayoullo to bolster the organization's membership in Nambé province. As the years passed he formed alliances with moderate socialists and trade unionists and collaborated with them in making incremental changes to advance Samgola's autonomy and implement some minor reforms, though he never abandoned his membership in the RPFS or his dreams of revolution. Nonetheless, he became a popular figure in leftist political circles of all stripes in Ayoullo, advancing his credentials and those of his organization.
When the French grip on authority in Kamidye began to loosen, the RPFS went from merely advocating violent revolution to actively participating in it, becoming a part of the socialist element of the Samgolan Indepedence War. Jayamma played only a minor role in the events, eloping shortly after the war began with Asha (née Kazadi), an upper-class woman from a minority tribe in Samgola given favored status by the French administration. The two lived a quiet life together in relative peace in a small, countryside village in revolutionary controlled south-eastern Nambé. Mrs. Gobeni gave birth to a daughter during the war, who Jayamma chose to name 'Mmeri'—the word 'victory', in Asha's native language. Asha would unfortunately pass away shortly after independence, dying in childbirth delivering Jayamma's second and final child, named after her mother. Jayamma relocated to Kamidye with his two young daughters, hoping to find work in the newly sovereign and representative Samgolan government so as to provide for his family. Unfortunately, the hard-line stances of the RPFS were incompatible with the ideology of the newly emerged government, and Mr. Gobeni found himself politically discredited, out of work, and with two young daughters to feed. Without many options, he turned to crime.
Kamidye was a busy city after independence was achieved. The French colonial officials had been forced to leave the country, presenting the upper classes of Samgola with many colonial villas and other fanciful residences of former state officials to inhabit. Within years, if not months, nearly the whole of Samgola's wealthy lived in this one city. Naturally, this made it an easy place to make a living ripping them off. Jayamma had some experience evading authorities in his pre-war days, running from French gendarmerie that had sought to put down sovereigntist and communist agents and sympathizers. These same talents came in use in a life of crime, giving Jayamma the connections and experience needed to make a prosperous and reasonably risk-balanced living stealing from the rich. He was ethical in this theft—in his own mind—only thieving from those living a life unimaginably more prosperous than his own, and all to support himself and his children. As they grew older, though, Jayamma became concerned that his ways were impart poorly on his children, and their moral compass would be distorted from the actions of their father. On the day his daughters enrolled in school together, Jayamma made a vow that he would never steal again, and instead used his remaining connections with the political left to enter himself into Kamidye's organized labour system.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2
@pandapolio You probably shouldn't rip very specific races straight out of LOTR. You'll also want to make sure your sheet meets High Casual/Advanced standards.
In
DEMOCRACY: Politics in Samgola [Political Party | Single Nation RP]
→
8 yrs ago
Forum: Nation Roleplay
Democratic Alliance for Reform
The efforts of the D.A.R.'s first major legislative achievement, the Brick & Mortar Act, were already bearing fruit. The bill responded to unemployment and homelessness concerns by trying to kill two birds with one stone: hiring those out of work to build simple dwellings for those without a roof over their head. Although it was in its earliest stages, and deeply expensive, the plan seemed to be working thus far: unemployment and homelessness were both on the decline, with thousands already being given by a job to work at and a cheap home to spend their pay on. The abundance of cheap, simple dwellings to be constructed in the months ahead was likely to drive down the costs of housing, allowing those who already had work from outside of the B&M programs to be able to better afford their lifestyle. Lessening the surplus of labour—even temporarily—with abundant construction work was also economically imaginable to be a cause of steadily rising wages for the rest of Samgola's poor and middle class, on top of the constructed infrastructure boosting economic activity and productivity. Hard evidence of all of these (hopeful) trends was hard to come by at this point, but the plausibility of it all would play well with the D.A.R.'s coalition partners, particularly the free-market toting Liberal Democrats. The government and the coalition that constituted it both seemed stronger than before, and Samgola was stronger, too. Other issues aside, things seemed to be going well.
Those other issues weren't insignificant, though. The insurgency in Ziwa was proving to be a massive headache for the President and especially for the Defense Ministry, headed by the coalition partner SPP. The Islamic Army was proving a substantially larger threat than originally expected, but the use of airstrikes had proved to have serious consequences. Although the President's assent to airforce participation in the mission had specifically forbid the use of strikes on civilian centres, poor training among Samgola's airforce pilots had nonetheless led to a deadly bombing in the Okungelewe village. The government had offered little to no reaction to these events, or to other ambushes in Ziwa, hoping for bad news to be brushed aside and instead clinging to what good news they could. Good news on this front was admittedly hard to come by, though. Even Nigeria, which President Bassong had hoped could be a contributing partner in dealing with the Islamic Army, did not seem to want to play by Samgola's rules; it seemed likely the Nigerians who commit only to unilateral action, which could have dire diplomatic consequences. With both the African Union, the UN (with their recently assented medical programme) and Western powers to appeal to in the event of an incident, though, and with Task Force Europa still based out of Kamidye, an invasion of Ziwa by Nigerian President Abacha would be incredibly reckless. Nonetheless, all possibilities needed to be accounted for, and Samuel Bassong was ready to take any action that needed to be taken to protect Samgola's integrity, regardless of who threatened it. Notwithstanding the president's readiness for a response, diplomacy would still, of course, be preferred.
Politics in coalition was a game of give and take. The Liberal Democrats had helped bring Brick & Mortar into fruition, despite the opposition Samgola Dawn's typical obstruction of the bill, and so the DAR was willing to bend its principles to accept a very generous aviation safety bill that would strongly favour Samgola Air, at the LD's behest. The amendment to the bill offered by the DAR, requiring at least some of the tax credit to be spent on hiring new highly trained Samgolans for various positions in engineering and maintenance, only made the act slightly more palatable. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Ephraim Yombi and President Samuel Bassong alike preferred to keep the Liberty Coalition and the current government intact, and so wee willing to whip their MNAs into support for the potentially controversial act of the National Assembly. The SPP, too, were expected to give their support when the time for the bill to be put to a vote eventually came. Hopefully the act would have some success at making Samgola's skies safer; they could certainly stand to be, given crises old and new.
More at the forefront of the DAR's messaging, though, were the actions being taken by Samgola Dawn. The SD had repeatedly slandered the DAR on the campaign trail, and had, in the President's eyes, attempted to overthrow the democratically elected and DAR-led government in a paramilitary coup only months earlier. They were a dangerous and unpredictable element to be kept in close check, especially considering the instability of their current leadership. With Zan Mahol sentenced to several years in prison for his formation of the SDSF, the SD's new leader was Jasura Hervit: an equally dangerous individual who was believed by some government authorities to have held a leadership role in the SDSF itself. Less insane among the SD's ranks was Zaya Kolin, Samgola Dawn's leader in the legislature. He seemed to have been sidelined in the SD's leadership election somehow, despite hid apparent overflow of support from MNAs. Given Jasura's believed connections to SDSF activities, the entire matter was deeply suspicious. The issue was a limp fish, though; there was little actionable proof of wrongdoing on Jasura's part, and the SD, even Kolin himself, seemed unlikely to cooperate with authorities. To that end, Samgola Dawn was simply to be continued to be put under watch, for now. The Security Bureau under David Desange would continue to monitor their activities, on the legitimate basis of their potential risk to national security. If the SD were seen to be breaking Samgolan law yet again, drastic action against the party would need to be taken. For now, though, their status as the government's main power in opposition was too strong a shield. Desange would need something solid if he was to arrest two different successive leaders of the primary opposition party to the government twice in a row.
WIP
© 2007-2026