Crossword Genius

Give the authority to Oriental politician - the one with debts (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

empower

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'give the authority to' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'oriental politician the one with debts' is the wordplay.
'oriental' becomes 'e'.
'politician' becomes 'mp'.
'the one with' says to put letters next to each other.
'debts' becomes 'ower' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'e'+'mp'+'ower'='EMPOWER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for empower that I've seen before include "Authorize" , "Give authority to, enable" , "Authorise, endue" , "Give authority to, authorise" , "Give strength and confidence to" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.
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