Maravi

Lifting the standard of MPs

Lifting the standard of MPs
By Editor
Saturday February 24, 2007 [02:00]

We strongly feel Gwembe UPND member of parliament Brian Ntundu is abusing parliamentary privileges by attacking private citizens on the floor of the House. These parliamentary privileges were meant to enable the House to carry out its primary functions of legislating, debate and enquiry more effectively and independently. But what Ntundu showed on Thursday evening is that parliamentary privilege has potential for abuse. Yes, it is important for our members of parliament to have freedom of speech in the House. They deserve to be protected for what they say in the House. But if abused this privilege can turn into an absurdity.

Whilst we appreciate that in a maiden speech one is expected to show a generosity of spirit, we cannot let the occasion pass without referring to Thursday’s attacks on and attempted character assassination of Post editor Fred M’membe by Ntundu. We have taken the opportunity to read the verbatim record of Ntundu’s valedictory speech. It is interesting to recall part of what he said that night. We quote;

“Mr Speaker, I now want to talk about the press. Mr Speaker, I want to particularly condemn some of these newspapers in their writings. For instance, there is one editor of a named newspaper in this country who thinks he is clever than anyone else. He can even write that the President is stupid and he gets away with it. He can write that Hon members of parliament are greedy by asking for higher perks, which is diminishing Parliament.

Mr Speaker, let some of these editors advertise their payslips so that we see who gets more money.

Hon Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ntundu: Mr Speaker, I cannot afford to buy a Jaguar which some of these editors drive. His Excellency President Mwanawasa, SC is just too good because some of these editors should have been followed. Mwanawasa is a very decent President and he is too good.

Hon Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ntundu: He is also very kind. Some of these editors buy big houses and raze them and put up mansions. We need to bring sanity in this country. We want the press to respect Parliament and the President of the Republic.

Hon Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ntundu: We will not tolerate this. If this continues, we will rise against them.

Interruptions

Mr Ntundu: Mr Speaker, sometimes they promote tribalism. We do not even know where they come from themselves because they have names which we do not know.

Laughter

Mr Ntundu: Some of these editors have names which are not common.

Interruptions

Mr Mabenga: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Ntundu: Mr Speaker, I now want to talk about the budget. Sir, I need your protection. Sir, it is well known that on the day of elections, one newspaper was supporting a political party and they had put up a picture on the front page. They should come out in the open on which political party they support so that when they write, we know which political party they are supporting.

Hon UPND members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ntundu: Sir, we know the political party they are supporting. Sir, some of these editors who diminish Parliament have never put on a tie or suit. They do not know how to wear a tie and a suit.”


If this Parliament continues to descend into a chamber where assassination of character is the order of the day, it will never ever live up to the promise that it holds. We hope it does not do that. We hope it can learn that there are other ways. We will not attack Ntundu’s character. We drew the line at that a long time ago, although we cannot say the same for what some have said of us.

Those who have sought to attack The Post editor’s character under the protection of Parliament ultimately won’t even amount to footnotes in the history of this nation when one compares their contribution with his. We believe it is appropriate now, given Thursday’s experience, that the Speaker finds the means to ensure that private citizens and their families are protected from suffering such malicious character assassination. For it is truly a misnomer to call this a privilege of Parliament.

We can have endless debates about individualism versus collectivism, but such arguments count for naught in situations like these because, despite all the rhetoric, an individual journalist is effectively left defenseless. It is the primary task of our members of parliament to ensure that people enjoy a free, peaceful, democratic society; that they live in a clean, safe environment; that they have access to adequate health care, education, employment opportunities, security in retirement and a decent standard of living.

We do appreciate that invariably occasions arise when for some reason or another, a member of parliament feels compelled to criticise or perhaps castigate private citizens. It is contrary to the unwritten law of Parliament to make charges reflecting upon persons who have no right of reply to those charges, unless the member has strong proof of the assertions. In what might appear to be a bad case of a member using the privilege of freedom of speech, the Speaker may seek to restrain any such attack, but it is not within the province of the Speaker to prevent free speech in the House. Our Speaker has on several occasions warned members against using their freedom of speech in Parliament to reflect adversely on private citizens who do not enjoy the same privilege, especially where they raise unsubstantiated allegations against an individual.

Ntundu alleges that the editor of The Post thinks he’s cleverer than anyone else. It is on record in many of our editorial comments that we don’t believe we possess the sum total of human knowledge on any issue, we don’t have the monopoly of wisdom. It is our stated belief that everything should be approached with broad-mindedness, listening to everyone, without thinking we are the owners of absolute truth. There will be no one thinker. Hundreds of thousands of thinkers can make up the thinker our times need. And for this reason, we avoid, as a rule, giving our opinion on problems and processes we are not well informed about. We are very careful in that regard. At The Post, everyone is listened to, everyone has the opportunity to speak on any issue.
The editor of The Post does not chair any meeting - be it the general meeting of the company, the board meeting, the management meeting or indeed the monthly staff meetings. This is despite the fact that he holds an absolute controlling vote in the company; he can single-handedly pass a special resolution. If he wanted he could simply run the newspaper by decrees, he would be chairman and chief executive of the company; he would appoint all the directors of the company.
But things are not done this way at The Post. Everything is put on the judgment seat of reasoning to ensure that the best decision is taken on every issue. This is a private company being run this way. The editor does not hire or fire anyone, he doesn’t even promote anyone. There’s no room for favour seekers at The Post. In terms of staff welfare, there is a staff committee elected by all members of staff to look into the affairs while disciplinary matters are also handled by another elected committee. The management of The Post cannot dismiss anyone without the disciplinary committee hearing his or her case and so recommending. The salaries that members of staff get are not decided by the editor or by one person. For its size of income, The Post favourably competes with organisations that earn far more than it in terms of staff remuneration. No organisation in the media can be said to have the conditions of service that The Post offers its staff.

Regardless of our limitations and defects, our newspaper is infinitely superior in many respects to most companies in this country in terms of how workers are treated and remunerated. And this is not only from a material standpoint, because material things alone don’t make for happiness. A sense of justice, dignity, self-respect, respect for others, and love for your fellow human beings also have a lot to do with happiness, as have moral principles; the feeling of being free, equal, and respected and of taking part in the battle for the progress of the world, the world you live in; and working like beavers, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of your people.

There are journalists and editors that have sold themselves out to the powerful, have been hired by the powerful, or have surrendered to the powerful, but we serve notice on Ntundu and others like him - and all should know, after 16 years, that we mean what we say - that no one here is for hire, our journalists, our editors will never hire themselves out. We will confront every difficulty; pressure, and political, or other kinds of attack. We will keep on moving ahead while those who hate us choke with envy. The Post will go on winning new laurels and scoring new victories - and nothing and nobody can ever stop us. Our maturity, seriousness, wisdom, honesty, and courage give us a feeling of security and great confidence in the future.

We have made great progress, and we will continue to do so, but we know it won’t be easy. But we are prepared to meet the difficulties. We have difficulties now, and we will have even greater ones in the future, even if we do things the right way - and we should do them the right way, even if it calls for our greatest efforts. We have to cope with the objective problems of the situation in our country, the increasing desperation of our politicians and all those opposed to us and the measures they take against us. Others may be used to trembling at the powerful’s threats, but not us. Never!

Our ideas are very clear, our convictions are very deep, our decisions are very resolute: we don’t want conflicts with anyone, we are not in the habit of provoking conflicts and we don’t want to do so, but they should beware of provoking us! They should beware of dragging us into a conflict! If they impose a conflict on us, they will find out what a resolute group is like. We have a lot of dignity and are very sure of ourselves. They should know that whereas we were strong in the days of Chiluba, today we are one hundred times stronger and better prepared organisationally, politically and psychologically. We have resources within us, in our energy, in our will. If they think they are going to settle their differences with us by threats, blackmail and slander, they are mistaken! They should not underestimate our ability, our dignity and courage - their attacks will last as long as a lit candle lasts in a rainstorm.

We are not trembling, we are not scared by these attacks and threats. On the contrary, we turn these threats and attacks into a force - we use them to organise ourselves.

We have learnt to manage our affairs with increasing efficiency; but the most important thing is that we will keep on learning more and more. We can assert, above all else, that we have known how to use our time, that we have been capable of rectifying mistakes and today our newspaper is stronger and more solid than ever before.

But what we are seeing from our politicians is increasing desperation, lack of seriousness and purpose, and in some respects childishness and high levels of irresponsibility. How can one explain why a member of parliament should be concerned with a car an editor of a private newspaper drives or the house he lives in as if all these things were acquired with taxpayer’s money or his father or mother’s money? Why should Parliament be concerned with what type of car or house a private citizen decides to acquire with his own money. If there’s a bank or any person that has been robbed by the editor of The Post the police and other agencies are there to deal with the matter - report to them instead of making it an agenda of the House.

This is the irresponsibility we are talking about. The taxpayer is not paying our members of parliament for that type of business. Ntundu goes to Parliament just to raise on the floor of the House the strangeness of The Post editor’s name and insinuating that he is a foreigner. For his own information M’membe’s father hails from Mwika’s village, chief Nkula in Chinsali. His mother hails from Mongu and has a combination of Nkoya, Kwangwa, Mbunda and Nyengo blood - and she is the headperson of Lindu village in the Tungi area of the Barotse plains. And the talk of the The Post editor not knowing how to wear a suit and a necktie has no value to the lives of the people of this country. What does that benefit the people of this country? Again, is this what our members of parliament should be wasting time debating? How much should the taxpayer pay for all this? This is the type of members of parliament we have and in whose hands the future of our country is entrusted.

When we denounce this type of behaviour, it is not out of hatred or lack of respect for anyone. What we are preaching is repudiation, rejection and hatred of injustice. We are not preaching hatred among human beings, because in the final analysis, they are just victims of the system in which they live. If we have to fight the system, we will fight the system. If we have to fight and denounce the men who represent the system we hate, we will do so. We shouldn’t forget that Jesus made some very strong charges against the Pharisees and called Herod a fox. What’s more, Jesus tells us we must love our enemies - he doesn’t say we mustn’t have enemies - and there’s no greater love for a person than to prevent him from doing wrong things.

Our Speaker has a lot of work to do to lift the standards of our Parliament and it won’t be an easy undertaking given the quality of members of parliament he has been given to work with.

Labels: EDITORIAL, FRED M'MEMBE, UPND

posted by MrK @ 1:28 PM