VJ on a path of self-destruction
VJ on a path of self-destructionBy Editor
Monday April 09, 2007 [04:00]
There is a wise saying in Ghana that if one is unhappy, the cause for his unhappiness is within himself. This means that one is often to blame for his own unhappiness. This proverb encourages one to accept responsibility for his own challenging circumstances or situations instead of blaming others for them.
Information minister and chief government spokesman Vernon Mwaanga today finds himself in very challenging circumstances and therefore is expected to accept responsibility for these challenging circumstances instead of blaming us or journalists from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for them.
When he went to the DRC last week as President Levy Mwanawasa’s special envoy to President Joseph Kabila, Mwaanga forgot that the only elevated place is for kites. He forgot that although kites can fly high enough to fly away, human beings cannot do the same. If they run away, they will no doubt be found.
Today, Mwaanga is like the eagle that is trapped. He has inadvertently implicated himself as he attempts to defend himself concerning what he said in DRC to do with that country’s Katanga Province governor Moses Katumbi. He thought he had flown too high for us to take note of what he was doing or saying whilst in DRC. He forgot that even walls have ears.
Clearly, Mwaanga has thrown himself on a path of self-destruction going by the way he has conducted himself in this matter. And he will only have himself to blame for all this or any eventuality that will befall him for being economical with truth.
We say this with very heavy hearts because Mwaanga is our friend. We have related and worked closely with him in the last few years. We say our hearts are heavy because we feel like a black ant that is going to bite another black ant as members of the same group or family are not expected to fight against each other.
But we cannot compromise truth for friendship. In fact, Mwaanga’s outbursts against us in the DRC do not even suggest that we are friends. He went to great lengths in trying to destroy our credibility and integrity; things that keep us in existence. He shamelessly told lies about us and yet he is supposed to know us better as his friends.
Mwaanga told the world not to believe us or take our work seriously because we fabricate news and exaggerate issues just to set individuals or countries at logger-heads. How cheap he can be! Mwaanga said all this to defend Katumbi from allegations of theft and corruption by the Task Force on behalf of the Zambian government.
He was asked, by journalists in DRC, to state the government’s position on these allegations against Katumbi as reported in the Zambian media, especially The Post. In his response, Mwaanga categorically stated that as far as the Zambian government was concerned, there was nothing that could be attributed to Katumbi and that in fact, it was Katumbi who has sued the Zambian government to recover his US $7 million owed to him for the maize he supplied in 2001.
This statement by Mwaanga was widely reported by the media in DRC and The Post reproduced this information. But when Luapula Patriotic Front member of parliament Peter Machungwa, quoting The Post, raised a point of order in Parliament last week, asking if Mwaanga was in order to state that it was in fact the Zambian government that owed Katumbi US $7 million when the Task Force was pursuing him for theft and corruption, Speaker Amusaa Mwanamwambwa advised members of parliament to treat The Post publication with a pinch of salt because the story was “suspect”. Why did the Speaker speak like this?
In our view, it is because Mwaanga had corrupted his thinking; he fed him with wrong and biased information designed to meet his goals. Although the Speaker ruled that Vice-President Rupiah Banda, as leader of government business in the House, should clarify the matter the following day, Mwaanga offered himself to clarify the matter there and then. He stood up and unleashed his propaganda by reading the so-called transcript of the interview he gave to journalists in DRC, denying literally everything that he had said.
And when Michael Sata castigated him, Mwaanga insisted he was misquoted by the DRC press and caused his so-called transcript to be published in full in the Times of Zambia of Saturday, April 7, 2007.
We now challenge Mwaanga to produce the tape or whatever it is that is carrying the words contained in his so-called transcript. On our part, we went all the way to defend what we published by seeking the truth. We managed to find a video containing Mwaanga’s interview in DRC which we have reproduced in our edition today.
We also talked to Katumbi in person who confirmed that Mwaanga said what he is now claiming he did not say.
We will make available this video to Mwaanga himself, Speaker Mwanamwambwa, Vice-President Banda and President Mwanawasa since Mwaanga distributed his so-called transcript to their offices.
We will also make available the same video to all media organisations that will express interest in it. After viewing the video, we will be expecting Mwaanga to tell the world if he will still insist that he was misquoted by the DRC press while The Post fabricated and exaggerated issues. If Mwaanga will insist on being misquoted, we will have no choice but to buy airtime on our national television so that the public can see and judge for themselves.
We have no reason to fight or fix Katumbi, Mwaanga or indeed anyone else in our practice of journalism. What we endeavour to do always is to seek and report the truth in a fair and objective manner regardless of who is involved.
However, this is not to say we never make mistakes or get our facts wrong. But whenever this happens, we do not hesitate to make the necessary corrections and apologies in line with our editorial policy. Our commitment is to the truth and not friends or other individuals.
That is why we find it hard to believe that Mwaanga can today, with his head high, lie through the teeth and accuse us of falsely fabricating news about his good friend and ‘brother’ Katumbi. We have never raised any allegation against Katumbi. What we have done is to report these allegations against him and many others including former president Frederick Chiluba as revealed to us by the Task Force on Corruption.
And because we seek to report the truth in a fair and objective manner, sometimes we have had to travel to the DRC at our own expense to get Katumbi’s side of the story as we continue to give opportunities to all those who have been accused of this and that to say something on their accusations. Sometimes we have expressed our opinion on certain allegations, in this column, based on the facts available to us recognising the fact that we have the right to express such opinions provided they are fair and informed.
It is sad that a seasoned politician and parliamentarian like Mwaanga can selfishly choose to ruin himself in this way. He has punched very big holes in his own integrity and credibility. Indeed, Mwaanga should not eat with both hands otherwise he will be choked.
And as government chief whip, what example is Mwaanga setting by telling blatant lies in Parliament, thereby misleading the whole House? Is it not an offence for a member to deliberately mislead the House? We would like to hear from Speaker Mwanamwambwa who quickly declared our story “suspect” without hearing from us. Speaker Mwanamwambwa advised the House not to believe everything that is published in the press. Now with Mwaanga’s lies, who or what should our people believe? Everything published in the press (The Post) or everything said in Parliament?
We also would like our fellow journalists from other media houses who are in the habit of discrediting our work to learn something from this episode. Don’t allow yourselves to be abused for things you do not know, otherwise you will be fighting other people’s battles.
On our part, we take great care on a lot of things before publishing any story. Like we stated earlier, we do not hesitate to correct and apologise should it be brought to our attention that we got our facts wrong. When we refuse to correct or apologise, it means we have stood by what we published as the truth even if someone is disputing it.
Labels: EDITORIAL, VERNON MWAANGA
posted by MrK @ 4:49 AM
5 Comments:
Once again Vernon Johnson Never Say No Mwaanga has put his foot in it. The question is what will LPM do? My guess is the time is right to get rid of Never Say No Mwaanga. I beleive in Rupiah Banda, LPM has someone seasoned to carry on the work of VJ.
The question is does he have enough resources to survive out of a government job?
Interesting times ahead...
If LPM was consistent he will fire Vernon. I think he will probably fire him because the man is on video now!!
It is unclear what Rupiah's role is. He goes around to meetings that are meant for Ministers. Isn't he meant simply to deputise. Ideally Rupiah should be the chief strategist in the Government, planning and scoping development. Instead he is just a wanderer....
From what I gather, it might not be very easy for LPM to publicly undress, rebuke and then fire VJ. A little bird tells me that VJ is virtually holding LPM to ransom because of some very unpalatable beans he might spill if LPM humiliates him. The chances are therefore that VJ will simply be redeployed and not fired. Anyway, this is just a rumour I heard yesterday. Lets wait and see.
What if VJ was just repeating what he had been to say to Katumbi by LPM? Then what?
"So foul and fair a day I have not seen" . These are Macbeth's first words in the scene in which the witches deliver their prophecies to him.
I guess it is a fair and foul day for Vernon Johnson "Never say No" Mwaanga Self confessed drug trafficker....
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home