Maravi

Dingiswayo Banda bemoans low levels of national sacrifice

Dingiswayo Banda bemoans low levels of national sacrifice
By Mwala Kalaluka
Monday July 02, 2007 [04:00]

FORMER Member of the Central Committee (MCC) in the UNIP government Dingiswayo Banda has bemoaned the low levels of national sacrifice among the country’s new generation of leaders. And former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Works and Supply in the UNIP government, Libakeni Yuyi, said it was surprising that old timers that had little education did more for the country than the current crop of leaders that are well-educated.

In an interview yesterday ahead of Heroes and Unity days which fall today and tomorrow respectively, Banda, 75, said it was sad that the new generation of leaders took up positions on the basis of what they could gain and not what they could offer to the people.

“I want to appeal to the new generation of leaders that working for the country demands a lot of sacrifice,” Banda said.
“It is like the new crop of politicians would like to work for something, not for nothing. There is very little sacrifice for the good of the country.”

He also called on the government to show appreciation to the fallen and living heroes that participated in emancipating the country from the shackles of colonialism.
“Heroes and Unity day is very important day because before we got independence, this day belonged to Cecil Rhodes. Now that we got independence, this is the time that people should realise and in a way honour the heroes who fought tirelessly for the independence of this country,” Banda said.

“It is also a reminder to the people of Zambia that there were some people who actually sacrificed their lives and time for the liberation of this nation.”
He said as they commemorate the two days, the government must keep this in mind and take time to appreciate this great contribution to national building.
“They should do something in order to realise that independence did not come on a silver plate. When I am talking of doing something, I am saying that they have not done enough like what is happening in other countries.”

He said the Zimbabwean government had done much better in terms of looking after the interests of fallen and living liberation stalwarts.
Banda, who has retired to his home area, Lundazi, said more has to be done in terms of developing rural areas.

“I am in a rural area and there is so much that has to be done in terms of development,” he said. “There is this ‘Keep Zambia Clean and Healthy campaign’ but if you go around Lundazi and see the type of life being enjoyed by our people, you would not believe that we have been independent over the last 40 years.”
Banda said it would be unfair to continue concentrating development in the urban areas at the expense of rural people.
“It is difficult to bring them to par but the gap is just too wide,” said Banda.

And Yuyi, who is 67 said rather than concentrating on serving the citizenry, public workers had put corruption ahead of anything else.
“What the current leaders are doing is nothing compared to what the old-timers did,” Yuyi noted.
“That is what keeps me wondering all the time. That why is it possible that men who had little education were able to do more for the country than men that were well-educated? That is the paradox.”

Yuyi accused the government of not being fair in the way it was disbursing benefits to former senior civil servants.
“For example, why should a retired president get 80 per cent of a sitting president’s salary, when me as a permanent secretary gets K100,000. I am getting less than what an office orderly gets today,” said Yuyi.

Labels: EDUCATION, UNIP

posted by MrK @ 5:12 AM