Maravi

Oasis Forum's new consultants

Oasis Forum's new consultants
By Editor
Thursday September 13, 2007 [04:00]

It is very important to be careful in the choice of the company we keep. We feel it is poor judgement on the part of the Oasis Forum to invite former president Frederick Chiluba to attend their consultative conference. Chiluba's record on the constitution is scandalous. We shouldn't forget that the many differences we have today with Levy Mwanawasa and his government over the constitution review process are nothing compared to what we had in 1996 with Chiluba.

The constitution we are trying to review or replace today is a product of Chiluba. When he was president of the Republic of Zambia, Chiluba appointed a constitution review commission headed by John Mwanakatwe.

The Mwanakatwe Commission produced a report containing very good recommendations on the constitution review, but Chiluba threw out most of the recommendations and came up with his own positions which he turned into the supreme law of this country. What we have today in this country is a Chiluba constitution. Chiluba didn't want to listen to anyone, including Nelson Mandela, on this constitution.

And Chiluba went beyond the constitution and enacted many other bad laws which took away or affected in a very negative way the liberties of our people. Some of these laws are today hounding Chiluba and his friends.

Surely, any sensible person, any independent-minded person will realise that Chiluba is not fit to be part of the Oasis Forum decision-making processes. Yes, Chiluba may have good things to say about our current constitution review process and he should be allowed to say them.

But an Oasis Forum platform is not the best place for him to say what he may want to say. There are many other avenues he can use to be heard on this score. The Oasis Forum is simply undermining itself, it is reducing its standing and independence in the eyes of our people. There is no doubt the battle lines on the constitution review process are almost drawn.

On the one side is Levy and his minions, including some opposition politicians he has manipulated, on the other it is the Oasis Forum and its partners and supporters. This, however, does not necessarily mean that whoever is opposed to Levy should automatically be part or be an ally of the Oasis Forum. Chiluba has problems with Levy. But their differences are certainly not over the constitution. They are over his prosecution for corruption.

And the Oasis Forum should not be seen to be simply an anti-Mwanawasa coalition. We shouldn't forget that it was Chiluba's bad behaviour, arrogance, lack of humility, selfishness and short-sightedness that gave rise to the need for our people to congregate and form the Oasis Forum. And because Chiluba's anointed successor, Levy, in some respects has maintained some of the attitudes and practices of his initial sponsor, the Oasis Forum has continued to be relevant to this very day.

By saying this, we are not preaching hatred against Chiluba. What we are merely saying is that each person has his friends, has the right to choose who he wants to associate with. And people are often judged by the company they keep, by the type of people who support them. The Oasis Forum is not short of men and women of good record to consult.

Chiluba certainly knows something about constitution making because he made one, he is the father of our current constitution - he sired this constitution that we today want to do away with, to replace. By saying all this, we are not trying to run away from the responsibilities of the present and blame everything on the past. We can't do that because we know that blaming things on the past does not make them better.

But when we know the past we can ensure that it is not repeated. And we know what Chiluba did with the 1996 constitution review: he behaved in the most treacherous way, in the most undemocratic way, in the most crooked and selfish way to give the nation a constitution that served nothing other than his own personal interests.

Moreover, it is the dictate of history to bring to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment, who cohere the wishes and aspirations of the people and not people whose main discernible preoccupation had been to dribble, cheat and rob the people not only of their rights but also of their resources. The purpose of our going back into this short history is not to deride human action, nor weep over it or to hate it, but to understand it - and then to learn from it as we contemplate our future.

Chiluba has his own problems with Levy but that should not be part of the agenda of the Oasis Forum. The Oasis Forum is not a platform for crooks; it is a platform for the legitimate causes of our people and should remain that way. It should not be turned into a motley assortment of contradictory characters whose only visible similarity is their opposition to Levy.

It is becoming increasingly clear to us that the Oasis Forum is becoming an omnibus for all who are not happy with Levy for one reason or another. And plunderers of all hues, having lost their political platforms, are turning more and more to the Oasis Forum. Yes, the Oasis Forum needs the support of as many people as possible. But certainly not these crooks of the Chiluba type.

Members of the Oasis Forum shouldn't forget so quickly the battles they had with Chiluba in 2001 when he single-handedly wanted to amend his constitution and give himself additional years in office. Today, such a man should be part of our people's efforts to give themselves a constitution driven by no one other than themselves! We have supported the Oasis Forum literally on everything but we will not do so on this one.

Their failure to recognise the evils of this little devil sadden us. There is no meaningful, credible and dignified consultation the Oasis Forum can have with this devil of devils, especially over the constitution. Maybe we have misunderstood what the Oasis Forum wants; maybe they want to consult Chiluba on how effectively the people can be betrayed!

Labels: CONSTITUTION, EDITORIAL, OASIS FORUM

posted by MrK @ 3:26 AM