Maravi

Respecting Mwanawasa

Respecting Mwanawasa
By Editor
Sunday October 28, 2007 [03:00]

No reasonable person can argue that President Levy Mwanawasa and his office as an institution do not deserve respect. Levy, as citizen number one deserves respect of all the citizens. And as a matter of fact, it is not only Levy who deserves respect. All human beings, regardless of their status or creed, deserve to be respected just as they are in return expected to respect others.

However, people who choose not to respect themselves always find it difficult to command respect from others. This is also the case for all those that choose not to respect others.

It is this point that we would like Levy to ponder on. We sense something wrong the moment Levy starts to remind our people that he deserves respect and not to be feared. This statement to us suggests that probably Levy feels more feared than respected. And this is likely to be the case because we have heard so many senior government officials expressing how much they fear Levy and not how much they respect him.

But this problem is not only unique to Levy. It appears most African leaders prefer to be feared. We have not forgotten how Dr Kenneth Kaunda was almost worshipped by those that served him. The same was true during Frederick Chiluba’s rule. This kneeling and crawling before a leader that we are witnessing today started a long time ago. We hear that some ministers feared Chiluba so much that whenever they went to his office, they even knocked on their way out.

In saying this, we are not in any way suggesting that people should not kneel to show respect for their leaders. However, the way they do this reveals whether or not they have been motivated by fear or respect for a leader. There are times when kneeling before a leader is inevitable. But there are also many times when kneeling and crawling for a leader is totally unnecessary, especially that Levy and other politicians are not traditional leaders.

Unfortunately, it seems most African leaders enjoy to be hero-worshipped, to be feared. Whenever they speak, they expect people to be on their feet without questioning or reasoning. We see this everywhere, even in the opposition. Some opposition leaders want to be treated like they are already in State House even when the road to that high place is not defined.

In our view, a good leader should be more respected than feared. People can differ with their leader and still have a lot of respect for him, only if they respect and not fear him.
Like Sakwiba Sikota rightly pointed out, this process is a two-way thing. A leader should respect the led if the led are to respect the leader. Sometimes citizens poke fun at the leader because the leader is in the first place pouring scorn at his citizens. If a leader uses bad language against his people, it is easier for the people to use the same or even worse language against their leader. If the leader is self-respecting, the led will respect him even more.

In short we are agreeing with Levy that he, together with his office, deserve respect from all our people for obvious reasons. But in saying so, we feel Levy should be mindful that people will choose to either fear or respect him depending on how he conducts himself. It is said that people respect those who respect others, people trust those who trust others just like people are loyal to those who are loyal to them. This does not happen by accident, no matter how much one demands.

There have been a few times when Levy has acted in an unpresidential manner. He has used a language not befitting a man in his position. He has uttered some words that show that he has low regard for certain people in our society; that he has very little respect for them, that he despises them.

In return these people have not given Levy the respect that he deserves. What they do instead is to fear him. They fear him because he is in a stronger position.
Of course, some people have just been disrespectful to Levy for no good reasons, at all. They hate to realise that he is not the man of their choice, they think he is a wrong man in State House hence their being disrespectful to him.

And talking about loyalty, Levy cannot be asking for loyalty from those he has appointed to government positions unless he has chosen wrong people. Of course, everyone would like to work with those who are loyal to them. And while loyalty is important, competency should not be overlooked. The issue is Levy has a problem. It looks like he has difficulties identifying people who are both competent and loyal to him. It is either he picks someone who is competent but not loyal or loyal but not competent. That’s why it is not surprising that some of Levy’s most senior or reliable officials have their legs in different places.

Labels: MWANAWASA

posted by MrK @ 5:43 AM