Lessons from Nchanga
Lessons from NchangaBy Editor
Saturday November 10, 2007 [03:00]
Those who do not learn from history are bound to record failure all the time. It is said that the past is a rich resource on which one can draw in order to make decisions for the future. And we study history in order to understand it and then learn from it as we contemplate the future.
It appears to us that President Levy Mwanawasa and his MMD members are bad students of history. That is why some of Levy’s ministers caused fights or confusion in Chingola on Thursday.
There was no need for anyone from the MMD to fight over the results in the Nchanga parliamentary by-elections. There were no surprises from Nchanga.
Last year, after general elections when Levy and his people were celebrating victory over Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front, we raised a few observations concerning the voting patterns.
The results last year revealed that Levy and his party were rejected by our people in urban areas but were embraced by those in rural areas. This was not an accident. The people who participated in those elections designed the outcome. And it came to be, as they wanted it. We asked the question: “Why?”
Clearly, the people in urban areas felt let down by Levy and his government for various reasons. We advised Levy to make serious changes to his attitude towards others. There were complaints on how Levy dealt with the issues concerning the fight against corruption and the constitution-making-process, among others.
We stated that Levy could not continue with the arrogance and lack of humility that characterised his first term. We further stated that Levy needed to bend backwards a lot more and learn to meet the people on their terms.
We said this because it was very clear to us that those in the urban centres, especially in Lusaka and the Copperbelt, who seem to have more contact and better knowledge of him don’t like him.
We also said that one could not govern a country where the only support he or she has is that of people in rural areas who hardly know him. We further said Levy needed to look at himself in the mirror and change his ways or else his ending would be disastrous.
It cannot be denied that the results for MMD in Nchanga were disastrous. And it is not difficult for anyone to understand why this was the case. Very little, if any, has changed for the people in Lusaka and Copperbelt for them to contemplate a shift of their political loyalty from the opposition PF to the ruling MMD.
Things have been very difficult for our people in urban areas, especially in the last ten years following the privatisation of the mines. Life has adversely changed for the people of the Copperbelt. And they attribute their misery, their sufferings and their squalor to the government’s policy on privatisation.
Of course, these problems were started by Frederick Chiluba and his colleagues. But Levy is now in charge. And he should be reminded that blaming things on the past does not make them better. He has been ruling for six years now and people need to feel the difference.
Yes, Levy and his people may argue about the few improvements they have made so far, even on the Copperbelt. However, there is no doubt that all is not well there. There is a lot of talk about new investments into the mines on the Copperbelt and North-Western provinces. But this investment has come with its own problems and challenges.
From what we hear on the ground, the miners on the Copperbelt – who are the majority in number - are up in arms with the government because it doesn’t seem to care much about their welfare. It seems to care more about the welfare of the investors.
Even when there are problems in the mines, most of the government voices sound to be more in favour of management than employees. Our miners feel frustrated about a number of things. More and more of our Zambian employees were forced to quit the mines because of frustrations on the part of their employers.
All these concerns have been brought to the government’s attention but it appears the government turns a blind eye andpays a deaf ear to these real issues affecting our people. Foreign investors seem to have a free lane from the MMD government.
They can ignore our labour laws with impunity and get away with it. Some of the jobs that have been offered to the so-called expatriates can best be executed by our locals trained from our own universities. But these expatriates come and mistreat people who, in some cases, know better than they do.
The result is that miners and several other people on the Copperbelt feel neglected by their own government; they feel orphaned. But Sata and his PF have not hesitated to identify this vacuum and are quick to fill it. This explains why PF has a lot of following on the Copperbelt and generally in urban areas.
Sata recognises our people’s problems and shows a lot of sympathy that sometimes our people even forget that he was part of the creators of some of their problems. They look at him as their saviour because he sounds like he has practical solutions to their problems and yet he is part of the problem creators.
And these are the issues that the MMD should spend time reflecting on, if they want to win, instead of provoking fights that will just further diminish their standing on the political scene. They should understand what it is that is making Sata and his party popular if they are to draw people to their side.
Last year, the MMD recorded resounding victories in rural areas, even in places like Eastern Province which for a long time had been UNIP’s stronghold.
Again, it is very easy for one to tell why this was so. Generally, Levy’s government seems to have done very well in rural areas, especially with his policies on agriculture. So while the urban people were cursing Levy, our rural dwellers had every reason to renew his mandate.
We saw this even in North-Western and Western provinces which were a stronghold for opposition UPND. The MMD won by big margins because of some developmental projects going on in these provinces. The opening of Lumwana and Kansanshi mines meant a lot to the locals, it changed their lifestyles.
This picture has not changed much from last year. And for as long as Levy and his government do not address these issues, they should not expect any magic in 2011 or any by-election in between. They have to deliver according to people’s expectations if they have to win their support in return. They will not just receive people’s support for nothing.
They should also be seen to be caring more about our people’s interests than those of foreign investors who are having it easy. Our people will have no reason to smile after paying more tax than foreign investors who are not even re-investing their profits for the benefit of the locals.
This has to change. And this is the only country in the region where Pay As You Earn is so high because the ordinary worker has to subsidise the foreign investor in terms of paying tax.
Besides, the MMD also have to re-organise themselves as a party because, as it is said, God helps those who help themselves.
Today, it cannot be denied that MMD is very disorganised from the lowest to the highest levels. And if one carefully analysed results from Nchanga, it is clear that in most cases MMD members voted against their candidate. Now, this is a serious indictment for the MMD.
And these are lessons for them to learn from the Nchanga by-election. They should always remember that to every action, there is a reaction. At every turn when the opportunity arises, the people will react to the government’s actions or inactions.
But there are also lessons for the opposition parties. It is generally believed that the ruling party rig elections wherever the party is unpopular. However, the happenings in Nchanga should advise those who like to raise accusing fingers to be slow in this act because if the MMD had a way, they could have rigged the Nchanga election in their favour.
We say this because we think that the MMD were in a hurry to show Sata that his popularity on the Copperbelt has dwindled from last year. Further, we think that the MMD would have loved to win by any means so as to woo other opposition members of parliament into their camp.
But this didn’t happen. Why?
We also remember that a few years ago, PF defeated the MMD twice in a parliamentary by-election in Mufulira.
The lesson here is that the opposition should learn to accept defeat. Before the results were announced, all the opposition parties were talking about the MMD’s engagement in dubious activities. But after the PF won, no one from the opposition is making reference to this. They are just saying the people have spoken.
This is not to say the MMD doesn’t engage in malpractices that give them some advantage over their opponents. This happens a lot of times.
But even some opposition parties are not completely innocent in this area because we hear a lot about some of their activities during campaigns.
Our hope is that those who need to learn lessons from the Nchanga elections will do so because our people are having their eyes and ears opened every day. They will not allow themselves to be abused by good-for-nothing politicians forever.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, EDITORIAL
posted by MrK @ 6:00 AM
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