Nepotism

Nepotism
By Editor
Saturday December 08, 2007 [03:00]

When people think only of themselves, their relatives and friends and their own particular group, then there is division and frustration. This is dangerous and not good for the country. Nepotism is a very dangerous practice. The measures taken by Livingstone town clerk George Kalenga on nepotism, against the practice of employing relatives in the local authority, should be emulated countrywide in all public institutions.

Kalenga says the practice was a great contributing factor to the poor performance of council workers. This is not only true for the Livingstone City Council, the result is the same in all institutions and even at the national level.

We see this in all institutions where nepotism is high. For instance, the performance of our diplomatic missions leaves much to be desired. Our diplomatic missions are filled with relatives and friends of those in power who in most cases are at sea with the jobs they are given to do. But those sending them there don’t seem to care whether they perform well or not.

What they seem to be interested in is simply the fact that their relatives or friends have jobs. That is all that seems to matter to them. They don’t seem to care about Zambia as a country and how it performs. The money that is wasted on these relatives and friends of theirs is government money and not their own; money that doesn’t seem to belong to anyone in their poor thinking – nifya Boma!

We have people who have been appointed to very difficult ministerial jobs without possessing the necessary abilities or skills required for such offices. We have people who are serving as permanent secretaries without the necessary experience for such jobs. And all these have been appointed by the President of the Republic of Zambia. He doesn’t seem to care – it is government jobs not his own, nifya Boma!

This is how irresponsible we can be as a people. And while we are doing all these things or watching all this destructive nepotism, we expect the economy and the general management of the country to perform well.

These wrong and reactionary practices are costing us a lot. And we are paying highly for tolerating all these backward and evil practices. Everything wrong is the same; if you don’t hit, it won’t fall. This is also like sweeping the floor; as a rule, where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish of itself. The basic reason all previous governments in Zambia have achieved so little is their failure to correct wrongdoings, bad practices very quickly.

Sometimes we let things slide for too long for the sake of friendship when a person has clearly gone wrong, and refrain from principled arguments because he is a relative, an old acquaintance, a tribesman, a schoolmate, a close friend, a loved one and so on and so forth. Sometimes we touch on the matter lightly instead of going into it thoroughly, so as to keep on good terms. The result is both the nation and the individual are harmed.

It is difficult to understand how we can stand and watch people do all these harmful things to our nation and do nothing about it but sit ndwii. To see someone harming the interests of the nation, of the masses and yet not feel indignant, or dissuade or stop him or reason with him but allow him to continue doing so is the worst form of irresponsibility that can be expected of a citizen of any country.

All those who occupy public office should realise that they are servants of the people and whatever they do should be to serve the people. And if they are truly the servants of the people, how can they continue to be practicing nepotism in public affairs? Their duty should be to hold themselves responsible to the people.

Every act and policy of theirs must conform to the people’s interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be promptly corrected – that is what being responsible to the people means. Their point of departure should be to serve the people wholeheartedly and never for a moment divorce themselves from the masses of our people, and proceed in all cases from the interests of our people and not from one’s self-interest or from the interest of a small group.

We hail from all corners of the country and have joined together for a common progressive objective and all of us should show concern for each other, should care for each other, and must love and help each other. We cannot look at things this way if nepotism is our basic outlook.

We must be at all times conscious of this because what really counts in the world today is conscientiousness. Nepotism is wrong and it reflects the disease of impetuosity. We should always guard against nepotism and let merit prosper. We have come from every corner of the country and we should be good at uniting in our work not only with those from our families, tribes but also with everyone who has something to offer. We should rid ourselves of this type of nepotism, of this type of impotent thinking.

It is an arduous task to ensure a better life for the 11 million Zambians and to build our economically backward country into a prosperous one and it is precisely in order to be able to shoulder this task more competently and work better together that we should at all costs avoid nepotism and constantly rid ourselves of whatever is wrong. Nepotism is evil.

It is evil to deny a person a job that they deserve simply because they are not members of your family, they are not your friends or they don’t hail from your tribe or district.