Maravi

Lessons from the Obama nomination

Lessons from the Obama nomination
By Editor
Saturday June 07, 2008 [04:00]

Barack Obama’s nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate has generated a lot of interest in the world, especially in our world – black Africa. But we wonder if this phenomenon is really properly understood. Sometimes people pay too much attention to form and not content or substance of the matter. In life, it’s very important to be clear about things and to fully understand why they have happened the way they have.

It is interesting that when two years ago we were calling for the same things opposition UPND president Hakainde Hichilema is today calling for, we were accused of being anti-Tonga and anti-UPND.

We are glad today that Hakainde is saying that regional, ethnic and tribal politics should not be condoned if democracy is to grow and be respected in Zambia. When we said the same things two years ago, we were accused of all sorts of things.

We are not complaining. We are actually very happy that what we said before is now making sense to other people. This is encouraging because this is the only way our country can move forward. We have come together from every corner of Zambia and should be good at uniting in our politics and in our work not only with those who hail from the same regions with us but also with those who come from other parts of the country.

It is good that our politicians are learning something positive from our American brothers on issues of race and ethnicity.

It has always been very clear to us that tribalism and regionalism are absolutely incapable of solving the many problems our country and our people today face. On the contrary, they can actually be a recipe for their aggravation.

There is need for our people to be helped and made to understand the social roots of the drama they are going through today and not allow them to be manipulated, cheated and confused by petty-minded politicians and other elements who offer the nation no meaningful political guidance.

We should help our people to give up the pernicious habit of identifying only with those who come from the same regions, speak the same language and have the same culture and traditions as themselves. And our politicians should be made to realise that a political agenda based on one region, or tribe cannot succeed.

It is the duty of every progressive Zambian, every citizen of goodwill, to bring up the next generation of Zambians free from tribalism, regionalism; free from the archaic attitude of ethnicism.

For our nation to live and prosper, the tribal consciousness, attitude or mentality must die and be replaced with the consciousness, attitude or mentality of being Zambian.

This is not to say we should discard our history and heritage. Our languages and other traditions must be preserved. But the preservation of all these should not be seen to be synonymous with the promotion of tribal consciousness.

We need to detribalise our thinking and approach to politics and life in general.
But political survival is much at the fore today among our politicians than principles. This is why some of our top politicians don’t feel ashamed to totally rely on regional or tribal support and use it as a springboard in their quest for political power.

Former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi once characterised tribalism as a cancer. That was an accurate description of a demoralising challenge that we face today.
Tribalism is truly an evil that we have to overcome. For the nation to live, the tribe must be subordinated to it. If the tribe is put above the nation, then the nation will not survive and prosper.

We should structure our politics and our voting patterns in such a way that for one to win presidential elections in this country, one must garner the support that goes beyond his or her tribe; one must mobilise the support of many people from other regions and tribes. And because of this, the sheer sense of purpose and mission is supposed to lift one above the tribe or region. This is Obama’s lesson to us on this score.

Whatever type of political organisation, strategies and tactics we adopt, they must broaden democracy and foster unity in the nation. And although unity is an expedience – and not a principle – it must always be based on firm principles.
What we are seeing in America today is what happens in a nation when politicians in their struggle for power stick to values and are not so much swayed by political expediencies of the moment. This is what happens when one’s merits or abilities are made to be more important, to count more than the colour of his skin or his tribe.
It will not be possible for us to build a strong and prosperous nation on the basis of tribal considerations that totally disregard merit.

The most successful nations in the world are those that have put merit and the abilities of their people above other pious considerations of tribe, race or colour. Let those with much merit take the responsibility of leadership. Let’s have political formations that encourage and promote unity. Let’s oppose and denounce all policies and practices that tend to fragment and weaken our people and make it very difficult for them to tackle the serious problems they face daily.

It is said that unity is so powerful that it can illuminate the whole earth. But it is also true that unity without verity is no better than conspiracy. When people or groups of people who aspire for national leadership come together, they should do so in the interest of the nation and in the name of the national good.

But when people start congregating in regional or tribal camps, the bell should ring in our ears that the purpose for unity is false; it is not in the interest of achieving national unity; it is founded on clay soil and it has the capacity to collapse the nation.

The search for national leaders should not take a regional accent because what is being sought are national leaders for the whole nation. Our politics must be based on sound moral values which should serve to bind our people and not on divisive regional or tribal tendencies.

People who aspire for national leadership should be judged not on the basis of their heritage but on the qualities they offer.

In short, we are saying that what we should continue striving for is the broadening of democracy and the deepening of national unity in whatever we do as a people. As we search for national leaders, let us focus our attention on the questions of morals, principles and the capabilities of individuals to run the affairs of the state and government, as opposed to being blinded by divisive factors such as tribe or region.

What we should be looking for in leadership are virtuous men and women who, although human and fallible, will put the interests of our nation first and lead us to greater heights of prosperity and progress.

Let us always remember the very wise counsel from Mahatma Gandhi that for unity to be real, it must stand the severest strain without breaking.
These are the lessons – at least on the surface - the Obama nomination teaches us.

Labels: BARACK OBAMA, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA

posted by MrK @ 3:28 PM