Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
By Editor
Friday July 04, 2008 [04:00]

There has been so much speculation about President Levy Mwanawasa's illness. For the last few days, there have been contradictory – and sometimes outright false – stories about President Mwanawasa’s illness following the stroke he suffered early this week.

While the great majority of our people showed a lot of concern and affection towards their President and spent many hours praying for him, there were some scoundrels who were phoning us telling us that Levy is dying and we, together with the Nchito brothers, will perish with him.

And yesterday, there was some news item on the international channels and wire services claiming that Levy had died in the morning.

This is not true. And as first lady Maureen Mwanawasa put it to us yesterday: “… the President is very much alive, he is sick yes, and making progress with hope.”

There is no benefit in maintaining doubts about President Mwanawasa’s condition. Regardless of the circumstances, however – even if one felt it beneficial in any way to maintain doubt about the President’s condition – such a consideration would have not kept us from telling the truth. As a matter of fact, we do not believe such a course of action would be in any way beneficial.

Even if keeping President Mwanawasa’s condition in doubt could have been beneficial in any way, we have never used lies, fear of the truth, complicity with lies of any kind as our weapon. We cannot do so under any circumstances.

Many people, including the international press, were calling us yesterday to try and find out the truth about the President’s condition. They were doing so because they have placed their trust in our reporting the truth. They have always been sure that they have never been lied to, and that when a truth must be stated publicly, that truth will always be stated publicly.

Many people were waiting for us to tell them what was true and what were lies about the President’s condition. Again, we restate that the President is very ill. His condition is worrying. But he is not dead. The condition has somewhat stabilised and there is justification not to lose hope. But of course people should realise and accept the fact that the President is very ill and he should be treated as such. But there is no need to tell lies about his condition and deceive the nation and the world.

We know thieves and plunderers, and some power-hungry jackals would like to see him dead. But there is no need to tell lies and even to insinuate that we are in some way in complicity to deny the public true information.

Therefore, whatever the circumstances, we consider it our duty to express our opinion on the President’s condition, although there is one thing that makes this particularly delicate: the feelings and concerns of the President’s family and relatives. We hope they will understand that however painful it may be to say what we say, there is no lack of courtesy – much less lack of consideration – intended towards them.

Logically, the natural tendencies of any person faced with possible bad news about someone for whom he feels great affection is to reject it. But this is not the case with us in this situation. But in the mind of the people, there is a tendency to reject such kind of news and hope for the best.

We sincerely believe and hold the opinion that the duty of telling the truth stands above all considerations of convenience – and that has been our attitude. No matter how bitter or painful the circumstances, we cannot waver in fulfilling this duty.

Moreover, what good would it do for our people to maintain false hopes, to be made to believe all is well with their President? What would be gained by that?

Our people should be prepared for whatever comes about, for all vicissitudes, including setbacks. And if this happens, they should know what to do. If we were to wake up today or tomorrow and our President is not there, or is not able to carry out his duties, we should know what to do. But one thing we should never do is to put a thief, a corrupt element, a plunderer in his place. We know that these elements are busy plotting on how to get their hands again on power. But they should not be given a chance. We gave them a chance and they abused us.

It is very clear to all of us that the President’s illness following a stroke on Sunday possesses a serious danger to the many progressive things he was doing, to the progress of our country and to our fight against corruption. Who could deny what a blow Levy’s stroke may be to the progress of our country if he doesn’t sufficiently recover; how much it may mean to no longer be able to count on him, his strength of reputation, which instilled fear in thieves, plunderers of all hues and other corrupt elements?

We urge all our people to have our President in all their thoughts and to spend many hours praying for him.

Again, let’s bear in mind that the President is very ill and in great danger. Let us remain united in this most challenging and agonising moment and hope for the best. And as we hope for the best, let us prepare for the worst.