Maravi

Let's use KK's experience

Let's use KK's experience
By Editor
Thursday July 31, 2008 [04:00]

AFRICA has under-utilised Dr Kenneth Kaunda's experience in solving problems on our continent. We agree with ANC president Jacob Zuma's observation that there is a lot that the current African leaders can learn from Dr Kaunda. And Dr Kaunda has always made himself available for service wherever his experience is needed.

As Zuma correctly observed, Dr Kaunda dealt with very difficult issues during his leadership and his experience could be very useful to the current African leaders. For those seeking to unite their people and end conflict, Dr Kaunda's experience can be very valuable.

Dr Kaunda participated in the efforts to end the Nigerian civil war when Biafra tried to secede. He was also at the heart of the Angolan conflict and was one of those leaders who strongly advocated a government of national unity in that country in the mid 1970s.

Dr Kaunda participated in the Lancaster House talks that saw Zimbabwe gain its independence. He, for many years, chaired the frontline states that championed the liberation struggle in southern Africa. Dr Kaunda brokered talks between the Portuguese and Samora Machel's Frelimo; between whites from apartheid South Africa and leaders of the ANC.

Dr Kaunda has also been very strong on Middle East issues, especially the Palestinian question. The list of his experiences seems endless. But the question is why are we under-utilising this experience?

If we are to deal with our continent's conflicts in a more effective, efficient and orderly manner, we cannot afford not to utilise such experiences. These conflicts threaten not only the gains we have made, but also our collective future and everything possible should be done to extinguish them as soon as they arise. And sometimes measures should be taken to prevent conflicts from arising at all.

We should treat the question of peace and stability on our continent as a common challenge. One destabilising conflict anywhere on the continent is one too many.

The peoples of resurgent Africa are perfectly capable of deciding upon their own future, discovering and themselves dealing with any dangers that might arise. We need to exert ourselves much more, and break out of the vicious cycle of dependency on others for everything, including political formulas and conflict resolution.

We need to exert ourselves much more, and break out of the vicious cycle of dependency imposed on us by the financially powerful; those in command of immense market power and those who dare to fashion the world in their own image.

Africa, more than any other continent, has had to contend with the consequences of conquest in a denial of its own role in history, including the denial that its people had the capacity to bring about change and progress.

A continent that does not value its older generation of leaders denies its roots and endangers its future. The past is a rich resource from which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future. And the purpose of looking back to the past and its leaders, is not to deride human action, nor to weep over it or to hate it, but to understand it - and then to learn from it as we contemplate our future.

It is the dictate of history to bring to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment, who cohere the wishes and aspirations of the people. More often than not, an epoch creates and nurtures the individuals which are associated with its twists and turns.

We agree with Zuma that we truly have a lot to learn from the KK generation of leaders that is now reaching the end of a long and heroic struggle. They fought a noble battle and lived their lives in pursuit of a better life for all who follow. Almost everything that we are enjoying today is the sweet fruit of their lives of struggle and sacrifice.

Their lives teach us that human beings must follow dictates of their conscience irrespective of the consequences which might overtake them for it. It is said that if your attitude is to do things which are going to please the community and human beings, then of course you are likely to live a long life. To go to bed feeling that you have done some service to the community is very important. The important thing is to give happiness to the people.

And it is not only the African continent that has under-utilised Dr Kaunda's experience, we Zambians - as a nation - are also guilty of this. Our political leaders have not really utilised KK's massive experience in dealing with problems that affect our country or our country's relations and dealings with others. Again, the question is: why?

We shouldn't forget that KK's life struggle has had meaning only because it has sought to achieve the supreme objective of ensuring that each person could have the possibility to reach for the skies. Perhaps it is KK's faith in the redeemability of human beings which produced a freedom fighter so humble, so gentle, a politician so compassionate, so firm and unwavering, a leader so human, with warmth and kindness, with great integrity, with courage, with a simple unaffected humility, an unforgettable man, full of valour in thought and display.

It is time we Zambians led the continent into utilising KK's experience. We shouldn't forget that the experience KK has belongs to the nation and not to himself; it is not his, it is for the nation. And as such, it should be used by the nation to advance itself and our continent and indeed the whole of humanity.

We say this because it is Zambia that made KK; it was the leadership opportunity that the Zambian people gave him that made KK what he is today. Of course, one can also say KK made Zambia - probably it will also be correct to say KK and Zambia made each other. Dr Kaunda is a national asset, a tool that has to be used to the full for the development and progress of our country, our continent and indeed of humanity.

And a tool that is not used is a wasted one, a useless one. Is this what we want to turn KK into? The answer is a categorical No. Let's reap the benefits of the investment Zambia and Africa invested in KK by utilising his experience to the full.

Labels: JACOB ZUMA, KENNETH KAUNDA

posted by MrK @ 4:41 AM