Maravi

Farewell, Levy, farewell!

Farewell, Levy, farewell!
By Editor
Wednesday August 20, 2008 [04:00]

It’s a hard blow, an extremely hard blow. Who can deny what a blow President Levy Mwanawasa’s death is to our country, to our people, to our struggles, how much it means to no longer be able to count on his support, his experience, his inspiration, the strength of his character and reputation, which instilled fear in crooks, in the corrupt, the plunderers?

It is a fierce blow, a very hard one. But we are sure that he, more than anyone, was convinced that what is most important is not man’s physical life but rather his conduct. This is the only way to explain and understand how Levy’s absolute contempt for crooks, thieves, plunderers fits in with his personality and actions.

We have come a long way with Levy. From the early days of the MMD – many months before our newspaper was launched – Levy was our political ally, a comrade of ours. We worked with him in the re-introduction of multiparty politics in our country. We sat with him on the interim executive committee of the MMD.

Levy emerged as a gallant lawyer ready to fight many causes that had to be fought in that day. He was not a natural or career politician but he was always available for service. His strong personality was useful in fighting many difficult battles.

We stood with him when he decided to run for the vice-presidency of the MMD in early 1991. The late Baldwin Nkumbula, a very close friend of ours, also contested the vice-presidency. We told Baldwin that we could not support him. It seemed wrong that he and Frederick Chiluba should ascend to the two topmost positions of the MMD and eventually the country.

As painful as our decision then was, we had to face Baldwin, a close friend, and tell him that we were going to support Levy.

After he left Chiluba’s government and got back to legal practice, we engaged Levy as our lawyer. He was one of those few lawyers who were prepared to defend us during the most vicious and merciless onslaught of the Chiluba government on us. He risked himself and defended us when we were facing the most serious case of this newspaper’s history - the espionage case.

When Levy assumed office of President of the Republic of Zambia on the sponsorship of Chiluba and his tandem of thieves, he seemed suspicious of what we stood for. He also seemed to mistake our hard criticism of some of the mistakes that we thought his government was making as being personal. It did not take long, however, before he appreciated that we meant well, that when we criticised him, it was for the benefit of our people so that he could perform better. We do not regret being hard on him and for that we will never be sorry or apologetic.

Why? Many people today are mourning, genuinely and sincerely heart-broken because of Levy’s passing. Many people who thought they hated him or even disliked him are shocked by the sense of despair and uncertainty that has gripped them. They valued Levy but did not understand him. They appreciated the decency and honesty that he brought to our country’s politics even though they did not take full account of what Levy was doing.
We are proud to say that if Levy did so much good as seems to be the case from what people are saying, the media played a critical role. Everybody that was prepared to criticise him, to point out the mistakes when they were happening, played an important role. It is because of the role that the media played that we say we cannot apologise for our fights with Levy.

We feel confident to say this because Levy himself in the end understood us and appreciated our work, our principles, our ideas, our dignity. He was able to engage us even when we had serious differences. We appreciated also that he had a job to do, which we respected, and we were pleased that he too recognised ours. Any differences that we had did not stop us from engaging Levy to discuss serious national issues. It is because of the mutual respect that emerged out of our long relationship and our principled engagements that Levy found it fit to commission us to write his biography.

After commissioning us, Levy proceeded with a deliberate sense of urgency of a man on a mission. He wanted the work finished quickly and gave us as much time as he could and allowed us to probe some of his most intimate experiences in life. He did not put a fence on what we could or could not ask. He was not shy to discuss any subject, even some that may be considered taboo in our culture. He wanted to give a true portrait of himself, and what he stood for, his ideas, his thoughts, his aspirations, his fears, his choices.

Levy impressed us with his clarity on what the problems of Zambia were. He did not fear to point at himself. He understood that the problem with Zambia was a failure of leadership. He was so determined to make whatever contribution he could to develop leadership. He made it clear that the principle purpose of the biography that he commissioned us to write was to help future generations of leaders so that they could have a clear portrait of one of their leaders and see where he went wrong and where he was right. He was happy for us to record everything he was saying – and that we did. And today, we have audiotapes of Levy’s experiences, thoughts, ideas, principles, fears and choices.

In the last interview we held with him at his residence two days after his return from Japan, he shocked us by the clarity of his thoughts when he prayed before we shared a meal. He prayed so clearly that we were forced to write down his prayer to God for this country: “…We thank you Lord for this food we are about to eat. Even as we eat, we are mindful that many of our people do not have this privilege to eat in the manner that we are about to do.

“It is for this reason that we ask you Father to guide us in managing the affairs of this country so that we do that which is correct and be able to provide for all our people in need. We ask that You guide our ministers and all those involved in the management of the affairs of our country. Give them wisdom and courage to do that which is good so that they work to the benefit of the country and our people…

“…We thank You Lord for having brought Amos Malupenga in our family and also for his assignment of recording my life history. We ask that You guide him throughout this assignment. Give him wisdom so that he can correctly and properly record this history because it will serve as an incentive for posterity to aspire for good leadership. We need to show posterity the need to invest in good leadership, people should aspire for good leadership because good leadership is the solution to most of the problems we are facing as a nation. With good leadership, most of our problems can meaningfully reduce…”
No matter how bitter, how painful the circumstances, we cannot waver in fulfilling this duty.

We must be prepared for all vicissitudes, including setbacks. Has the history of progressive peoples been characterised by the absence of hard blows?
Let’s overcome such blows, setbacks without being discouraged. Isn’t it us who should be preaching the value of moral principles, the value of example? Are we not the ones who believe in the lasting quality of the work of human beings, of the principles of human beings?

Are we not the first ones to acknowledge how ephemeral is humanity’s physical existence, and how long lasting and durable are humanity’s ideas, conduct and example – since example is what has inspired and guided the peoples throughout history?
This is always the way it has been. Harder blows, extremely hard blows. Such blows have been dealt to many progressive nations and peoples, who, however, always overcame these setbacks and blows, no matter how hard they were.

We must not lose time or allow the plunderers, crooked characters, thieves, power-hungry elements to assume the psychological offensive in order to dishearten us. Basing ourselves on truth and recognition of truth, and turning Levy’s example into invincible strength, we must go forward, firmer and more determined than ever. We cannot waver in fulfilling this duty – no matter how bitter, how painful the circumstances.

We have enough experience to know how to do things; and there are extremely valuable principles of immense worth in Levy’s example.

Whereas there are people without dignity, there are people who carry inside them the dignity of many people! And one of those is Levy.

And at this time, our thoughts are also with first lady Maureen and the children. We wish to convey our sincerest condolences to them. Bereavement, and the period of adjustment which follows, are always traumatic. How much more so for those who were part of the private life of a public figure, the President of our country, a statesman, for they have to share their grief and memories with millions of strangers. Yet, it is inevitable that someone like Levy, who directly and indirectly affected so many people’s lives, would be mourned by most Zambians.

And we make a clarion call to all those who care for and appreciate the legacy that Levy has left to unite and make sure that never again should thieves and those who sympathise with thieves rule over us.

We are also appealing to the government to extend the period of national mourning beyond the seven days announced. Seven days is too short a period to mourn a head of state, especially one who has died abroad. We hope those in charge of our government will give this request of ours a favourable consideration so that our people and Levy’s friends all over the world can have a greater chance to mourn him.

Levy, we say farewell to you. We will always remember you with pride and affection.
Farewell, Levy, farewell. Rest in eternal peace.

Labels: MWANAWASA

posted by MrK @ 5:16 AM