Maravi

Lies, deceit and manipulation

Lies, deceit and manipulation
By Editor
Saturday August 30, 2008 [04:00]

Choosing a leader should be an easy undertaking in a society where the values and standards are clear to all. But it can be a very difficult exercise if vanity, greed, selfishness and all the negative human traits are allowed to prevail. In an honest political environment, virtue opens a way for itself, and conniving, greed and cheating fail. In an honest political environment, as in no other, only those who are honest – only those with true convictions can be chosen for leadership.

Nobody should be allowed to get into public office to fulfill a personal ambition or pleasure. They should just be fulfilling their duty – to serve the cause of their people.

The same can be said about our process of choosing a leader to replace Levy Mwanawasa. In these selections and elections, methods and tactics that prostitute the process to falsify the will and interests of the people should not be allowed. They should not be used to put into office the most inept and most shrewd, rather than the most competent and the most honest.

As we stated yesterday, every person vying for the office of president should be put on the scale and weighed. All those found wanting should not be considered for that office in any way.

We have heard so many lies over the last week or so from those campaigning for some candidates who want to succeed Levy. Crooked politicians have been able to conjure up a thousand conjectures.

They have tried to spread discord and doubt, even about ourselves, and we have waited patiently because it is necessary to wait. This differentiates honest people from opportunists, mercenaries, manipulators. Honest people know how to wait; they know how to be patient; they never despair. Crooks, manipulators, opportunists live in perpetual despair, in perpetual anguish, in perpetual lying, in the most ridiculous and infantile way.
It is said in Proverbs 28:10: “If you trick an honest person into doing evil, you will fall into your own trap.

The innocent will be well rewarded.”
When you read the things said by some of these politicians in their campaigns, you ask yourself: But how is it possible this gentleman or lady is not in a stable instead of belonging to such high institutions of government and the state? Some of them are coming out with absolute nonsense. And they have a tremendous habit of lying, they cannot live without lying. They live in fear.

If we say one thing, which is what we have been consistently saying, they see fierce, terrible things, a plan behind all this! How ridiculous! What fear they live in! And one wonders: Do they believe this? Do they believe everything they say? Or do they need to believe everything they say? Or can’t they live without believing everything they say? Or do they say everything they don’t believe?

It’s difficult to say. This would be a matter for doctors and psychologists. What do they have in their brains? What fear is it that makes them see everything as a manoeuvre, as a fierce, frightening, terrible plan? They don’t know that there is no better tactic, no better strategy than to fight with clean hands, to fight with the truth. We say this because these are the only weapons that inspire confidence, that inspire faith, that inspire security, dignity and morale.

These are the only weapons honest people use to defeat and crush their enemies.

Lies. Who has ever heard lies from the lips of a truly honest person? Lies are weapons that help no honest person, and no serious honest person ever needs to resort to a lie.

Their weapon is reason, morality, truth, the ability to defend an idea, a proposal, a position. In short, the moral spectacle of some of these people is truly lamentable.

Recalling our past, we believe we have worked and carried out our duty with sufficient honour, integrity and dedication to better our country in all areas of human endeavour.

And no matter how many lies are piled up, one on top of another against honest people, nothing will succeed. No matter how hard its adversary – falsehood – may try to overwhelm it, truth always refuses to yield and triumphs.

We have stated before that manipulators have never deserved anybody’s respect or been successful anywhere.

We have stated that manipulators are like little sailboats that go with the wind and the waves. Manipulation is synonymous with opportunism. Manipulation doesn’t have substance; it doesn’t have roots. We think everything – respect, relationships, serious analysis and understanding – is possible among people who are honest with themselves and with others. We cannot call others to virtues which we ourselves do not make an effort to practice.

We shouldn’t allow our politics to be relegated to trivialities chosen precisely because they salve the consciences of the opportunists, the power-hungry trying to feather their nests and to conceal the plight of the poor and the powerless.

It is the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

The problems our people are today facing are such that for anybody with a conscience who can use whatever influence he or she may have to try and move our country forward, it’s difficult to say no.

Let it never be said by future generations that indifference, cynicism or selfishness made us fail to live up to Levy’s legacy.

Clearly, what is important, the most important thing, is to give happiness to people. But this is not always easy. It is an endless struggle. After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

The ways in which we achieve our goals seem to be bound by context, changing with circumstances even while remaining steadfast in our commitment to our vision.

The exercise of choosing the MMD candidate in the forth-coming presidential by-election should be a very simple exercise if the leaders of this party have a clear criteria, clear values and standards that their party wants to pursue – and a clear understanding of what constitutes Levy’s legacy. The process appears to be difficult or complicated because these values, these standards are not clear to all and everything has been thrown into a casino to be gambled.

But can a serious politician throw the future of our people into a casino, to be decided upon through the process of gambling? This shows what type of leaders we have whose only preoccupation is what is in it for them, what’s their cut. They seem to be supporting candidates on the basis of who will guarantee them a certain position, a certain presence in his cabinet. This is all that seems to matter to most of them. It is not the abilities, the competency, the honesty and integrity of the candidate, but what is in it for them that really matters.

We believe this explains everything that is going on, the lies we are hearing, the deceit we are witnessing. This is what fell to us to explain. As for the rest, let our enemies worry about it. We have enough tasks, enough things to do in our country, enough duties to fulfill. And we will fulfill them.

Labels: MMD, NEVERS MUMBA, PRESIDENCY

posted by MrK @ 4:31 PM