Maravi

Bribery

Bribery
By Editor
Thursday September 25, 2008 [04:00]

Those who are ready to join hands can overcome the greatest challenges. But the joining of hands should be a result of honest and genuine co-operation and not manipulation, deceit or bribery. As we have stated before in this column, manipulators have never deserved anybody’s respect or been successful anywhere. Manipulators are like little sailboats that go with the wind and the waves. Manipulation is synonymous with opportunism.

Manipulation does not have substance; it doesn’t have roots. We don’t think anyone can really have respect for anyone they thought is a manipulator, and by the same token, no one has respect for a person they think is being manipulated. We think that everything – respect, relationships, serious analysis and understanding – is possible among people who are honest with themselves and others.

The story we have carried today of money changing hands to purchase political support is a sad one. Why should one be paid K15 million just for him to announce that he is backing Rupiah Banda? Why should people be paid to support a candidate?

All this shows us the need for great care in choosing people for political office, especially the very high office of Republican president.

There are electoral laws that were enacted to prevent anything from undermining the wishes of the people in elections. We need elections to truly reflect the wishes of our people. This means people should support candidates freely and without being bribed or corrupted in any way.

As a nation, we are trying to get rid of bribery and electoral corruption in general. Can we accept a candidate who gives bribes? Are we honest about the evil of bribery if we ourselves accept bribes?

In casting one’s vote, a citizen should never be swayed by bribes or personal profit but solely by consideration of which of the candidates is better for the nation.

When there are elections, you should scrutinise the people who wish to represent you, who wish to manage or administer the affairs of our country and select your candidate strictly according to the good you think they can do.

The use of unjust means of any form, by anyone, to win political support or votes is against justice and the laws of our country.

We therefore call on the Zambian people to say, “Enough,” enough of dishonesty, of lies, of self-seeking, of bribery and corruption. We must say, “Enough,” first to ourselves. If we are to halt these, it will only be if the great majority of us resolutely refuse to take that road, the road of bribery and corruption.

It is said that “those who are good travel a road that avoids evil; so watch where you are going – it may save your life” (Proverbs 16:17). And we have to accept the fact that we will have to live with the consequences of everything we do or say.

And money shouldn’t be seen to be everything – it isn’t everything. Money alone doesn’t even make for happiness.

A sense of justice, dignity, self-respect, respect for others and love for your fellow men have a great deal to do with happiness, as have moral principles; the feeling of being free, equal, and respected and of taking part in the battle for the progress of one’s country, the world you live in; and working like beavers, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of your people. As we have stated before, corrupt elements solve everything on a price basis. They believe there is a price for every human being and they try to solve everything on that basis – bribery.

But whereas there are people who hire themselves out to the highest bidder, there are also those like James Lukuku who refuse to be purchased, to sell themselves out, to hire themselves out. And these men – those who refuse to hire themselves out – should give all of us a feeling of security and great confidence in the future of our country.

What Lukuku has done is a useful reminder of the saying that all human beings have a core of decency, and that if their hearts are touched, they are capable of doing good. All these people being bribed, being hired are not necessarily evil; this vulture behaviour of theirs has been foisted on them by an evil political system.

They are prostituting or hiring themselves out because they are rewarded for doing so. No one can deny that K15 million is a lot of money for most of our unemployed brothers who today have no other discernable occupation other than politics. And this is why we urgently need a government that can seriously tackle the issue of unemployment and give our people a sense of pride and dignity that goes with having a job, a steady source of income.

Unemployment is causing a lot of problems for our people. Most of our brothers and sisters who are today in active politics are people without jobs, are those who have failed to secure employment, are those who have failed to run meaningful businesses. They have turned to politics for survival and not for service to their fellow citizens.

And as long as the situation remains like this, our politics will continue to be characterised by bribery and corruption. But for those with money, it is immoral for them to use that money to corrupt poor souls. And what type of leadership are we likely to get from such merciless characters who can take advantage of their poor brothers and sisters and pay them bribes to campaign and vote for them?

We know of cases of good comrades who, little by little, fell into the clutches of these corrupt and manipulative politicians in subtle ways and today have nothing to do but to put themselves at the service of empty and corrupt politicians seeking public office. This is why it is said that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians, especially the corrupt ones.

We therefore advise Rupiah, whose campaign seems to be more better funded than those of his competitors, to be careful on the use of money. We know that he really wants to become president come October 30. But it shouldn’t be at all costs.

It shouldn’t take him to crime, to bribery and corruption to achieve that. We are also worried that the people around him are also very desperate for political jobs and other appointments and are ready to do anything to ensure that he wins the election.
Seeking political office also does require self-limitation measures. It shouldn’t be a game where anything goes if it helps one win. There are limitations in every competition.

Even in sports, steroids are not allowed and those who try to indulge in them to win are, if discovered, disqualified. Moreover, dishonesty, deceit, lies, bribery and corruption never give you joy and peace.

We have to talk about these things frankly. There shouldn’t be any holding back on issues of this nature because “someone who holds back the truth causes trouble, but one who openly criticises works for peace” (Proverbs 10:10).

We know saying things of this nature about Rupiah opens us to all sorts of attacks and accusations. Let it be. Their attacks and accusations merely reflect the insecurities of narrow, short-sighted men who blame their problems not on their own misguided utterances and actions but on those who expose and criticise their shortcomings, their misdeeds.

But surely, if elections can be purchased in this way, who needs them? If elections can be manipulated in this way, purchased in this way to falsify the wish of the people, who needs elections? We shouldn’t forget the fact that although elections are the best way of choosing leaders, they are not the only way.

If this route – the one of elections – is rendered meaningless, people will find other meaningful ways of choosing their leaders. We don’t think it is a desire of Zambian people to move away from what is considered to be the best way of choosing leaders to other less desirable methods.

We therefore urge those involved in these elections to conduct themselves and their campaigns in an honest manner and within the law.

Labels: CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 6:47 AM