Maravi

Don't vote for liars, those who bribe

Don't vote for liars, those who bribe
By Editor
Wednesday October 15, 2008 [04:00]

We are living at a time when politics has entered a near-religious sphere with regard to man and his behaviour. We also believe that we have come to a time when religion can enter the political sphere with regard to man and his material needs. How can a spiritual guide of human collective ignore its material problems, its human problems, its vital problems? Can it be that those material, human problems are independent of the historical process? Are they independent of social phenomena?

We have experienced all that. We always go back to the time of primitive slavery. That’s the time when Christianity emerged. Christians had gone from a stage in which they were persecuted to others in which they were the persecutors. And the Inquisition was a period of obscurantism, when men were burned. Now, Christianity could be a real rather than a utopian doctrine, not a spiritual consolation for those who suffer. We would like to see a revival of early Christianity, with its fairer, more humane, more moral values.

We say this because Christ’s entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and degradation of human beings.

And for these reasons, we highly welcome and support the position taken and guidance given in a statement released yesterday by the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), on this month-end’s presidential election.

ZEC, CCZ and EFZ have in their guidance asked the Zambian people to be ready to denounce any practices of bribery that cheapen the precious worth of their votes. And they have appealed to all our people to reject any candidate whose campaign is characterised by lies and half-truths, threats, bribery or corruption to secure votes. They have also asked those in government to exercise maximum restraint in the use of any government resources – motor vehicles, public institutions and media. And they have appealed to our politicians to conduct issue-based campaigns. In conclusion, they explained that it was their duty to guide the nation in matters that affect the lives of the people in the light of the gospel values.

Who can disagree with this guidance? We have consistently stated that as Christians, our people must vote wisely and only for people who are known for their honesty, ability, dedication and concern for the welfare of all.

We are not surprised that the Church is raising the kind of issues that were discussed yesterday. The Church is normally very close to the people, they know the sufferings and degradation that our people have endured because of corruption and other vices. We are living in a country where politics seems to be an end itself for some people. All they want is power for personal aggrandisement.

This is why as a newspaper, we have not been shy to denounce corruption and the corrupt elements, to denounce bribery and those who give bribes in order to get political power. It defeats logic for someone to pay another so that they can serve them. If politics is about service, why do people have to pay others to become their servants? There can only be one reason: they have something else in mind.

The problems that are facing our country today are huge. Anyone wanting to become our president needs to admit this fact. Yes, we have made some very modest progress over the last few years, but it cannot be denied that a great majority of our people are still wallowing in abject poverty, they are without jobs. Hunger and disease are not very far away from them. Since the Chiluba days, we have been raising a huge army of uneducated children with no hope – no past, no present and no future.

These problems are real. We have in our midst parents who cannot afford to look after their own children, adding to the number of so-called street children. Access to medical care has become a jackpot for the rich, for the well-to-do. Even burial is a matter which is difficult for many of our people when death visits. Death in itself is so frequent a visitor that many of our people have been dehumanised to the extent that the brought in dead (BID) section at the University Teaching Hospital must be one of the busiest sections of the hospital. In many ways, we are a country in crisis, in dire need of inspirational leadership.

The catalogue of problems that our country is facing can be very demoralising, one can give up if his bearings are not right. But whatever the difficulties, the challenges, we should not give up because to do that will be to renounce life itself.

Many of us take a lot of things for granted. We eat what we want when we want and assume that this is the same for all our people. We take things such as sanitation – being able to have a bath – for granted and yet there are millions upon millions of our people for whom this is a challenge. We should not cheat ourselves, these problems will not be resolved overnight, it will take long. And only determined leadership can deliver.

We are therefore not surprised that the Church is raising such a strong alarm. We know what corruption and abuse of public resources has done to our country. This is the problem that we have with Rupiah and his camp. They have not learnt that corruption is a serious issue. They have clearly told the nation by their action that they will do whatever it takes to take power. If it means going to bed with a corrupt person, a plunderer who is facing prosecution for robbing his people, they seem prepared to do so if in their thinking it will win them this election.

We are very disappointed that an intelligent man such as Mbita Chitala can stand up today and publicly defend what is not defensible. What planet is he coming from? His campaign has been issuing one contradictory statement after another about Rupiah’s involvement in corruption and all he can do is come up with another attempt to colour the truth. Those who remain stiff-necked after many rebukes are likely to be ruined. There is no honest Zambian today who can say that Rupiah has not been engaging in electoral corruption. Just in case they have short memories, it started with Katete sugar.

Even when there were pictures showing that Rupiah was engaged in distributing sugar and mealie-meal to the electorate at a campaign meeting, his sponsors attempted to shamelessly deny something that every eye had seen. Next was the James Lukuku corruption that Rupiah denied but which his campaign manager Mike Mulongoti confirmed and tried to justify. And now, Chitala is denying again. In Bemba, it is said “kabwalala nipakuboko” meaning you can only prove that somebody has stolen if you catch them in the act. But these gentlemen deny even when they are caught in the act. We can’t understand how Chitala can accuse us of distorting the Claudius Sakala corruption scandal of 1991.

If Rupiah and his team were prepared to run an honest campaign, one could be tempted to understand their blundering. But to blunder so many times and be so dishonest about it is a worrying sign of what would happen if these friends of ours were to take power.
Since winning the MMD nomination, they have done nothing to create confidence and hope in the country. They seem very good at creating despair and hopelessness. They have failed to exercise any restraint in the exercise of the little power that they today have. What will happen if they have a full mandate?

We are concerned that Rupiah and his team are not shy in abusing government resources for their campaign. We are not surprised because Ben Tetamashimba, Rupiah’s election agent, told us that they wanted him so that they can enjoy some constitutional advantage, which he explained as meaning the use or rather abuse of government resources in their quest for power. What will happen to government resources if come October 30, these characters win the election?

We must continue to remind our people that by asking these questions, we mean no ill-will against anyone. We are just facing facts. Rupiah has had an opportunity to create confidence and generate hope for our people. His first act of leadership was to surround himself with pompous, know-it-all fellows who are highly intolerant of any criticism.
These are truths that cannot be truthfully denied. But we know that some of our people are wedded to lies and forced to live with them; this is why it seems that they are overwhelmed when they hear the truth.

Our churches have raised very important and critical issues that we cannot afford to ignore: they have advised us to reject the corrupt, those who bribe the electorates, those who tell lies and those who issue threats to others. They have also alerted us to the abuse of any government resources in this election and to regard it as something unacceptable. This proposition of the Church is one with a solid moral, political and social basis. And for this reason, it shouldn’t be ignored. And if we ignore it, it will be to our own peril. This is a very important message of the Church to all Zambians who, amid lack of understanding and in the blessedness of the thirst for justice, are preparing, in the manner of John the Baptist, for the coming of the Lord, in good governance.

We shouldn’t forget that our way of life is the result of what we believe. And doing is the best way of saying. For Christians, living is the best way of believing. Faith without deeds is worthless (James 2:14-17).

The message from our church leaders gives us the hope that if we follow their advice, their guidance, we should be able to make progress in our country. It is said that the simple lesson of religions, of all philosophies and of life itself is that, although evil may be on the rampage temporarily, the good must win the laurels in the end.
We need religious institutions to continue to be the conscience of society, a moral custodian and a fearless champion of the interests of justice, of fairness, of the weak and downtrodden.

And whether one is a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew or a Hindu, religion is a great force and it can help one have command of one’s own morality, one’s own behaviour and one’s own attitude.

Let’s learn the teachings of our religious teachers. Let’s heed the advice of our church leaders and vote only for honest people, for people who don’t tell lies, for people who don’t bribe the electorate to support and vote for them.

posted by MrK @ 5:18 AM