Rupiah and Levy's legacy on corruption

Rupiah and Levy's legacy on corruption
By Editor
Saturday October 04, 2008 [04:00]

Sometimes the character of a person can be judged by the type of people who hang around him, who support him, who cheer him on, who praise him. If corrupt people support someone, praise someone, want to hang around someone, then questions must be asked about the character of that person. There is need to find out what it is that is attracting corrupt people to that person and why he is entertaining them.

The statements coming from Rupiah Banda’s camp on corruption are frightening. When Levy Mwanawasa was alive, it was very clear where he stood with corrupt elements like Frederick Chiluba. And even then, they knew very well where they stood with Levy – they didn’t want him in any way. At the last elections, Chiluba supported Michael Sata and said they were “voting out the bad and voting in the good”. In this case, the good was Sata and the bad was Levy.

Today, Sata seems to become the bad and Rupiah the good in Chiluba’s eyes. What is it that Rupiah has done or represents that has earned him Chiluba’s support or love? What is it that Sata has done or now represents that has earned him Chiluba’s disapproval or hate?

It is common knowledge that Chiluba represented the citadel of corruption in this country. It is not speculation to say Chiluba is corrupt because this government, the MMD government, took Chiluba to court in London and he was found, together with fellow conspirators, to have defrauded the Zambian government of US $41 million.

This judgment is going through the registration process in our courts of law. And today, this man has become the darling, a political partner of Rupiah’s campaign team.
Why?

On October 5, 2006, Tetamashimba, Rupiah’s election agent, said the MMD did not want to be associated with Chiluba because he “made the country to be bad”.

This was after Chiluba himself said it was an abomination for him to rejoin the MMD and showed public support for Sata in the 2006 elections. Tetamashimba made it very clear that they “don’t want to be associated with people who made the country to be bad”.

And on October 5, 2007, this same Tetamashimba said the MMD was very comfortable without Chiluba in its midst. And on May 18, 2007, Tetamashimba warned that since Levy had won a second term without Chiluba’s support “things will be very tough for him”. Tetamashimba also praised the London High Court which ruled that Chiluba had defrauded the Zambian government of US $41 million.

But last Wednesday, this same Tetamashimba in what appears to be a gigantic U-turn or change of heart, told journalists that Chiluba was not a plunderer but was in court facing “allegations and not truths”. Why this U-turn?

And last week, Mike Mulongoti, Rupiah’s campaign manager, said “Chiluba still carries influence in the country and any party which is wise will want to have him around”. Mulongoti also said that Chiluba was a citizen and was free to join any political party of his choice and “has got an interest in whoever becomes president”.

Is this a question of “follow the leader”? When Levy was alive and not entertaining Chiluba, nobody heard Tetamashimba or Mulongoti say anything positive about him. Tetamashimba dismissed Chiluba as a corrupt man. Hardly a month after Levy’s death, Chiluba is back as a darling of the MMD government. What does this mean?

Does it mean it was Levy who stood in the way between them and Chiluba? Does it mean it was only Levy who had nothing to do with plunderers like Chiluba and now that Levy is gone, Chiluba is free to come back into the fold?

Is this the new policy of the MMD being championed by Rupiah? Does it mean that if Rupiah becomes president, Chiluba and his tandem of thieves will be back in the MMD and will be free to participate in the governance of this country through the MMD – a thing they couldn’t do under Levy?

Is this a reunion of birds of the same feather? Is this what they mean when they say “every creature prefers its own kind, and people are no different; just as animals of the same species flock together, so people keep company with people like themselves?”

Some are saying there has to be forgiveness. We don’t totally disagree. Forgiveness is and will continue to be part of our lives. But so is punishment.

Wrongdoers, even in God’s scheme of things, are punished until they show contrition. Sinners go to hell while the sinless end up in heaven.

There is even purgatory where those with some issues, lesser or pardonable sins, are placed before they can be admitted to heaven. This is not to say God is cruel or unforgiving.

If even in God’s scheme of things impunity is not allowed or tolerated, what more in human affairs? Those who looted public resources to enrich themselves did not do so by accident.

Their actions were deliberate and not a product of oversight. It is accidental wrongs or oversight that may deserve instant forgiveness when one immediately shows contrition or asks for forgiveness.

And normally before one is forgiven, there is admission of wrongdoing on their part. As far as we know, Chiluba has not pleaded guilty to any of the charges he has been found with a case to answer. And he is still fighting the registration of the London High Court judgment.

And this is the man Rupiah and his sponsors want to embrace! How can we explain this? Maybe the easiest way to look at this is by examining and analysing the behaviour and conduct of Rupiah and his friends.

The story that we carried on Wednesday from an October 1991 edition of the Times of Zambia reveals a lot about what Rupiah, his sponsors and Chiluba have in common. Corruption and bribery seems to be a thread that binds them together. Even when one looks at their campaign methods, they are not different from those of Chiluba. Brown envelopes used to fly around in times like these under Chiluba.

The same seems to be happening under Rupiah. Under Chiluba, people used to be ‘rewarded’ for supporting him, especially under his third term scheme. We are seeing this same practice with Rupiah.

It is said that if you do no wrong, no wrong will ever come to you. It is also said that do not plant seeds of injustice, dishonesty; you may reap a bigger harvest than you expect.

It is usually advised that “don’t commit any crime against the general public, and don’t disgrace yourself among your fellow citizens. If you live dangerously, it will kill you. A dishonest person will be burdened down with troubles”.

Chiluba has been found with a case to answer in our courts of law for corruption. This means there is a good prima facie case against him and the charges put against him are good and whether he is convicted or acquitted will depend on the defence he puts up.

Is this the man Rupiah and his campaign team should be courting? What does this tell us about the judgements, the characters or personalities of Rupiah and those who surround him?

Surely, can one go to sleep peacefully, confident that Levy’s legacy on the fight against corruption will be preserved by Rupiah and his friends if they win the October 30 elections? What legacy of Levy on fighting corruption can be preserved by these characters in the company of Chiluba?

It is very clear Rupiah’s agenda on corruption is different from that of Levy. If it were the same, Chiluba wouldn’t come anywhere near them because he doesn’t like people who talk about fighting corruption.

With Rupiah, Chiluba feels safe and in the right company, among friends. It is understandable why Tetamashimba is today defending Chiluba and welcoming him on their side. It also explains why Mulongoti is today saying that “Chiluba still carries influence in the country and any party which is wise will want to have him around”. To corrupt people influence is everything, it takes precedence over everything else, including principles.

The fight against corruption can easily be traded by these characters on the altar of political expedience, can be easily traded for influence just to help them win an election.

It is clear that for Rupiah and his sponsors, anything that can help them win this election should be embraced regardless of how bad, how abominable it may be. But such methods are Rupiah’s methods.

This seems to have been exactly his attitude in October 1991 when he tried to use bribes for the purposes of winning an election.

It is also clear that these characters are nothing but proponents of politics which have nothing to do with the real interests of the people of this country but with their own personal concerns. But they will always find justifications and fools to defend their treacherous politics, corrupt methods and ridiculous political deals.

They don’t seem to be capable of any approach to politics other than that of lies, deceit, manipulation and bribery.

But they have people who are ready to defend all this, who are ready to support all this. With all certainty the opportunists – who are today trying to defend wrong things, wrongdoings, bad records because they are being done by people who are privileged, who hold the reins of power and seem to be likely to continue in office – with their political cowardice will survive to evidence their own stupidity.

However, in all ages and under all circumstances, there will always exist abundant reasons not to fight vice, wrongdoings, corruption or misrule. But that will be the only way for our nation not to make progress.

We are advised in Proverbs 1:10-19: “Son, when sinners tempt you, don’t give in. Suppose they say, ‘Come on; let’s find someone to kill! Let’s attack some innocent people for the fun of it! They may be alive and well when we find them, but they will be dead when we are through with them! We’ll find all kinds of riches and fill our houses with loot! Come on and join us, and we will all share what we steal.’

Son, don’t go with people like that. Stay away from them. They can’t wait to do something bad.

They are always ready to kill. It does no good to spread a net when the bird you want to catch is watching, but men like that are setting a trap for themselves, a trap in which they will die. Robbery always claims the life of the robber…”

The signs are there, it is up to us to read them. The advice is there, it is up to us to heed it. The lessons are there, it is up to us to learn them. The choices are there, it is up to us to make the right ones.