Maravi

Rupiah's campaign of threats

Rupiah's campaign of threats
By Editor
Wednesday October 01, 2008 [04:00]

Election campaigns must be carried out in a peaceful and honest way, devoid of any violence or threats of violence.

All our politicians, their followers and supporters must be guided by the truth, integrity and justice. It is necessary to remind all our politicians, including Rupiah Banda and his sponsors, that politics is for the good of the people and the country, and not for the political survival of any individual or political party. If the primacy of the common good were to animate all our politicians, we would not hear the language of threats, intimidation, violence, tribalism or regionalism that is coming from Rupiah, his sponsors and followers, which leaves the public dismayed and disheartened.

Addressing Rupiah’s campaign rally in Solwezi on Monday, Mike Mulongoti – Rupiah’s campaign manager – said after they win the presidential election on October 30, they will ask Rupiah to leave the country for a while so that they sort out all those who have been writing negative stories about him. And while Mulongoti was saying all this, Rupiah and his entourage which included, among others, Felix Mutati, Kenneth Chipungu, Richard Taima, Ludwig Sondashi, Emmanuel Chihili, Caine Mweemba, Ben Tetamashimba, were laughing, enjoying the threats.

And Sondashi threatened to beat up anybody who would mention Patriotic Front president Michael Sata’s name in his presence. Tetamashimba justified Sondashi’s threats, saying it would be the right thing to do.

And in response, Rupiah clapped his hands to these messages of threats. And in his own address, Rupiah referred to Sata as a big black snake with red eyes and a red tongue.

This is the character of a man who wants to be the president of this country. And this is the type of men that surround this man – Rupiah. This is the same man who not very long ago told the people of Eastern Province to tell other candidates when they go to campaign in that region to go back where they come from.

What type of a leader is this that allows and cheers on his followers when they are breaking the law by threatening violence? This is the man Zambians are being asked to vote for as their president on October 30!
This reminds us of October 1991 when the nation was being told by those who were in power then that: “Come November 1, we will twist their lips.” And Rupiah belonged to the group of people that were making such threats to those in MMD. These were threats by UNIP leaders to those in the opposition MMD, as it then was. We are seeing a repeat of the same UNIP behaviour of 1991. Luckily, UNIP didn’t win and people’s lips were not twisted.

What Rupiah and his sponsors are telling the people of Zambia is that if they win on October 30, Zambia will only be for Rupiah, his sponsors, his followers and those who supported and voted for him. All others should go into exile or in the bush to hide! This is the Zambia Rupiah and his sponsors are promising us – a Zambia of unbridled intolerance. Is this tenable? The answer is a categorical No.

But these threats, this intolerance shouldn’t be treated lightly. All we need to do is look at Rupiah’s attitude towards Ng’andu Magande and others who opposed his adoption as the MMD presidential candidate – they are all excluded or marginalised in his scheme of things. If Rupiah can do this to fellow MMD members, what more those from other political affiliations?

Should this man be trusted and voted for?
Rupiah has been going around saying his campaign will simply be about issues and not personalities and insults. But the same Rupiah was on Monday telling people in Solwezi that Sata was “a big black snake with red eyes and a red tongue”. Should this really be described as a campaign issue? Is this one of the issues Rupiah promised to stick to? What has Sata’s red eyes got to do with this campaign? What has Sata’s red tongue got to do with this campaign?

Is Sata responsible for the colour of his eyes? Is Sata responsible for the colour of his tongue? Are these not issues for God to answer? Is it not God’s choice about what colour of eyes or tongue Sata should have? Why should Sata be made to answer for God’s deeds?

Would it be proper for any person to make Rupiah’s big nose a campaign issue? Would it be proper for anyone to make Rupiah’s handsomeness or ugliness a campaign issue? Aren’t these issues for God to answer for? God created Rupiah with a big nose for a purpose. God created Sata with red eyes for a purpose. Who are we to question God’s wisdom in doing so?

We don’t know where Rupiah will stop with his discrimination. The other time, the issue was where one hailed from. Today, the issue is the colour of one’s eyes and tongue! What is next? Isn’t this the way Hitler started? Are these not the same issues Hitler was raising?

We would like to point out that when people are well-informed, without delays, then harmful talk cannot succeed. The radio, television and newspapers must be at the service of the truth, justice and all the best values of our people. When the media are used for other purposes, then trust disappears and lies flourish. Unity is broken.

Our politicians should avoid at all costs the use of unjust means to win elections, to win power. The use of unjust means of any form, by anyone, is against justice.

We are working for justice, peace and progress in our country. We want to see these flourish. We are not troublemakers or anarchists, law-breakers. We believe that the peacemaker is the person who seeks justice, “with hunger and thirst” (Mt 5:6), as a hungry person seeks food and drink. A peacemaker seeks that justice which favoured one’s person and that justice which goes against one’s person; that justice which the peacemaker is used to, and the justice which is part of the established order as well as that which disturbs it.

The peacemaker is the humble person, the tolerant person who recognises one’s errors and humiliations, who knows how to apologise and how to recover and retrace one’s steps. The peacemaker has no enemies. Such a person doesn’t know how to hate or bear a grudge. Such a person knows how to forgive without giving offence. The peacemaker is a person who loves everybody.

Such a person dreams of utopias, tries to persuade others to unite in hope and in a splendid vision for the future. The peacemaker lives and does battle in the sight of God, confident that justice and peace will prevail in the end.

We can never support the principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. If such a principle were allowed to be applied freely in our country, unending violence would be the order of the day.
We, therefore, urge all our people not to vote for politicians who try to fuel trouble and divisions among our people with irresponsible public utterances and deeds.

Political dissent and constructive criticism should not be viewed as sedition or subversion.

Hatred is more than want of love. It separates us interiorly from our neighbour. It destroys the only basis of civil life. If it is directed against a person of our neighbour, it is always grievously sinful. Hatred grieves at the propensity and rejoices at the adversity of others, exaggerates their faults and discounts their virtues. It wishes evil, and it doesn’t stop at malediction, calumny and detraction, but often assails the very life. Hence, the Bible says: “Whosoever hateth one’s neighbour is a murderer” (John 3:15). Again: “If a person says he or she loves God but hates one’s neighbour, that person is a liar” (John 4:21).

Therefore, to live together peacefully and harmoniously, we, the citizens of this country, must learn to tolerate the differences that do exist everywhere. Moreover, ours is a multi-party state and such a state cannot function without pluralism in views, beliefs, thoughts, actions and so on and so forth.

And peace, as recent events in Kenya and Zimbabwe remind us so vividly, is a frail and fragile possession.
As for the threats against us by Mulongoti, our hope is that we in the media and all our fellow citizens realise and remember that for all the disquiet that can come from a free and independent press like The Post, life without it would be much worse. It is easy to embrace freedom of speech and of the press for ideas we accept. But the essence of freedom of speech and the press is that we must protect the ideas we hate.

The first step in this battle is to understand the threats we face.
It is a ferment of ideas, the clash of disagreeing judgments, the privilege of the individual to develop his own thoughts and shape his own character that makes progress possible.

Threats of this nature are not new to us. As journalists, we have been harassed, beaten, clubbed and humiliated in all sorts of ways. We fully understand and accept that freedom’s price is high.

As a newspaper, we have to stand up for what is right and not worry about what is politically feasible. And standing up for what is right is not always easy or popular. And we would like to remind Rupiah and his sponsors that press freedom was not guaranteed in our Constitution so that we can freely praise our politicians, our presidential candidates, our public officials, even our chiefs. It was put there so we can freely criticise our public officials, our leaders – be they political, traditional, religious or other.

Again, we appeal to all our leaders, to all our people, to pay a lot of attention to what all our presidential candidates are saying and doing so that we can make informed choices come October 30. In the end, we should get a president we deserve.

We are told that we are here on earth as pilgrims, on our journey towards heaven. Having come from the hands of God the Creator, we have to return to His presence. We are also told that all our wisdom consists in identifying and following the path that leads to heaven. But how many deceptions! Wide is the way that leads to perdition, and many enter into it. Narrow is the path that leads to heaven, and few take it (Mt 7:13-14)! God, Jesus Christ, and the Church cry out to us: “You have in front of you the way of life and the way of death; choose therefore life” (Dt 30:19). Similarly, the choice is ours!

Labels: RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 6:47 AM