Maravi

We won't apologise for our choice

We won't apologise for our choice
By Editor
Sunday October 12, 2008 [04:00]

When we first started criticising Rupiah Banda and his politics, some people thought we were being unfair. And others said we had judged him too quickly. We hadn’t given him enough chance to prove himself. But this is a man of experience, with a known record. He has been district governor of Lusaka and a minister in the Kaunda government.

He has been chief executive of a parastatal institution – Namboard. And for the last two years, he has been Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia. Why should we not judge him on this record?

We had a similar problem with Frederick Chiluba in 1991. Chiluba complained that before he had even formed his first cabinet, we were already criticising and questioning him. Chiluba and his supporters complained that we were not giving them a chance to prove themselves; we were accused of being in a hurry to judge him.

Any newspaper worth its name is society’s early warning system. We are not in a political contest ourselves. We are not populists.

We are not trying to get elected. We are there to inform the public timely and accurately. And where necessary, we have a duty to remind the public of what it might have forgotten or what unscrupulous people may want it to forget.

Our work does not only end at reporting what is happening today. We are required to research and connect our findings to what is happening today so that our people can reasonably forecast or foresee the future. Any newspaper that is run professionally keeps very well documented archives, not only of its own publications, but of everything that is published in the country.

This is necessary because history, and particularly its mistakes, has a tendency of repeating itself. Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are likely to repeat them.

Rupiah and his sponsors arrived on the presidential political campaign scene on a bandwagon of corruption and intolerance. As a newspaper, we spend vast amounts of resources on collecting information and news of what is happening on the political scene.

Before the public could even understand what was happening, we knew that as soon as Levy Mwanawasa died, a culture of corruption and political intolerance had been unleashed and Rupiah was at its helm. This is why we raised the political alarm bells very early.

We were not disappointed by those who criticised us, those who said we were not giving the man a chance because we understood that they didn’t understand. We did not expect them to understand on the first day what we told them but we still had a duty to tell them. That is a job of a newspaper.

If an unnatural calamity has occurred, a newspaper must not shun reporting it because people won’t understand it. Our job is to report and do so truthfully. What the public does with the information that we give them is for the public.

In all the time that we have run this newspaper, we have guarded jealously our independence, the stewardship role that an independent newspaper like ours plays in helping to create and maintain a more open, accountable and tolerant society.

There are those who don’t like our tone, particularly when we express our opinions in the part of the newspaper that is reserved for our opinions. Some say our tone is shrill, we are too abrasive.

We understand their sensitivity and appreciate their comments. In the same spirit, we expect them to understand us or at least to try. When we see corruption and its near cousin political intolerance and manipulation reemerging in our politics in the way that it seems to be emerging in the Rupiah campaign, we have a sense of urgency to denounce it.

We consider it our duty to raise an alarm. Nobody sane ever raises an alarm in a subdued voice. If you saw fire engulfing your property, you would be insane to politely say ‘fire’ and expect others to understand what you are saying.

The politics that Rupiah represents are so backward, so old that many Zambians have forgotten what we are talking about.

He has never been truly exposed to the rigors of multiparty politics. He is cast in a one-party state mentality where opposing political views is enmity. From his behaviour so far, it seems that there is very little that he will not do in order to maintain his hold on power. If it means bribing, he will bribe. This is the kind of leadership crisis that this country is facing. As an independent newspaper, we believe it is our duty to let the public know what is going on.

It’s very strange that people expect us to spend all our days reporting what is going on round about us without expressing any opinion. Every newspaper, including the state-controlled newspapers, have editorial columns where they express their opinion.

This is the prerogative of editorial staff. Why should The Post be any different? For those that need reminding, this newspaper has not become what it is by being timid or grovelling before those who hold power. Those of us that work here do so voluntarily.

Nobody forced anyone to work at The Post, we know why we are here. We are no one’s praise singers, we have never been and we never will be. We consistently and continually weigh the cost of our actions and are ready to pay the price. When a fight is necessary, we will not shy away.

This forthcoming presidential election is very important. We have seen people who want to reverse the gains we have made as a nation, who want to take us back to an era which we thought we had left, just simply because it benefits them as individuals.

If all that we have left to warn the Zambian people about the dangers that lie ahead is our editorial comment, we will use it.

And if what it takes to warn our people about certain dangers is a shrill voice, we will use it. If warning our people earns us enemies, we will still fight. Even if it loses us friends, we will still fight. Zambia is too important; its people too many to be subordinated to the selfish interests of a small political clique that has taken control of the ruling party.

We are not surprised by attacks that are being directed at us by Rupiah and his sponsors. It is not the first time that a minority political clique has tried to silence the majority through intimidation and threats. When politicians are not working for the public good, they are ready to do anything to get power or maintain their hold on it. They are even ready to sacrifice the very people that they claim they want to serve. This is not a new problem in Africa.

They will use every conceivable scheme to gain or maintain power. This is what frightens us about Rupiah. A man with all the experience that he has in African politics should not play with tribalism or regionalism.

We have seen him go on political platforms and preach tribalism and regionalism. What he said to our brothers and sisters in the Eastern Province should not be taken lightly. If a man can go on a public platform and preach tribalism, what does he say and do in private away from the ears and eyes of the public?

This is why Rupiah was not ashamed or moved by Ben Mwila’s questioning of Michael Sata’s origins at his campaign meeting in Luapula.

The corruption that has engulfed Africa is a dangerous cancer that has consigned many of our brothers and sisters to early graves. It is clear that Rupiah embraces corruption. Any serious-minded politician would have dealt seriously with the embarrassment that engulfed his campaign during the James Lukuku bribery saga. He wants to pretend like it never happened.

His ill-timed visit to the Anti Corruption Commission after Lukuku’s exposure is an ominous sign, a clear demonstration that Rupiah is not going to respect the rule of law. Why should the acting head of state pay a courtesy call on the Anti Corruption Commission when a corruption scandal has erupted in his campaign? This is nothing short of unbridled intimidation and hypocrisy.

Another thing that is frightening about Rupiah is his extravagance in the use of public resources. Rupiah has not demonstrated any sense of thriftiness in the way he has been spending public resources on his presidential campaign. It’s the first time in the history of this country that we are seeing a presidential candidate taking three government aircraft on a campaign trail. The cost of this is not difficult for anyone to guess.

Is this necessary? This is only on aircraft which are visible in the sky, how much more of government resources is he spending on other things that the public cannot easily see? Zambians have experience in dealing with such leaders. Chiluba is still in court answering for such abuses.

And when we called him a thief, there are those who said our tone was too shrill and that we were being disrespectful. If we had listened to their wisdom, where would Zambia be today? What would have happened to Chiluba’s third term agenda?

We all want to live in a good country, with paved roads, good sanitation and other social amenities, but not many are prepared for the sacrifice and fight that is required to achieve this. We have chosen to be amongst those who will fight and we won’t apologise for our choice. This is an agenda we have freely and whole-heartedly opted to endorse.

We challenge Rupiah to talk about his record. For a man who spent so many years in public life, he should have no problems in telling us his achievements at Namboard, Lusaka City Council and his dealings with Angola’s Jonas Savimbi as Zambia’s foreign affairs minister. If he wants to be president, he must be ready to address these issues. Modern day politics are about transparency, accountability, tolerance and an ability to accept public scrutiny.

If saying all these things has created a political crisis for Rupiah, we have no apology. If the ideas we have been expressing have created problems for Rupiah’s campaign, we will never be sorry for that. We say this because – and to borrow from Fidel Castro – ideas never create crises, it is crises that generate ideas.

Labels: NAMBOARD, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:42 AM