Maravi

An interesting chapter in our politics

An interesting chapter in our politics
Written by Editor

FAITH and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know Himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (Exodus 33:18; Psalms 27: 8-9; 63: 2-3; John 14:8; 1 John 3:2)

“All human beings desire to know” (Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1,1), and truth is the proper object of this desire. Everyday life shows how concerned each of us is to discover for ourselves, beyond mere opinions, how things really are. Within visible creation, man is the only creature who not only is capable of knowing, but who knows that he knows, and is therefore interested in the real truth of what he perceives. People cannot be genuinely indifferent to the question of whether what they know is true or not. If they discover that it is false, they reject it; but if they can establish its truth, they feel themselves rewarded. It is this that Saint Augustine teaches when he writes: “I have met many who wanted to deceive, but none who wanted to be deceived” (Confessions, X, 23,33:CCL 27, 173). It is rightly claimed that persons have reached adulthood when they can distinguish independently between truth and falsehood, making up their own minds about the objective reality of things.

This is the way to look at the things happening in our country today. There is so much cheating, there is so much falsehood, there is so much deception. For what? Simply because people want to have their way, it is beneficial to be dishonest. People are rewarded in this country for being dishonest. Actually, dishonest people and dishonest actions are defended by the highest authorities.

Over the last two weeks, we have seen the President and the Vice-President of this country attempting to defend Dora Siliya’s dishonesty, lies and abuse of office. And those who were accusing Dora of wrongdoing, of dishonesty, of lying were the ones under fire from Rupiah Banda and George Kunda. Rupiah dismissed them as talking nonsense. George was no better himself. George dismissed the Attorney General’s concerns as though they were of no consequence. This is what happens when dishonest politics become everything. There is no commitment to any principles. Lying is just another part of the trade.

The other week, Dora went to Parliament to lie about us. Instead of answering the questions that were put to her by members of parliament over her questionable deals, Dora started insinuating that we had done something wrong, we were corrupt and so on and so forth. This kind of politics is easy and seems very profitable for their purveyors. They think by tarring others and painting them black, they have sorted out their problems. To them, propaganda is everything. But anything that is not founded on truth is not sustainable. It crumbles. It cannot stand.

Some of our politicians have failed to learn this lesson and are paying a price and some will pay their penance soon.

We are not surprised that against all logical thinking, someone can try to criminalise The Post’s involvement in Zambian Airways. This is in a country where the government has for many years now been claiming to support the development of business and the private sector in particular. The fact that their behaviour is contradictory does not bother Rupiah and his ilk.

They don’t seem to learn the lesson that no society can be developed through trickery and cheap gimmicks. The business of governing is too important to be reduced to point scoring, score settling and other forms of vengeance against those we think don’t support us, those who oppose us and question our decisions and actions. In saying this, we cannot for a minute deny that law and order are important. If any one of us does wrong, we should meet the just payment for our wrongdoing. This is the way that civilised societies live and this is what the rule of law means. All must be equal before the law. Equal protection of the law is fundamental to any just and democratic society.

Whether rich or poor, political ally of those in power or opponent – all should be entitled to equal protection before the law. There are many limited liability companies in this country, including some owned by Rupiah himself and his sons, that owe money to other institutions, including banks and statutory bodies like the Zambia Revenue Authority and National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) but the shareholders and directors of these companies have never been personally made criminally liable for such obligations. It is very difficult to understand why Dora and her friends want to link Fred M’membe, a mere director of Zambian Airways, to the obligations of this airline to the state-owned National Airports Corporation. If this was the case, then many directors today in Zesco Limited, Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company, Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail, TAZARA whose companies owe various entities, including statutory bodies billions of kwacha, would be in Chimbokaila today.

This is not to say if the directors of a limited liability company take money that belongs to the company or which the company collected on behalf of statutory bodies like ZRA, NAPSA or even National Airports Corporation and put it in their pockets, they should scot-free. No! This would be a recipe for anarchy and we can never support such behaviour. And if those that are accusing us of wrongdoing in Zambian Airways are saying we have put money in our pockets, then they have every right to call us to account and the amount does not matter. Even if it’s one ngwee that we have taken from Zambian Airways and put in our pockets, we should be made to account for it because this is a criminal act.

If this is the motive for the investigation, then we welcome it. But we all know that this is not the motive. We say this because if people were interested in the truth, they would have instituted proper investigations. If there are any issues with the operations of Zambian Airways that raise questions, the most appropriate way to deal with them is to appoint auditors with expertise to check the records both at the company and with the banks to establish the true position. But these friends of ours are not interested in the true position. They want to fix The Post and cripple Mutembo Nchito and stop him from prosecuting the cases he is handling. We have no problems whatsoever with other people checking and verifying the decisions and actions we take everyday. And this is why we have decided to make every transaction and every decision that Zambians Airways took open to the most transparent and most complete public scrutiny. It is in this regard that we continue to invite all our leading political parties, including the ruling MMD, professional institutions and other civil society and religious organisations to check and establish if we have anything to hide.

We know that some friends in the MMD have been saying that they don’t want to see The Post by 2011. They don’t want to be subjected to its scrutiny and questioning at the next election. Some are vowing that they will do whatever it takes to see that The Post is crippled. This is shortsightedness and foolish. It shows that people are failing to understand that Zambia has made progress. The issues that we raise are not Post issues. They are issues that concern our people. And with or without The Post, this country will never be governed in the UNIP way.

That is gone and the sooner Rupiah and his friends realise this, the better it will be for them. Our people have become intolerant towards corruption and abuse of power. And if Rupiah and his friends think we are lying, let them continue to test our people and they will learn some hard lessons. Frederick Chiluba thought that the Zambian people were docile and he used to brag that he could rule them for as long as he wanted. History is there for all to see what happened when Chiluba tried to push his third term bid and how he was received in Luapula last October when he went there to try and tell them how to vote. The only way to govern is to respect the people and their plight.

The cash-and-carry government Rupiah is beginning to exercise will take him nowhere but in a ditch. The only type of leader who can succeed in Zambia today is one who realises that leadership basically consists in serving others rather than being served. In other words, Zambians want a leader who is a servant of the people in the sense that he makes himself available whenever the people need his services. They don’t need a leader who is corrupt and who spends all his time defending corruption and attacking or harassing those who expose and fight corruption. An interesting chapter has started in our politics!

Labels: CORRUPTION, COURTS

posted by MrK @ 4:05 AM