Rupiah, Dora deals

Rupiah, Dora deals
Written by Editor

When people want to do wrong things, when they want to steal, the first thing they do is to overrun or destroy the controls.They will try by all means to circumvent laid down procedures and ensure that business is not carried out in an orderly manner.We have no doubt that what Dora Siliya did was wrong.

And she deliberately ignored the Attorney General’s advice because following it would have meant the end of her corrupt scheme.

And it’s nonsense for Rupiah Banda to claim that what Dora did was right and those accusing her of doing wrong are talking nonsense. This is what corruption leads to because when we talk about corruption, we include arrogance, lack of humility, abuse of power.

We don’t know what Rupiah would say about Law Association of Zambia president Elijah Banda’s observation that there was no legal justification for Dora to ignore the Attorney General’s advice. Is Rupiah going to dismiss LAZ’s observations as nonsense? Is he going to say Elijah Banda is talking nonsense?

We are told by LAZ that there is no legal justification for Dora to ignore the Attorney General’s advice because it is mandatory and there should be adverse consequences for ignoring that advice.

We agree with LAZ that there was no justification for Dora to ignore the Attorney General’s advice. And it is wrong for Rupiah to try and justify and defend illegality, wrong doing.

We know that when people want to do wrong things, they try to create a sense of urgency that is not there and use it to evade laid down procedure. The issue of single sourcing was supposed to be an exception under very rare and justifiable circumstances. But it is increasingly becoming a norm and not an exception for ministers to opt for single sourcing. When these single sourcing deals are critically analysed, they will invariably reveal some corrupt schemes behind them. We can safely say almost all the single sourcing that has taken place so far is questionable, is corrupt.

These procedures were not laid down for no good reason. They are there to ensure that government business is conducted in an honest, transparent and accountable manner. These procedures are there to ensure that public business is conducted in an efficient, effective and orderly manner.

It’s very clear that Dora, with the support of Rupiah, is up to no good. She has replaced government procedure with personal arbitrariness. For what? For corruption? There is definitely no good reason for the way Dora is operating. And this is why she is finding problems to work with boards of parastatal institutions falling under her ministry. This explains why she hurriedly dissolved the boards of TAZARA, National Airports Corporation and Zamtel. If the operations of these institutions are critically scrutinised, it will be revealed that there is something that their boards stopped Dora from doing. We will not be surprised tomorrow to hear there was another deal of single sourcing Dora was pushing at National Airports.

There is need for Rupiah and his friends to realise that being in government does not mean they own government. This is not their government. It is not their personal property to deal with as they please. And if they continue to operate like this, their ending will be disastrous because the Zambian people will not take this nonsense.

There is need for Rupiah and his ministers to quickly realise that the exercise of power must be a constant practice of self-limitation and modesty. This arrogance they are exhibiting will just bring them problems. Rupiah should not become big-headed simply because he is president. We have had other presidents before him and he should know very well how they have been treated. If he continues at this rate, his term of office can be legally cut short.

There are procedures in our Constitution for removing a corrupt president. Zambians won’t need to wait until 2011 to remove his corrupt regime. And this is the true meaning of our democracy. Our people have a legal right to remove a government that is acting against them. This is truly the true meaning of our democracy. It is a growth in the confidence in the power of ordinary people to transform their country, and thus transform themselves. It is a growth in the appreciation of people organising, deciding, creating together. It is a growth of fraternal love.

It is clear that our people are starting to take a keen interest in how public affairs are conducted. They will not accept corrupt deals without questioning them. Actually, we must always go into the whys and wherefores of anything that the government is doing on our behalf. We should use our own heads and carefully think over whether or not what is being done by ministers like Dora corresponds to reality and is really well-founded; on no account should we follow blindly and encourage arbitrariness, abuse of power and indeed corruption.

We must be ready at all times to stand up for the truth, because truth is in the interests of the people; and we must be ready at all times to correct our mistakes, because mistakes are against the interests of the people.

At no time and in no circumstances should Rupiah, Dora and other ministers be allowed to place their personal interests first; they should subordinate them to the interests of the nation and of the masses. Hence, selfishness, arbitrariness, abuse of power, corruption and so on and so forth, are most contemptible, while selflessness, working with one’s all energy, wholehearted devotion to public duty will command respect.

We advise Rupiah and Dora to back out of their scheme because it won’t work. It will just land them in problems. Sometimes it’s very necessary to mull over things and consider the feelings of the people. After all, they are not representing themselves, they are simply agents of the people. And if their principals, that is the people, want things done in a certain way, who are they to insist that it will be done their way? This is not what being accountable to the people means. Being accountable to the people means acting in accordance with the wishes and interests of the people.

Again, we advise Rupiah to check his arrogance. He shouldn’t overate the power being president gives him. Real power does not lie with him. Rupiah is a very powerless person because real power lies with the people and not with him. If he understands this and internalises it, he will start to see things differently and will avoid some of these problems he is getting himself into in the early months of his presidency. Arrogance, lack of humility, pomposity will not do for Rupiah and his friends. They are not dealing with a nation of fools and imbeciles. The very fact that LAZ has openly voiced its opinion on this issue should make Rupiah think twice on how to proceed. If not, this may be the beginning of his sad ending.