Maravi

A lesson in honesty and humility

A lesson in honesty and humility
Written by Editor

It has taken just a few hours of wise and humble intervention from Bishop Paul Mususu and pastor Helmut Reutter to end the nurses’ strike, at least in Lusaka.

There is a big lesson we should all learn from this that humility is necessary when dealing with public issues. It is important to appreciate the position in which other people find themselves. We need to respect how others feel about issues.

This is something that Rupiah Banda and his friends in government have lamentably failed to show in relation to this strike. They want to use intimidation and blackmail and think that this can get them far. Such tactics may work but they never yield lasting results because they don’t inspire confidence and trust. One who is intimidated will never respect or like his intimidator. That which is done out of fear is never noble because fear does not last forever.

Our brothers and sisters in the medical fraternity have been raising fundamental questions about the way their affairs are handled. These questions have raised serious doubts in the ability of Rupiah and his friends to deal with crises in our country. We say this because throughout the nurses’ strike, Rupiah and his friends have behaved as though the responsibility to deal with this strike lay with somebody else other than themselves. The government that Rupiah is running is not prepared to take responsibility for guiding this country out of the many problems that we have.

This is why they are quick to point fingers at anybody that they can blame for what is happening instead of dealing with the problem. To them, the nurses were striking because they were being incited. Although they know the truth, they are not prepared to admit that our nurses have been getting a raw deal. And because of this dishonesty, they incapacitate themselves and render government unable to offer meaningful solutions to the issues that the nurses have been raising. This is why we say the concerns that the nurses have been raising are fundamental.

Rupiah and his friends need to change their attitude to governance. They seem to forget that they are the ones who have the responsibility of running this country and are very well looked after to do so. The political opposition will criticise and challenge government on the many problems that our country is facing. That is what is expected of them. But it is folly for a party in power to start behaving as though they are also in the opposition. This is what Rupiah and his friends are doing. They are always looking for somebody to blame. But when you listen to them carefully, they are not offering any inspiring solutions and answers to the issues of the day. This is why very few people are taking them seriously. Anyone can pretend to be a good leader when they are not challenged, when there is no crisis.

But true leadership qualities can only be appreciated when a leader is tested. This is what Rupiah has faced since coming to power. It seems whoever his tutor is in political thought has given him very bad advice. Rupiah is exhibiting the ostrich type of political behaviour. Whenever there is a crisis, he buries his head in the sand, in illusions, if not lies, and imagines that the problem has gone away.

This is how Rupiah has behaved in relation to the nurses. He has not been man enough to stand up and face the challenge and articulate to the nation what the problem is and the solutions that he proposes as leader of the nation. When he had an opportunity last week, he chose instead to tiptoe around the problem and spend the rest of his time insulting his political enemies, imagined and otherwise.

We have not shied away from calling upon our brothers and sisters in the medical fraternity to return to work even when doing so opened us up to possible misunderstanding. We have done this because although we fully understand and appreciate the challenges that the nurses have been facing, we believed that we could appeal to their humanity to help our people. And we also did that in the belief that caring for the sick is a calling from God of a special dignity and importance, not just another job. Health care is really an imitation of Jesus who saw healing the sick as central to his ministry of establishing the Kingdom of God. We may not be able to provide everything that is needed for our sick brothers and sisters but we can do something to promote the justice of good health policies and adequate medicines by pushing everybody involved to do their part. Our calling on our brothers and sisters to end their strike was clearly not out of a belief that they had no case. It was simply a question of relative importance and urgency. One cannot claim to uphold the sanctity of life if there is no provision for minimum health care for all.

Now that the nurses in Lusaka are going back to work as we hoped they would, Rupiah and his friends should not sit and think that the problem is over. We have no doubt that many of the nurses that are going back to work are doing so not because of Rupiah and his friends. If it was about Rupiah, these nurses would never go back to work.

When Rupiah and his friends were eager to increase their own salaries soon after his election, they were warned that they would have no moral right to deny anybody a meaningful increase. Anyone who cared to think knew that their greedy action would return to haunt them. We have no doubt that this is why Rupiah is now facing an epidemic of strikes. Where austerity is required in the nation, it needs to be equally shared among all. And when this is done, there will be very little dissension. The people who are going on strikes know very well that these are hard times not only for our country but also for the world. However, it is difficult to convince them when austerity is not shared among all, when the leaders are not taking any measures to freeze or reduce their earnings and privileges. It is this that is causing strikes. It is this that is making negotiations with workers almost impossible for the government. When a government reduces public discourse to a matter of cheap political point-scoring as Rupiah and his closest backers seem determined to do, it is not possible to engender confidence in the public. The lack of seriousness with which Rupiah is approaching important national issues will continue to pose serious challenges to his ability to govern. We have no doubt that our people are reasonable. We have been through all sorts of problems as a country and managed to remain united. What our people require is serious leadership, a selfless leadership that has respect for the people. Our people want to feel that when they are suffering, their leaders understand. When they are crying out, their leaders are listening. And not the arrogance and pompous comedy that they are getting from Rupiah and his friends – threatening to fire them every day. As unreasonable as we believe Rupiah is, we have no doubt that inside himself he knows that the nurses have legitimate and genuine grievances. What is making it impossible for him to address their issues is the dishonesty and shallow manner in which he has chosen to run the government. We continue to tell Rupiah that all he needs to do is determine to act in the interest of the people. When he does that, there is no problem that he cannot address. But the opposite is true. A failure to recognise the interest of the people as paramount leads Rupiah and his friends into dishonesty. They are failing to admit inadequacy and problems which everyone can see. They go about trivialising the challenges that they face as a government. How can such people inspire confidence? How can such people inspire hope? Rupiah and his friends operate in a paradigm of lies and deceit. This has rendered them incapable of distinguishing between what is important and what is unimportant. We would not be surprised if they began to believe their own lies. This approach is doomed to failure. What Bishop Mususu and pastor Reuters have done has demonstrated to all of us that honesty and sincerity, truth and humility are more powerful than any amount of scheming. We hope Rupiah and his friends can learn something from this.

Labels: BISHOP MUSUSU, HELMUT REUTTER, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 2:20 PM