Maravi

Self-deceit

Self-deceit
Written by Editor

Anyone who accepts to play a role in public life must be prepared for the scrutiny that comes with it. You cannot want to serve others and be useful to them but refuse to be known. You have to be ready for the people that you serve to ask questions about what you do for them or what you do in their name.

This is what is expected of our politicians. They always tell us that they are our servants but when our people demand accountability and transparency, then somehow the politicians decide that it is intrusive and disrespectful for the public to ask questions.

This is what we are seeing in what George Kunda said the other day when he accused this newspaper of insulting Rupiah Banda and himself. For him, asking questions and criticising what they do is an insult. He wants everybody in the country to believe that because they are in government, they know best. They are the only ones who understand issues and everybody else should just it and listen to them.

This is wrong. This is not the spirit of people who want to serve. No. This is the attitude of masters, people who expect to give orders, which must be obeyed without any question. But is this the way to run a country?

The problems and challenges that we face are so gigantic that any well-meaning politician should welcome criticism and questioning. We say this because it is only when one’s thoughts, one’s preferences are questioned and challenged that we open our ability to bring the best of what we possess as human beings.

Even in business, it is now well accepted that competition is good for superior product development. The business or an entity that is not challenged cannot expect to produce the best results because the temptation to do the minimum is at such times too difficult to defeat. Superior results demand utmost exertion. And utmost exertion is not always a comfortable thing. It is strenuous and can even be stressful, so that if we are not challenged, we are likely to default to a position of leisure or even carelessness which cannot bode well for the production of superior results.

Indeed, even our muscles require exercise. If we do not exercise, if we do not strain them to produce toughness, the muscles waste away.

In public service, there can be no superior delivery if the public officers are not checked. They need to be kept in constant check or else what is happening at the Ministry of Health and other ministries within government will continue to grow. Indeed, theft is not the only abuse of government that needs to be checked. It is not even just criminal conduct that needs to be criticised. It is any form of abuse of public trust, whether criminal or otherwise, as long as something goes against legitimate public expectations, it needs to be denounced.

Public servants must expect public scrutiny. And in a country like ours, when public misdeeds involve mismanagement of public resources, public officers must expect severe public criticism. These are not insults. Telling someone that they have abused their positions or that they have acted below legitimate public expectation is not insulting. It is necessary public discourse.

If George Kunda does not want to be criticised by the likes of Ludwig Sondashi, he should find a different job. For as long as he remains a public officer, and for as long as he continues to conduct himself in a manner that raises questions in the conduct of his duty as Vice-President and Minister for Justice, the public is free to criticise him.

George Kunda is also free to feel offended. But that is not the reason for the public to stop criticising him. If he feels that the criticism that is levelled against him is unjustified and not warranted by law, he should feel free to take the necessary legal redress that is available to him.

For our part, we will continue to speak out against all forms of abuse of public resources and public positions regardless of who is involved because that is our duty. We are not here to be anybody’s praise-singer. We strive to give coverage to everybody, even people like George Kunda who do not like us. We cover them because it is their right to air their views on their opinions.

In the same way that we respect their right to be heard, we expect them to respect the rights of others to express their opinions. And in the conduct of public affairs, public officers or public servants should avoid being excessively sensitive to criticism. Maturity in such offices demands that such people be prepared to listen to both what they like to hear and what they do not like to hear. It is only when public officers are prepared to listen to what they do not want to hear that they give themselves a chance to improve in the performance of their duties.

If one only listens to their praise-singers, they engage upon a very dangerous path of self-deceit. And this deceit can lead to destruction.

We have always said that it is not possible for the so-called public servants to tolerate any level of criticism unless they learn a measure of humility and accept that they are not our masters. Public servants need to accept that in the performance of their duties, there is always room for improvement. It is not possible for them to know everything.

Public servants must also accept that without effective checks, without effective criticism, the possibility to do wrong things is always present. With this realisation, criticism does not become a bad thing. It is a helpful barking dog warning you about danger outside.

If a dog does not bark when thieves have entered your premises, then that dog is of no use and needs no reward. The converse is true, a dog which barks to warn its owners of imminent danger is a useful companion. It allows those in danger to prepare and maybe to avoid the danger.

When the media criticise, or even expose government misdeeds, it would help the government to view such exposes as an opportunity to improve or even change course. Attacking the media because of the warning signals it is giving does not deal with the problem. You can be successful in silencing the media. But that will never deal with the underlying problems. The only thing that you would have done is close your ears to the helpful warnings of danger.

We are not saying that these warnings of danger are going to be pleasant, benign and polite reminders of the danger that lie ahead. No. Our duty is to raise the alarm, turn on the siren, wake up everybody to the danger that is around.

This is what George Kunda and his friends must realise. The fact that they are prepared to deceive themselves and listen only to the voices of those who say nice things to them is not our problem. They are welcome to deceive themselves. But we have a duty to warn the public of the danger that Rupiah and his friends pose to the nation.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, LUDWIG SONDASHI

posted by MrK @ 3:05 PM