Speak sincerely

Speak sincerely
Written by Editor

Today, Rupiah Banda has called for a press conference to address the nation on a number of issues. This is long overdue but it is still a welcome move. Things are fast falling apart in the country but Rupiah doesn’t seem to see what almost all our people are seeing, including those who supported and campaigned for him.

We hope that as he addresses the nation this morning, Rupiah will not bury his head in the sand and pretend all is well except for the noise coming from a few disgruntled people.

It is said that if one wants to solve or resolve a problem, they should first acknowledge the existence of that problem. If Rupiah cannot acknowledge that things are not as they should be in the country, then our people have no good reason to expect that Rupiah will fix these problems that have engulfed the country of late.

Things are not well in our country. The country seems to be running on autopilot. Rupiah and his friends appear to be blinded by the trappings of power. They have become so big-headed that they have got the priorities for this country upside down. Indeed, Rupiah thinks he can import some UNIP tactics or behaviour in managing the affairs of the country in this era. He is fast introducing dictatorial tendencies both in his party and in the government. Rupiah has forgotten that he is in State House to serve our people, not himself and his cronies.

When he was campaigning for the Presidency, Rupiah used to symbolically say that once elected president, he would be cooking nshima for everybody, implying that he was going to serve everyone in the country. But is this what Rupiah is doing today? Suddenly, Rupiah is the master and all citizens are his servants.

Health workers and other public workers have been on strike for several weeks now. Rupiah has not seen the need or necessity to address these essential workers over their grievances. He has allowed the situation to deteriorate to levels where human life is being lost on a daily basis. But when he has a cheap political agenda to push, Rupiah has all the time in the world to host and address his hired cadres and students on things that do not benefit the country in any way.

An honest man will somehow always find sympathy from well-meaning people. This is a lesson that Rupiah needs to learn. Cheap political machinations for a man in his position are too costly, too dangerous. As he speaks to the nation today, Rupiah must prepare himself to talk to the people in honesty and sincerity. There is no guarantee that the people will applaud him when he speaks the truth in sincerity. But one thing is certain, Rupiah himself will be comfortable and will have a clear mind to deal with real issues.

We say this because it seems to us that at the moment, Rupiah does not know whether he is going or coming. He does not seem to know the difference between truth and lies, what is important and what is unimportant. Rupiah is engulfed in a sea of confusion of his own making.

This is what happens when people divorce truth, when they divorce sincerity and honesty. Such people spend more time thinking about how to get out of their self-inflicted misery, how to undo the edifice of lies that they have created. They don’t have the time to deal with the actual problems.

This is the complication that Rupiah has created and continues to create for himself. This is why there is so much confusion in Rupiah’s government.

We have said before, and we continue to say, that whereas the problems that our nation is facing are many and complicated, the solutions can’t be too complicated. We say this not to belittle the many challenges that we face as a nation but to recognise the collective wisdom that the nation possess, which wisdom is able to raise an answer for any challenge that we face.

In other words, the solution lies with the people. There is no single genius among us who can sort out all the problems of the nation. The genius lies in the collective will of the people.

Such a realisation demands humility and level-headedness from all of us. This is what seems to elude Rupiah and his handlers. It will not surprise us if at today’s press conference, in the characteristic comedy of errors that defines Rupiah’s government, he evades talking to the people honestly, humbly and sincerely.

The many mistakes that Rupiah is making are because of a failure to recognise the limits of power. Rupiah and his friends are in constant denial of the position that they occupy in relation to the people. The do not want to accept that they are servants, they think they are masters.

But with this attitude, it is impossible to be honest and sincere with the people.