Unity and political opportunism

Unity and political opportunism
Written by Editor

Today, July 7, is Unity Day in our country. It is a special day that requires all of us to deeply meditate over the issue of unity. Despite our country’s social diversity, we have been able to hold together for over 44 years as citizens of Zambia.

Today many Zambians have married or have strong friendships across ethnic or racial lines. Many Zambians have also settled in different parts of the country which are not their native homes without any feeling of insecurity or not being accepted. Zambia also has become home to people of different racial backgrounds who play an active role in our country’s social, political and economic spheres.

This achievement has by no means been accidental, but a result of great vision and determination on the part of our founding fathers and mothers, those selfless heroic freedom fighters, to build one nation – Zambia – from numerous ethnic and racial groups. We should cherish and nurture this bond and never take it for granted. We should diligently guard against anything that would, through political expediency, threaten it.

Yes unity, itself is an expedience and not a principle, but a very important and necessary one. And it is imperative to overcome anything that impairs this unity because it is the only basic guarantee for the progress of our people and our country. Only through unity of all our people, of the whole nation can we overcome our poverty and backwardness.

But unity can only germinate from the seeds of unity. Like if you plant the seeds of tomatoes, you cannot expect to harvest maize, if you plant the seeds of disunity, division, you cannot expect to end up with unity in the nation.

We know there are many politicians in our country who go round talking about unity when they are actually planting seeds of division. But they expect to harvest the fruits of unity at the end of the day. Yes, they may want unity, but a different kind of unity. They want a type of unity that perpetrates them in leadership, that gives them what they want from the people. We have heard Rupiah Banda eloquently talk about unity, propounding all the good virtues of unity. But we have also heard the same Rupiah preaching, planting the seeds of division, of tribalism and regionalism. Rupiah last year, out of political expediency, went and told the people of Eastern Province in Chipata that they chase away anyone coming from other regions of our country to campaign there; they should tell them to go back where they come from. This is not a concoction on our part. We have repeated this statement several times because it is true; we have it on tape. And Rupiah has never denied or repudiated this statement. And worse still, Rupiah has never apologised for this barbaric statement. What does this mean?

The unity which all our people seek – and not that of Rupiah – can only be built on honest dealings, honest politics. It cannot be built on deceit, manipulation and lies. Those who seek unity by trying to manipulate and deceive others so that they get a lion’s share out of this political dispensation will not achieve much in terms of unity. What we are saying applies even to the pact between the Patriotic Front and UPND.

If this pact, this unity is simply a matter of opportunism for one individual or two or three to make themselves presidents, it will not work. If it is simply a way of trying to manipulate the situation to revive declining political fortunes and throw themselves on top of our politics again without much merit, it won’t work. Meaningful unity cannot be built on the shifting sands of evasions, manipulation, deceit, lies, illusions and opportunism. The challenge is to move from rhetoric to honest action, and action at unprecedented intensity and scale.

Meaningful unity is only possible among people who are truly honest with themselves and with others. Yes there is need for unity because no man is an island, and there are no men of stone who can’t be moved by the noble passions of love, friendship and human compassion. We need unity among all our people because where there is no unity, the possibility of conflict is very high. And as we know, conflict threatens not only the gains we have made but also our collective future. And we should therefore treat the question of unity in our country as a common challenge.

Let’s not forget that the driving thrust of the leaders of our independence struggle was to forge pride and unity amongst all the oppressed people of this territory, to foil the strategy of divide and rule, to engender pride among the masses of our people and confidence in their ability to unite and throw off their oppression. Unity was therefore a weapon in the struggle for independence and it still is a weapon in the struggle against poverty, disease, ignorance and backwardness in our country.

We should not fear to discuss the issue of unity in an honest manner and to openly criticise those who violate it. One of our strongest weapons in the defence of unity is our ability to speak out whenever it is threatened.

Let us now, drawing on the strengths of the unity that our heroic freedom fighters have helped forge for our country, together grasp the opportunities and realise their vision of One Zambia, One Nation. What is important is not only to attain unity at independence and a few decades after that, it is to retain national unity forever. Unity and progress are inseparable because those who are ready to unite, to join hands can overcome the greatest challenges. And for us, our independence means nothing if we will not be able to live in a way that deepens our unity and enhances the lives of our people. Again, political honesty is a necessity in sustaining national unity because as long as legitimate bodies of opinion feel politically cheated, vile minds will take advantage of justifiable grievances to totally destroy whatever unity we may today enjoy. Clearly, the important thing is to give happiness to all our people in their complexities and diversities.

We detest tribalism, regionalism and racialism because we regard them as barbaric. And this is why we have never spared Rupiah on his reckless statement on this score. Tribalism, regionalism and racism pollute the atmosphere of human relations and poison the minds of the backward, the bigoted and the prejudiced. It is therefore intolerable and unacceptable that the cancer of tribalism, regionalism should be allowed to eat away the fabric of our society today – almost 45 years after independence because of the political opportunism of characters like Rupiah. We must ensure that tribe, colour become only God-given gifts to each one of us and not an indelible mark or attribute that accords a special status to any. We should never allow our country to play host to tribalism, regionalism or racism nor shall our voices be stifled if we see that one of our politicians is stupidly and dangerously engaging in it. This cancer must be consciously combated and not discreetly tolerated. The very fact that this cancer degrades both the perpetrator and the victim commands that, if we are true to our commitment to national unity and dignity, we should not spare anyone who engages in tribal or regional politics. All of us know how stubborn the cancer of tribalism or regionalism can cling to the mind and how deeply it can infect the human soul. We hate the practice of tribalism or regionalism, and in our hatred, we are sustained by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the people of this country hate it equally.

Tribalism and regionalism are not different from the cancer of corruption becasue they are a product of corruption themselves. And as we have stated before, if you are honest, truly honest, you won’t be corrupted, you won’t fall into the barbaric practice of tribalism or regionalism. If you are unassuming and have a clear understanding of the worth of people and of yourself, you won’t be corrupted, you won’t engage in this barbaric practice.

Therefore, we should be unassuming and limit ourselves to doing our duty to the best of our extremely limited possibilities instead of engaging in barbaric and corrupt political practices of tribalism and regionalism. We think human beings should never draw away from the honest goal they seek and let themselves be influenced by political opportunism to indulge in tribalism and regionalism. Political honesty is the surest way of guarding oneself against these vices.