Maravi

Challenge from the silent fighter

Challenge from the silent fighter
Written by Editor

Dr Kenneth Kaunda yesterday challenged the media in Zambia to remind government and political leaders of their responsibility to the nation. Dr Kaunda added: “Nobody needs to justify wrongdoing, regardless of who did it and it is the duty of the media to write about such issues. So you as our writers must go and remind us of our responsibility to the nation. Everyone has a duty to fight and defend the country all the time by showing love to all mankind like God did regardless of where people came from.”

For the last 10 months or so, it seems Dr Kaunda had chosen to say nothing, or very little, on the political processes or happenings in this country. Many people have been wondering what had happened to this untiring fighter for everything that is just and fighter against everything that is wrong.

However, for us Dr Kaunda’s silence was understandable. This government was born twisted, sprung from serious controversies and needed to be given some chance to stabilise itself by straightening its twisted limbs. There are also times when key national leaders like Dr Kaunda have to take the quiet approach to national problems. But of course, everything has a limit. Just as open or direct confrontation has its limits, so is what is called ‘quiet diplomacy’.

And that’s why the mark of great leaders like Dr Kaunda is their ability to understand the context in which they are operating and act accordingly.

Dr Kaunda has given us a challenge, a directive, an order. And we shouldn’t forget that Dr Kaunda is the grand commander of the eagle of Zambia. And when he gives a command, it has to be obeyed. It is said that orders are given to be obeyed. But we have difficulties as part of the media executing this order from the grand commander. We say this because whenever we criticise, whenever we try to advise, whenever we try to remind our friends in government of the principles that made us friends in the first place, they don’t take kindly to it, they resent it. They see us as enemies out to destroy them; they see us as competitors for power with them; they don’t seem to appreciate our humble role. They don’t see that ours is a stewardship role in the efforts of our people to create an open and accountable society in this country. However, looked at from another angle, there is no reason why we should fail to carry out Dr Kaunda’s order because our role will not, and should not, be dictated by expediencies of the moment for those in government. We are conscious of our obligations to do whatever we can to contribute to the advancement of democracy, justice, fairness and humaneness in our country whenever possible.

We just hope our friends in government will not react to these very humble demands by Dr Kaunda in the way they react to any such statements being made by anyone else. They can’t say Dr Kaunda is against them or hates them. He has actually shown excessive tolerance and patience with them. As such, it will be very unwise for them not to take what he says seriously and deeply meditate over it.

Dr Kaunda and his comrades fought a noble battle and lived their lives in pursuit of a better life for all of us. The country that we are enjoying today in all sorts of ways is the sweet fruit of their lives of struggle and sacrifice. And they will continue to be the conscience of our society, the moral custodians and fearless champions of the interests they have lived all their lives working tirelessly for.

The challenges and problems facing our country and our people are such that for anybody with a conscience, with a background of Dr Kaunda, who can use whatever influence he may have to try and help matters, to try and show the way, it’s difficult to permanently remain silent.

Political leadership, when taken to its most serious and responsible dimensions, is a very challenging undertaking, it is one of the most difficult tasks in today’s world for those who try to be responsible. To be a political leader, it is simply not a question of one winning an election, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the lives of others.

It would have been immoral for Dr Kaunda to keep quiet forever while a corrupt tyranny sought to reduce the entire nation into a status of Mobutu’s Zaire. Things are not okay in the country. We are moving backwards in very long strides. And this can be seen in the increasing despair and poverty among many sections of our people; in the bulging stomachs of hungry children; in the darkness of homes without electricity; and in the heavy pails of dirty water that rural women carry for long distances to cook and to quench their thirst. The challenge is to move from rhetoric to action, and action at an unprecedented intensity and scale. The most important thing is to give happiness to people, and for political leaders to go to bed feeling that they have done some service to the community. But what we see today is politicians not serving the community, the nation, but raping it.

And Dr Kaunda says nobody needed to justify wrongdoing, regardless of who did it and that it is the duty of the media to write about such issues. What we have in this country is a system of licensing wrongdoing. Those who belong, or are in good terms with those in power can do whatever wrong things they want and they will get away with it. And it doesn’t matter how much the media writes about it or how much the people feel it is wrong and denounce it. What matters is what Rupiah Banda and those around him think. If Rupiah thinks Michael Mabenga is a noble man, it doesn’t matter what everyone thinks; it doesn’t even matter what our courts of law – the High Court and the Supreme Court – find him to have done wrong, think of him. What matters is what he appears to be in Rupiah’s thinking, in his scheme of things. Even Frederick Chiluba, it doesn’t seem to matter that there is a High Court judgment obtained in the London High Court by the Zambian government that has found him to be corrupt. Again, what matters is what Rupiah sees Chiluba to be – a friend, a valuable political ally. That’s all that matters and if this is so, Chiluba becomes an innocent man and even our courts and other institutions of the state are forced to look at him as such. So we don’t know how much we as a media, can do to carry out this challenge thrown at us by Dr Kaunda to write and ensure that no wrongdoing is justified by anybody. We can only promise or pledge to do all that we can whatever the difficulties, the consequences and ensure that our people know what is going on and are not cheated about what is right and what is wrong and about who is on the side of wrong and who is on the side of right. Wrongdoing must be consciously combated and not discreetly tolerated. The very fact that wrongdoing degrades both the perpetrators and victims commands that, if we are true to our commitment to protect human dignity, we fight on until victory is achieved. All of us know how evil can cling to the mind and how deeply it can infect the human soul. Like Dr Kaunda, we hate wrongdoing, and in our hatred, we are sustained by the fact that the overwhelming majority of our people hate it equally. And this is why when Rupiah accused us of having pocketed US $30 million from state institutions through Zambian Airways, our reaction was that arrest and prosecute us if indeed we have stolen a cent or a ngwee from any institution or any individual. And we added that since we are very much aware of the evils of corruption, of wrongdoing, our sentence, if found wanting, should be much harsher than that given to an ordinary citizen of our country. We sincerely believe in this and we think it’s the best way to proceed when it comes to wrongdoing. We shouldn’t be enticed in any way to read fairness as meaning parity between justice and injustice. Justice must be embraced while injustice must be fought.

And lastly, Dr Kaunda says that everyone has a duty to fight and defend the country all the time by showing love to all mankind like God did regardless of where people came from. It is not only a source of great pride but, for us, a greater privilege to be Zambians. We have very great esteem – not for the land, this isn’t love of the land – and love for our people who live in this land. We have been taught that love of our homeland, our motherland, isn’t ridiculous love of the land or of the grass under our plants; it is invincible hatred for those who oppress it, eternal animosity towards those who abuse its people. For us, love for our country means love of the people and hatred for those who try to abuse the people.

We hope our politicians will pay a lot of attention to Dr Kaunda’s very few but extremely important words and realise that things are not as they should be, something is amiss. As to Dr Kaunda, we can only say or repeat that slogan that is said to have been coined by Sikota Wina during the independence struggle: “Dr Kaunda, sosa, sosa, ichalo chilekumfwa!”

Labels: KENNETH KAUNDA

posted by MrK @ 1:16 AM