A reckless president

A reckless president
By Editor
Wed 18 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT

We have consistently reminded Rupiah Banda and his minions that the exercise of power must be the constant practice of self-limitation and modesty.

What happened on Monday over the pornography case which Rupiah had brought against our news editor Chansa Kabwela should teach us a lesson about the consequences of abusing the judicial process to fix political opponents, real or imaginary.

There is no doubt that Rupiah has been abusing the judicial process – the police, the Anti Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement Commission, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the courts – to try and fix those he detests.

And we have pointed out before that the judiciary, at whatever level, may find itself confronting these abuses, and may find itself subjected to enormous pressures to accept them. Often, if the process is legal but unfair, there is little that a court can do.

There is need for people like Rupiah to realise that every Zambian is entitled to participate in the affairs of our country.

Our roles will differ but there is need for all of us to accommodate each other. The annihilist approach to public affairs that Rupiah and his minions want to champion will not lead them anywhere. It will actually destroy them. We say this because it is very clear that Rupiah’s approach to anyone who has a view different from his is to try to discredit them, crush them and to annihilate them.

This is what we see in the way that Rupiah has behaved over the case of Chansa. There was simply no reasoning, no stopping to think. To Rupiah, an opportunity to humiliate and destroy The Post had presented itself and he could not control himself. A man who as President is supposed to be an example of self-control and moderation allowed himself to lose his head and started to rant and rave against The Post and how bad our conduct had been in dealing with those pictures. Rupiah was propelled by nothing but hatred and a desire to crush us.

The story is now clear; The Post never published those pictures. It failed to publish those pictures not because it was unlawful to do so but simply because of the tragedy of that woman and that baby who she lost. What was The Post to do? This was not just a journalistic issue. It was a moral issue of immense proportion. It was an issue that was driven by very high levels of sensitivity to the humanity of others, the suffering of that woman and the loss that she had to endure.

A tragedy of immense proportion was unfolding in our country during the strike that had crippled the health sector. What were we to do as a newspaper? We had done everything possible, including pleading with health workers to ignore the insensitivities of Rupiah and his minions and return to work to save lives. Those pictures came to us during that time. We thought the newspaper could not hide that fact but share it with the government and others who could influence things for the better. Those pictures were sent privately.

But Rupiah’s pettiness and hatred blinded him from seeing the suffering, the pain, the despair or helplessness that those pictures carried. What Rupiah saw was an opportunity to crucify The Post by criminalising its very noble and otherwise sensitive communication with the government. We did not publish our communication with the government. It was done quietly because the editorial staff decided that that was the best way to deliver the message without being seen to be politicising the issue.

But this humble gesture has been criticised and deliberately criminalised by Rupiah, ending with Chansa standing charged with an offence that never was. What Rupiah has done in this so-called pornography case is to show how dirty his own mind is because where there was suffering and pain, what he saw was pornography and an image that corrupted his morals, an image that was capable of arousing sensual feelings – how sick, how wicked!

The prosecution of Chansa demonstrates the way that Rupiah and George Kunda in particular want to use our criminal justice system. For them, the criminal justice system is not there for the maintenance of law and order, it is there to fix political opponents and what they consider inconsequential members of our society. They want to use justice selectively to carry out their injustices.

This is their government policy as confirmed by Mike Mulongoti in Kasama recently when he said some people should be able to go to jail while others should not. This is why George for instance always had problems with the Task Force. It seems he was not able to manipulate it the same way he seems to manipulate everything else.

We say this because if the case of Chansa was about justice, it should never have seen the inside of the court. Reason would have prevailed long before Chansa was bundled before chief resident magistrate Charles Kafunda.

It’s clear to see how things work with Rupiah in this regard. First, Rupiah makes public pronouncements denouncing someone, accusing them and convicting them of a crime. After that, the police and other law enforcement agencies swing into action. And finally, the Director of Public Prosecutions comes in to give blessings to the whole act. Then the rest is drama and a comedy of injustices. This is how even this case of Chansa began and ended.

Pronouncements by Rupiah are not simple statements from an ordinary citizen. Rupiah commands all the law enforcement agencies in this country – the police, the Anti Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement Commission and indeed the intelligence, the army, air force and Zambia National Service.

When he says something that concerns their work, it is an order from the commander in chief and they swing into action because orders are there to be obeyed. This is what happened in the Chansa case.

Unreasonable as the charges were, no one, it seems, was prepared to tell Rupiah that his ranting and raving at State House was misplaced. The police could not tell him, the Director of Public Prosecutions could not tell him, George could not tell him. This is what happens when a person in Rupiah’s position surrounds himself with minions who are not prepared to tell him when he is headed the wrong way.

What is sad for Rupiah is that this situation will not improve, it will simply get worse. Rupiah does not seem to have anyone close to him who is ready to take him on and advise him that what he is doing is wrong and may backfire. We say this because Rupiah seems to have surrounded himself with sycophants, praise singers and spineless elements who seem to have no position on any issue other than an exhibition of hatred for us and others Rupiah considers enemies.

Rupiah has misled himself into believing that because he is president, he can destroy or annihilate all the people that he does not like. Although any normal person would say that this is an unreasonable position to take, Rupiah does not seem to have anyone to tell him this. And worse still, Rupiah himself does not have the capacity to realise that what he is doing is wrong, is not tenable.

Having Rupiah in State House, as the saying goes, is like having a bull in a China shop. Rupiah is running in all directions trying to break anything in sight. Rupiah wants to fight everybody who he thinks is not with him or is opposed to him. The wisdom of not fighting wars on many fronts is something Rupiah and his minions don’t appreciate.

Chansa’s case exemplifies the recklessness of a president who is drunk with power, who thinks because he is president, he can do anything and cage anyone, he has dominion over everything in this country.

This case in a way also shows that Rupiah and his minions have failed to understand how complicated running the affairs of the state is. Rupiah in this simple act of abusing his presidential powers has shown preparedness to disregard the demands of his office. He will do whatever he thinks is right for that moment regardless of the consequences.

What Rupiah has tried to do with Chansa, he would like to do with the whole media. He would like to criminalise anything that he does not like about the operations of the media. This is Rupiah’s default position in dealing with problems. We have seen this in the way he wants to deal with non-governmental organisations for instance. What he does not like about their operations, he wants to criminalise with the support and counsel of sycophants like George.

Rupiah’s recklessness is driving his government into a fight, even with the Catholic Church. This is the kind of person we are dealing with. To him, everything is about power and control. To him, everything is about fixing, revenge and hatred. But we know that there is no nation that can be built on the basis of revenge.

This cannot be done with feelings of hatred and revenge. As we have warned before, Rupiah’s hatred for us may lead him into serious problems. His hatred for us may cause him to commit atrocities that he and his minions may live to regret for the rest of their lives. We say this because Rupiah and his minions, when it comes to us seem to stop thinking, they can’t reason, hatred overwhelms them.

Rupiah’s pornography case against Chansa has clearly demonstrated what type of president we have in this country. It has shown us that we have a very petty-minded person in State House. And that position Rupiah occupies cannot be run by pettiness, small-mindedness and short-sightedness. It has also demonstrated that Rupiah is a liar because he lied about pornography that was not there.

Rupiah falsely accused us of engaging in pornography. If Rupiah has a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment, this is the time for him to meditate deeply over his attitude towards those he does not agree with. There are many things to be said on this issue and we are sure that many other people have more to say on it.