Maravi

Rupiah and criticism, attacks and lies

Rupiah and criticism, attacks and lies
By Editor
Wed 11 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT

Sometimes people say very interesting things, things they don’t mean but think people want to hear.

We say this in light of what Rupiah Banda said on Monday: “…I am a leader, I am supposed to be criticised, I am supposed to be attacked, I am supposed to be lied about, all kinds of things happen to a true leader and that is why you won’t hear that so and so has been arrested because he wrote something against me or so and so has been punished. I will not do that.”

Can anyone really believe that Rupiah means what he is saying? The truth is this may be what Rupiah is today preaching but it is nowhere near what he practices. The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We have fallen morally ill because we have become used to saying something different from what we think or believe in. We seem to have learned not to believe in anything, to ignore each other, to care only about ourselves.

Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility, or forgiveness have lost their depth and dimensions, and for many of us, they seem to represent only psychological peculiarities, or they resemble gone-astray greetings from ancient times, a little ridiculous in the era of nchekelako and all sorts of deals – business, political or otherwise. Only a few of us seem to be able to cry out loud that the powers that be should not be all-powerful and be armed with an intolerant and arrogant outlook.

Listening to Rupiah, it is clear that the man is so full of himself, so excited with being president. And it’s also clear that the man does not truly see himself as a servant of the people. But he sees himself as a master. And this is contrary to what our people are today seeking. What the Zambian people are seeking is genuine democracy in which the leaders are servants of the electorate and not its masters.

Good governance only occurs when we have intelligent, honest and humble leaders who see politics as a vocation to serve the people and not the people to serve them. It is for this reason that our people are always being urged to vote wisely and only for people who are known for their honesty, ability, dedication and concern for the welfare of all.

Rupiah should realise that he is not a master but a servant of the people and as such, it is not a privilege but a right to criticise him. It is Rupiah who should have difficulties criticising the people because they are his masters and the servant cannot easily take on his master.

We would be very happy if Rupiah actually meant what he is saying about the need for a leader to be criticised. We say this because criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life. And therefore, no individual or institution should expect to be free from the criticism, the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don’t. If criticism is valid, it must be made.

We have written a number of editorial comments on this issue before. And at the risk of repetitions and boring our readers, we say that without criticism, it will be very difficult for us to correct our mistakes and make progress as a nation.

If we have shortcomings, we should not be afraid to have them pointed out and criticised, because we serve the people. Anyone, no matter who, may point out our shortcomings. If he is right, we should correct them. If what he proposes will benefit the people, we should act upon it.

And when it comes to criticising political leaders, we should do it in good time; we shouldn’t get into the habit of criticising them only after they have left office.

Criticism should not be confined to small things that people don’t really mind about. The main task of criticism should be to point out major political and organisational mistakes. Insignificant things, peripheral issues, don’t need any criticism. If one is not ready to be criticised, then he should not seek public office at all.

We are saying we don’t believe what Rupiah is saying about criticism because his hatred for us arises from nothing else other than criticising him and exposing his misdeeds and those of his friends. Other than that, what have we done against Rupiah for him to declare war on us, for him to work day and night to secure our annihilation? The only crime we have committed against Rupiah is to exercise our democratic right as citizens of this country to freely criticise public officers and public institutions.

That’s our only crime. Other than that, what have we done against Rupiah and his friends for them to be doing what they are doing against us today?

Rupiah is not being truthful on this score. It is not true for Rupiah to say he has no problem with criticism. Rupiah has serious problems with being criticised. Show us one person who criticises Rupiah and is not in trouble with him today? There is none. Rupiah hates critics.

On the issue of being lied about, it is Rupiah himself who tells lies about ordinary citizens of this country. Rupiah has lied about us stealing money, US $30 million, from public institutions through Zambian Airways. And today, Rupiah knows very well that this is not so, we have never stolen any money from any institution or anyone.

Rupiah’s investigators from the police, Anti-Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission have not found anything wrong that we have done or anything that amounts to a theft in our dealings. But to date, Rupiah has not tendered an apology to us for an allegation, or rather a charge, he publicly made at a State House press conference.

Rupiah has also combined lies and insults against us. Rupiah has accused us of being queer, morbid and all sorts of things that are criminal acts or practices according to the laws of our country. But none of these charges against us have been proved by Rupiah or have been subjects of prosecutions.

They are simply lies that he picked up somewhere and carelessly, recklessly and maliciously propagated against us without any respect or care for our humanity. Rupiah criticises others, tells lies about others, insults others but takes serious offence when others do that to him, sometimes even honestly so. Why? Isn’t what is good for Rupiah good for others? Isn’t what is bad for Rupiah bad for others?

At his age, we expect him to know all these good maxims about treating others as you would like them to treat you; doing unto others as you would like them do unto you; what is good for the gander being good for the goose. We know he knows all these things; he has heard about all these things. The only problem is that Rupiah doesn’t see himself as being a servant of the rest of us; he sees himself as our master who can criticise us, insult us, tell lies about us without us responding, answering back or hitting back in any way. Rupiah probably sees himself in the same light as his young emperor friend Mswati.

Rupiah is not a king; Zambia is not a monarchy. This country is a Republic where citizens are not subjects of the president but citizens with rights equal to those of his. The only difference is that whereas we don’t have the immunity against being sued for any defamatory statements we make, he can’t be sued. Rupiah can slander or libel any citizen of this country and he will get away with it because he has immunity. But Rupiah himself sues for slander or libel and we have got a court case with him in this regard.

And listen to what Rupiah is saying about his colleague Michael Sata. Listen to what names he is calling Sata. Listen to the insults that Rupiah is subjecting Sata’s late parents to. But Rupiah and his friends are the first ones to complain about being insulted, being criticised, being told lies about. But they themselves don’t seem to be able to live without lies, calumny, deceit, insults. Our own and only explanation for this is that Rupiah and his friends think they are our masters, we are their servants and as such we owe them respect and they owe us nothing. This is possible for ignorant citizens to accept and treat them in that way. But it’s not possible for us and others who know their rights and what it means to be a citizen of a Republic to accept. And this is the source of our conflict with them.

If it was simply the question of us telling lies about them, that would be a very easy thing to cure because the remedy for lies is simply a few doses of truth. Every lie can easily be crushed by truth. Why can’t they put their truth against our lies? The truth is that we have no lies against them. Yes, we may get some facts here and there wrong. But these we have no problem correcting when they are pointed out to us. And of course, this is not what they are concerned about. What they are concerned about is our exposure and denunciation of the crimes of their league.

Anyway, it’s good that finally, Rupiah has been made to recognise the need for criticism even if he doesn’t genuinely or wholeheartedly accept it when it’s directed at him and not others. It’s now up to the Zambian people to hold him accountable and make him honour his words, make him live up to his platitudes.

Labels: RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 10:51 AM