Maravi

Rupiah must learn to listen to advice

Rupiah must learn to listen to advice
By Editor
Sun 21 Mar. 2010, 04:20 CAT

People who do not want to listen to advice often land up in trouble. Rupiah Banda’s government appears to be averse to criticism and advice. Whoever attempts to offer advice or criticism, especially if it is the kind of advice or criticism void or praise singing and hero-worshiping, Rupiah and his minions are quick to label such people as detractors who do not mean well.

Rupiah and his ministers go about doing things as though they have all the wisdom there is. But they are mistaken because wisdom is like a baobab tree, which no single individual can embrace. Rupiah and his minions are going about things like a polecat, which is not aware of its smell. They are blind to their own weaknesses.

Edith Nawakwi has raised a very serious issue touching on the challenges of our health sector. But instead of following up on her revelations and work on areas that require immediate and urgent attention, the government is quick to label Nawakwi an alarmist engaged in cheap politicking.

After visiting some clinics and hospitals in Lusaka, Nawakwi made a public statement expressing her displeasure at what she discovered during her tour of these health institutions. She said at Chipata Clinic, women giving birth are asked to carry buckets so they can dispose off the placenta and other waste after childbirth because the incinerator is out of order. Nawakwi said the general situation in almost all the clinics and hospitals in Lusaka was deplorable and asked the government to urgently intervene. In fact, she went further and challenged Rupiah to accompany her to Chipata Clinic to verify her findings.

However, instead of going on a fact finding mission to check the authenticity of Nawakwi’s revelations, the government is busy calling Nawakwi all sorts of names as, in their view, the situation in the health sector is very good and Nawakwi is just being an alarmist.

This is not the way to govern. Rupiah’s handlers who are supposed to be his eyes are the first ones to mislead him. And because Rupiah is a naked emperor, he can’t even ask his health minister to accompany him to these compounds to see for himself what is obtaining on the ground.

Even without Nawakwi’s comments, it is not a secret that the health sector in the country is limping, if it has not yet fallen on its knees. Who doesn’t know that most mothers, not only those going to Chipata Clinic, are asked to buy cotton wool, gloves, among other things, when they go to the labour ward?

Things are bad for the majority of our people. Many are living as though we are at war or have been hit by a natural disaster. These are the things that should move our leaders to action. This is what should bother Rupiah, not what Nawakwi says. There is so much suffering and misery among our people that a leader who is serious about governing would have difficulties sleeping at night. The challenges that face us as a nation are innumerable and daunting.

These are the things that Rupiah should be addressing. He needs to demonstrate that he has a plan to get our people out of this quagmire. Jet setting and holidaymaking as he travels at every opportunity will not help our people. Rupiah does not seem to have the time to think and plan seriously about what needs to be done in our country. Since returning from China where he spent more than ten days away from home, Rupiah is already on his second trip outside the country. He doesn’t care about how much these frequent jaunts cost the taxpayer. He is out to have a good time.

This is why Rupiah’s government has no time to care about what is happening to the mothers of Chipata compound. To them, talking about the misery of our mothers is cheap politics. How else can one describe the careless way in which Nawakwi’s timely warning is dismissed? Anyway, what is politics? Isn’t it about outlining public interest and ensuring that resources are marshalled to provide what our people need?

To Rupiah and his minions, talking about the suffering of our people is cheap politics. It is not long ago that they dismissed the cries of our people and some of their representatives about the floods around Lusaka as being cheap politics. What is their job in government if not to attend to the many public requirements and to provide social amenities to improve the welfare of our people?

This is what happens when chancers, opportunists and the like grab power. They do not care about the people. What is important is what they can get out of it, what their families can get out of it and what their friends can get out of it. Nichekeleko is the philosophy of their politics. This is the tragedy that we find ourselves in as a country because such politicians do not come into power to serve the people.

A good leader must have compassion for the people he or she leads. They must feel the pain of their people. This is something that Rupiah has failed to do.

We say this because Rupiah has never shown any true solidarity when our people suffer. Not too long ago, he left the country and spent almost two weeks travelling in China when people who lived less than ten kilometres from his house were being overwhelmed by floods that have overtaken Lusaka. After he had enjoyed his holiday in China, he then went on a public relations exercise claiming to visit the people who had been displaced. This is the kind of leader we have.

It is unbelievable that people like Ronnie Shikapwasha can so shamelessly try to defend the indefensible. The suffering of our people is not a matter about which any reasonable person can argue in our country and yet Shikapwasha, in a bid to protect his ever-endangered existence in Rupiah’s government, has no choice but to open his mouth over issues he would be better advised to keep quiet about.

Rupiah and his minions are taking our people for granted. But it won’t be long before our people make it very clear what they feel about these matters. Rupiah and his minions must learn to listen to others for the good of our people.

Labels: CORRUPTION, EDITH NAWAKWI, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 11:54 AM