Maravi

Time will tell

COMMENT - Time for impeachment? When the president is calling for violence against political opponents, isn't that enough to remove him from office in a democracy?

Time will tell
By The Post Editor
Fri 30 Apr. 2010, 04:10 CAT

It is very clear that Rupiah Banda has committed the cardinal sin of putting his own interests ahead of those of the country and the people.

It is also very clear that Francis Kabonde, the Inspector General of Police, has surrendered himself to Rupiah and he is serving his personal interests. Kabonde doesn’t seem to realise that Zambia is bigger than Rupiah and the MMD, and loyalty to the nation takes precedence over loyalty to an individual.

It is clear that Rupiah is using the police to harass, intimidate and humiliate his political opponents. And in this, he is being aided by a police chief he has weakened and discredited.

With the investigations around him, Kabonde is a spineless and discredited police chief whose stay in office is purely dependent on doing what Rupiah wants him to do. And with the guardians of law and order behaving this way, what prospects are there for our country?

There is a predicament here. In law and philosophy, one asks, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will guide the custodians themselves?)”. If the prefect does not obey the rules, how can students be expected to obey? In effect, the prefect was above the law because he was the law.

But thus brutality, this harassment of innocent citizens will only succeed in hardening them and in removing fear from their hearts. The stigma of being arrested will soon be removed and being locked up by Rupiah’s policemen will soon become a badge of honour. That comes from not having succumbed to repression and fear.

The doors of resenting injustice are open to all who choose to walk through them. And these meek and humble citizens who Rupiah and his policemen are today harassing will tomorrow be hardened and will take them on. We say this because it stands to reason that an immoral, unjustice and repressive system breeds contempt for its laws, regulations and leaders.

Rupiah should not cheat himself that with the help of the police he will be able to determine the scope of political activities of every Zambian. They will not allow this because to do so, to be circumscribed by his dictates would be a form of defeat, and we don’t think the Zambian people will resolve to become their own jailers.

It is not pleasant to be harassed by the police when one knows that what one is doing is right and is not breaking any law. At some point, one will have no choice but to resist and meet that force with force.

We hope Rupiah will soon realise that it is best to rely on the freely given support of the people; otherwise that support is weak and fleeting. When a man is denied the right to live the life he lives in, he has no choice but to resist, but to fight.

If Rupiah’s intention is to crush every opposition to him by naked force, those opposing him will soon have to reconsider their tactics. And soon we find our country in turmoil, in an unending conflict because those who are today being beaten by the police and the MMD cadres they have armed and are protecting will start to defend themselves with all the means at their disposal because the attacks of the wild beast cannot be averted by simply looking away or turning the other cheek.

This country, under the leadership of Rupiah, is embarking on a new and more dangerous path, a path of violence, the results of which are not difficult to guess.
If people come to a realisation that their dignity, honour, integrity and rights can only be defended through hardship, sacrifice and militant action, they will do it. We say this because – and as Nelson Mandela once observed – “the time comes in the life on any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight”.

We don’t want that time to come to Zambia. But if we don’t do something to avert it, the Zambian people will have no choice but to hit back at Rupiah’s violence by all means within their power in defence of their dignity and their rights.

Rupiah today may feel very comfortable, very secure because he commands the law enforcement agencies and can unleash them against his political opponents. But he shouldn’t forget the many historical lessons of people defeating large armies and police forces with their own force. Everything is possible with the people and impossible without them.

This same police officer Rupiah today is abusing may tomorrow turn against him because the great majority of them also belong to the people, come from the people and live with the people. Rupiah should not forget that Levy Mwanawasa received very low votes in our military units and police camps.

And Rupiah’s popularity in these areas may not be that high. Some of these police officers are not happy with what they are being made to do because they know that the people they are being made to harass, to bring low are ordinary citizens being harassed for exercising their citizen and democratic rights.

They will soon start to see them as symbols of justice against Rupiah’s corruption and abuses, as representatives of justice, fairness and democracy in a nation whose leadership is trying to dishonour these virtues.

They know that the people they are being ordered to harass are not criminals but innocent men and women who are being harassed simply because of what they stand for, because of what they think, and because of what they are opposing.

It is Rupiah that is provoking violence by employing violence to meet non-violent campaigns. And because of this, eventually more and more of our people will be forced to take a more militant stance.

What does Rupiah expect to gain from claiming that Hakainde Hichilema is a young man possessed with the devil and that he has gone round torching churches? What type of a leader is this that has no shame telling lies? Is Hakainde possessed with the devil? Did Hakainde go round torching churches? Rupiah should know very well that arson is a very serious offence for which one can go to jail for a very long period. It is not a joking matter.

Rupiah and Kabonde know very well that it is their cadres, the MMD thugs they had ferried to Mufumbwe, who torched those churches. But why are they ready to tell lies? To keep their power and jobs!

It is crass dishonesty for Rupiah to try and blame Hakainde for any violence in Mufumbwe when he knows very well that he himself and his cadres are the source of that violence.

And it does not make sense for Kabonde to try and tell lies on the violence whose source he knows very well just to stay in good books with Rupiah and keep the job he has so much disgraced. Kabonde is not fit to be the police chief of this country because he has disgraced that very important office of our people. What type of a police chief is this who tells lies? What type of a police chief is this without a spine?

Kabonde is no different from those MMD cadres they had dressed in police uniforms because in so many ways he resembles them, he does what they do albeit in a slightly different style and fashion. For all his other weaknesses, Ephraim Mateyo tried to bring some sanity to policing in this country and Kabonde has substituted that with insanity.

Truly, the combination of Kabonde and Rupiah is not good for our national security, peace and stability. They are endangering our national harmony. This is hooliganism and not policing.

There is very little that comes out of Rupiah’s mouth to promote unity, peace and stability in our country. You cannot promote peace and stability in a nation through insults and vulgarity.

Rupiah says he is condemning violence and he expects Hakainde to do the same but immediately after saying that he goes on to add: “Maybe I am wasting my time since he is a partner with Sata that you are calling here Satana. It may be that the spirit of Satan has gone into him, that is why he is so vicious, he is so upset with people that they are willing to listen to us and not to him. You can see the young man is possessed with the devil. How come he has gone round torching churches? Three churches were destroyed in Mushima, they ran over the legs of people with their vehicles.”

Is this the way to bring calm to an area where violence is reigning? Is this not fanning violence?

It is clear that like the way they have taken over government business, government contracts and tenders, they have also personalised the services of the police. The police is today there to protect their interests and not those of the people.

This is not a people’s police but that of Rupiah and those who belong to him. But this is a police service paid for by the people through their taxes and will they allow Rupiah to continue abusing it as if he owns it? Time will tell, and time alone will tell!

Labels: CADRES, CORRUPTION, FRANCIS KABONDE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 1:16 PM