Maravi

Buying votes with council houses

Buying votes with council houses
By The Post
Fri 07 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

There is nothing which makes people more appreciative of a government, at both local and central level, than that it should be able to deliver services.

It is the task of our government to give millions of Zambians an essential piece of dignity in their lives – the dignity that comes from having a solid roof over your head, running water and other services in an established community.

These are the goals every responsible government should set itself to achieve. We say this because for us, democracy means that governments are closely linked the people and devote themselves entirely to working and struggling for the people and the people’s interests.

Unlike in the past where we were gatherers and hunters, today’s man can’t survive without government, whether local or central, providing essential services. Modern man needs clean water, proper sanitation, well-maintained roads and other communication infrastructure, education and health. These are things that should concern every good government.

And every good government tries to provide these services and its performance is measured by how far it goes in quantitatively and qualitatively providing the services. And indeed this is what people want the government for; this is what citizens elect leaders for.

We should always bear in mind that our people are not interested in mere ideas, for the things in one’s head. They are interested in winning material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children.

And this is why they see politics, whether at local or central level, as an area of great importance for promoting development and community among all, as a way of building up society for the common good. Clearly, the government is the instrument by which people cooperate together to achieve the common good. An authority is needed, whether at the local or central level, to guide the energies of all towards of the common good.

But it shouldn’t be forgotten that the ways in which we achieve our goals are bound by context, changing with circumstances even while remaining steadfast in our commitment to our vision. And the mark of a good leader is the ability to understand the context in which they are operating and act accordingly. If this is not done, serious problems are likely to arise.

There are things that can be done out of political expedience but there are others that can only be done out of principle. Sometimes there is a danger of politicians doing crazy things in an attempt to redeem their declining political fortunes. We saw this in Zimbabwe over the land invasions.

It is very difficult to convince anyone that those land invasions were a matter of principle and not of temporal political strategy to revive ZANU-PF’s declining popularity among the masses of the Zimbabwean people. When ZANU-PF’s popularity was at its height, the land question was handled very differently and in a very casual manner. But for fear of losing elections, people were encouraged to invade white-owned farms.

This was a desperate act. It led to uncontrollable lawlessness and anarchy. No one can deny the fact that there was an injustice, an inequality that needed to be addressed or resolved. But the method that was chosen departed from the moral and rational standards that had propelled that nation since its independence in 1980.

Yes, the land issue in Zimbabwe needed to be addressed and will have to be addressed now or in the future. But not in the way that it was being addressed. Clearly, that method of trying to redistribute land has lamentably failed and nearly sacrificed Zimbabwe’s independence on the altar of political expedience.

A fissure for the recolonisation of Zimbabwe and imperialism capitalised on it to try and plant a totally pro-imperialist regime in that country. And in trying to resist this, the liberators of that country had to resort to more intolerant and repressive methods. There is even a belief among many people in the world, that they had to rig elections to stay in power.

That’s how desperate they had become. In the process, their prestige locally and internationally was damaged. However, credit has to be given to them for the tenacity with which for over 12 years they managed to defend their independence.

But all that could have been avoided if the right methods had been adopted, and the right things done at the right time. Zimbabwe will never be the same again. And a lot of effort is now needed for the country to get back on the rails and restore its battered international image.

This is what happens to a country when principles are sacrificed on the altar of political expedience; this is what happens when values are lost.

But there is a sort of a chain of events here. For if good ideas foster other good ideas, bad things can foster, on the other hand, other bad things.

The leaders of that heroic country and people made enormous mistakes and unleashed a process that was self-destructive for democracy and for economic progress. If you start a process in which all of a country’s values begin to be destroyed, that process is very negative. It’s a matter not of the analysis or criticism of problems, but of the destruction and negation of all the values, the merits and history of Zimbabwe.

Probably nobody in the leadership of ZANU-PF envisaged or could conceive that they would find themselves in the situation they are in today, or were in yesterday. We don’t believe that Robert Mugabe and many of the other men who initiated that process had that intention to put Zimbabwe where it is today.

They did make enormous mistakes by failing to foresee the consequences of what they were doing and by not doing the right thing to reach the goals and purposes they proclaimed – which, of course, were necessary and legitimate. Many of the strategic and tactical mistakes that were made were viewed, out of desperation, as the correct way of doing things.

Then, when all those negative tendencies were unleashed, opportunistic elements were also introduced, plus all of the elements that wittingly acted to destroy Zimbabwe’s independence and its economy. Naturally, the imperialist world and their local allies in MDC helped to destroy Zimbabwe and hoped for a regime change.

We have given the Zimbabwean example at length. But this is not the subject of this editorial comment. We are merely trying to show an example of what using wrong methods to achieve good goals can do to a country.

Our concern today is Rupiah Banda’s pronouncement over the sale of council flats and houses on the Copperbelt to recharge the flat political batteries of his party and himself. Nobody can deny the fact that our people need housing, and decent housing for that matter, and other services required in an organised society.

But these services will not be provided by promising to give away council houses at give-away prices and encouraging the tenants to stop paying rentals and rates to the councils. These are the major sources of income for the councils and they need this money for them to be able to provide the many needed social services.

And accusing the councils being run by the opposition of corruption is not fair. While corruption should be fought with all the tenacity one can marshal, there is need for honesty and fairness. All councils in Zambia are plugged by similar problems, including corruption. If there is corruption in any council, let those involved in it be arrested and prosecuted.

But we don’t think Rupiah is interested in fighting corruption. If he was, he wouldn’t today be seen in the company of a corrupt man like Frederick Chiluba. Today Rupiah is defending Chiluba’s corruption but at the same time wants to tell the Zambian people he is against corruption in opposition-led councils.

It is not prudent to try and bring down councils that are run by the opposition simply to win next year’s elections.

What we are trying to say is that correct methods must be found to deal with all the problems, including that of housing, facing our towns and cities instead of introducing anarchy just to appease a few people and gain their support and votes.

Noble goals have to be accompanied by noble methods and sentiments. There is nothing noble in the methods Rupiah is trying to use to win the support of the people occupying council houses on the Copperbelt. What Rupiah is introducing is nothing but veritable chaos that needs to be stopped.

Labels: CORRUPTION, NEOCOLONIALISM, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:22 PM