Maravi

Desperate people do desperate things

Desperate people do desperate things
By Editor
Wed 12 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE truth is stubborn. It does not matter how long one tries to hide the truth, it always comes out.

This is a lesson that we all need to learn and keep very well. What is done in secret will be published in broad daylight. This must give all of us the incentive and the push to strive to do what is right all the time.

Rupiah Banda and his minions have been trying to convince the nation that it was the United Party for National Development that was responsible for the violence that rocked the recent by-election in Mufumbwe. Everybody knew that they were lying but they persisted in this line. Rupiah himself has been very determined in his pretence that the violence was caused by the United Party for National Development.

As we have said before, the violence that we saw in Mufumbwe was a manifestation of the desperation of Rupiah and the band of thugs that he is now surrounding himself with. No one can doubt that the violence in Mufumbwe could have gone on without sanction from the highest level in government. Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde would not have accepted to be made a fool of himself unless he was following superior orders and trying to placate his paymaster Rupiah. It is unbelievable that the man who is responsible for the maintenance of law and order was hiding from the attacks of MMD cadres and seemed impotent to do anything about it. As we have said, Kabonde was in Mufumbwe to weaken the opposition so that the MMD cadres could have a free hand.

If anyone had any doubt about what we are saying, they don’t have any reason to do so anymore. The arrogance of Rupiah and his condoning of violence has now reached the rank and file of his party. This is what explains the behaviour of the Ndola district MMD official Alex Mubanga who has taken public platform admitting that MMD was responsible for the violence in Mufumbwe.

The context in which Alex Mubanga made his statement was to issue threats of further violence. Mubanga was threatening Fr Frank Bwalya with physical violence if he continued with his campaign against Rupiah’s government. To validate his threats, Mubanga publicly declared that they would do to Fr Bwalya worse things than what they did in Mufumbwe! This clearly shows what is happening in Rupiah’s government and also explains what happened in Mufumbwe. A very low level party functionary feels confident enough to issue public threats of political violence without fearing any repercussions. The use of Mufumbwe as an example demonstrates confidence in the method used in Mufumbwe. MMD cadres ran riot, injured and maimed their political opponents without any consequences. Not one MMD cadre was arrested. And because of this, people like Mubanga feel confident that even if they make threats and carry them out, they will be protected. After all, Kabonde has proved himself to be a party cadre who is too scared to uphold the law if that does not serve the immediate interests of Rupiah and his thugs. The Copperbelt MMD youth chairman, Evans Chibanda has also added his voice to those calling for violence against Fr Bwalya. We have commented on several occasions about the right of Fr Bwalya to express his opinion without fear of being molested by anyone and not least, the violent thugs that Rupiah has given his blessing to.

The thuggery that is going on in MMD could not go on if it didn’t have Rupiah’s blessing. The cadres can now see the elevated position that a thug like William Banda is enjoying. It is not surprising that they are now trying to outdo each other in issuing threats to the extent that they even forget that they have been denying being responsible for the violence that took place in Mufumbwe.

Rupiah should know that he will be held responsible for the consequences of his actions and the protection that he is providing to those thugs who now feel very free to issue public threats. It is not long ago that some of his thugs went on television to issue public threats of raping Edith Nawakwi because of her criticism of Rupiah. Rupiah did nothing that showed that he did not approve of this kind of support he was receiving. If anything, his Inspector General of Police ridiculously tried to defend this kind of behaviour claiming that there was nothing illegal about the threat to rape Nawakwi. Again Rupiah and his whole government have been quiet about this.

It is clear that Rupiah has decided that keeping power is worth throwing all principles of public morality to the wind. Rupiah is the head of government. He, more than anybody else, should be the first to sincerely condemn and denounce any violence or threats of violence. He swore to uphold the Constitution. This means that Rupiah is obliged to respect the fundamental liberties of even the lowest member of our society. He doesn’t have to like them or like what they stand for. His job is to uphold the basic tenets of the rule of law. But it is clear that Rupiah has a problem with this. And the minions and thugs that surround him have realised this and they will use it to try and ingratiate themselves to him. These people know that threatening violence in the apparent defence of Rupiah is a good way of becoming popular with him. Mufumbwe demonstrated how far the government is prepared to go to protect those who break the law in order to massage Rupiah’s ego.

The admission by the MMD that it was behind the Mufumbwe violence and the threats against Fr Bwalya should make all of us sit up and be vigilant. We have a government that seems prepared to unleash violence on its citizens if in so doing they think they will increase their chances of remaining in power.

Desperate people do desperate things. Rupiah is a desperate man and it should not surprise us that he is resorting to desperate tactics. But our people must refuse to be provoked and drawn into violence. Our people, on the other hand, must also refuse to be intimidated. People like Fr Bwalya should not fear but remain true to his conscience. Fr Bwalya should do what he believes and knows to be right. The threats from the Rupiah-protected thugs should not deter Fr Bwalya from doing right. As for Rupiah and his minions, they need to learn that violence will not help them. The humble people of Mufumbwe showed them that no amount of intimidation could change what people felt in the end. This nonsense has to stop.

Labels: CADRES, FRANCIS KABONDE, FRANK BWALYA, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:07 PM