Maravi

Stop this abuse of power!

Stop this abuse of power!
By Editor
Sun 06 June 2010, 04:00 CAT

Intimidation, harassment and persecution of those who fight for the truth can never defeat the truth. You can imprison a person and deny them the freedom to go where they like and do what they like, but you cannot imprison the ideals and principles that drive those who choose to fight injustice and abuse.

Rupiah Banda and his minions’ hatred towards this newspaper is now an open secret. It is also clear they have decided to do everything possible to crush it. This does not surprise us. This is the way intolerant people deal with dissenting voices. Although Rupiah and his minions claim to be democrats, they have no capacity to live democratically. To them, anyone who opposes what they stand for is an enemy and must be crushed. We are not the only victims of Rupiah’s venom. Even those who work closest to him know how intolerant he is.

They understand that expressing a divergent view in Rupiah’s government is not tolerated at all. Rupiah’s style is more dictatorial than anything else. When it suits him, as he did for most of the time when he was Vice-President to Levy Mwanawasa, he pretends to be a meek and humble soul who can harm no one. But anyone who cares to study body language can quickly see that the meekness that Rupiah sometimes shows is fake.

We wonder if Rupiah has any advisors at all. And if he does, we wonder if he ever listens to them. We say this because Rupiah does not seem to have problems with fighting on all fronts. He thinks that he can crush everybody because he is President. This overvaluing of the capacity of political power has swallowed leaders much greater than Rupiah. Great leaders are those leaders who learn to tamper the exercise of the powers of their office with humility. After all, the power that they exercise is not theirs; it belongs to the people. This is something that Rupiah would do well to learn and learn very quickly.

The hatred that Rupiah and his minions have for The Post is dangerous. As we have warned them before, this hatred will cause them to commit atrocities if they allow it to continue the way it is. We know that it is not only The Post that they hate with a passion. But they also hate anyone who they think is not supportive of them. This is a dangerous spirit when possessed by those who control state power. Before they know what has happened, they will find themselves abusing this power in ways which even they never thought possible.

Yes, such unbridled hatred can produce results which can surprise anyone including the people who harbor the hatred.

We saw something of this in the recent Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election. The hatred that Rupiah and his minions have for anyone that they consider to be a threat on their hold on power led them to commit atrocities in Mufumbwe. The exact extent of that violence has been hidden from the public. But Rupiah and his minions know that it was a deplorable incident which even they cannot be proud of. This is why they have resorted to accusing the opposition of being responsible for the violence when they know very well what they did.

Rupiah and his minions are so intoxicated with the idea of settling old scores with their enemies that they seem to have lost the ability to reason over very straight-forward things.

The incarceration of the editor-in-chief of this newspaper is something that they would not support if they were thinking rationally. This is because they would see how illogical and contradictory their behaviour is. Rupiah himself, as President, was in the forefront of calling for the arrest of Post employees in relation to the Chansa Kabwela matter. As many will recall, he launched a vicious attack against The Post for what he termed distributing pornography.

Rupiah was literally baying for our blood. The Post had to be crushed because according to him, it was distributing pornography. He put up a splendid show of anger and indignation. But as we said before, this was all a show meant to aid his now open desire to crush The Post. This was the beginning of the matter that has seen the editor-in-chief of this newspaper sentenced to four months imprisonment.
The double standards and selective application of the law are there for anyone to see. The same Rupiah who pretended to be a champion for the observance of the law is very quiet when the breakage of the law is by his cadres or other minions.

During the Chitambo by-election, we published pictures of his deputy minister in the Vice-President’s office Gastone Sichilima involved in a fist fight. A serving minister in a government was photographed in a shameful breach of law.

Rupiah has never uttered a word in public. This is the man who was calling for the arrest of Post journalists for bringing information about the extent of the medical crisis in the country to the Vice-President.

It is not long ago that known MMD cadres appeared on television threatening to gang-rape Edith Nawakwi, president of the Forum for Democracy and Development. Again, Rupiah and his minions did nothing about such a shameful declaration of criminal intent.

More recently, the Mufumbwe by-election that we have already spoken about saw the MMD using known thugs to brutalise those they considered to be opposition supporters. Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde who was present during the period in Mufumbwe did nothing but ran away from the same cadres when they became unruly. Rupiah has done nothing. But when they thought the opposition had done something, they were quick to arrest without waiting for the Director of Public Prosecutions to allow them to prosecute.

To Rupiah and his minions, it is more important to pursue an editor of a newspaper for doing his job whilst ignoring clear criminal acts.

Our people know that losing MMD Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election candidate Mulondwe Muzungu’s son killed three people in the aftermath of the election. He has not been arrested. They claim that they are waiting for the Director of Public Prosecutions to tell them what to do. No one will be given any points for guessing what would have happened if the deaths were caused by someone associated with the opposition.

The Muzungu situation is not the only contradiction in the behaviour of Rupiah and his minions. Just the other day, the deputy minister for health Dr Solomon Musonda shot someone in Chitambo. Predictably, nothing has happened to him.

Instead of the police arresting him for such a violent act, we have seen the chief government spokesman going to pray for the man who was shot. Prayers are important, but so is justice. The man who was shot deserves justice.

Giving the impression that the justice system exists to fix political opponents will lead this country to chaos. This is something that Rupiah and his minions need to think about carefully. Persecuting The Post and its editors may seem like a very profitable undertaking, but ignoring the prosecution of clear criminal acts is leading to impunity. And our people should not be expected to accept this endlessly.

We saw the vigour with which Rupiah’s minions pursued the Solwezi Central UPND member of parliament Watson Lumba. We also saw the vigour with which the same minions pursued The Post over allegations of distributing pornography. But we do not see the same vigour in dealing with those closely connected to the MMD who have committed criminal offences.

This behaviour of Rupiah and his minions is criminal in itself and corrupt. Anyway, when people are in power, they forget that the power that they exercise is not theirs but the people’s. This is what has happened to Rupiah. Rupiah and his minions should stop this abuse of power.

Labels: FRED M'MEMBE, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 7:49 PM