Maravi

Let the Pact die before you bury it

Let the Pact die before you bury it
By The Post
Tue 27 July 2010, 04:00 CAT

When a ship has cracks or holes and water is gushing in, there are only two alternatives for those on board: either to mend the cracks or plug the holes very quickly and stop the water from gushing in, or jettison.

If the cracks are impossible to mend or the holes prove impossible to plug, it will be suicidal to stay on the ship a second longer. Hanging on to a sinking ship is suicidal. It may be better to jettison and stand a chance of struggling another second, minute, hour or day for survival.

Again, this reminds us of a saying of Lenin that untimely inaction in situations like that would be worse than untimely action. In situations like that, you cannot refuse to struggle for your survival, for your life. You have to learn how to do so. And, in many respects, you have to learn the hard way and very quickly, in the hard school of reality as it unfolds before you. This is the situation the PF-UPND pact and its leaders face today.

There are serious cracks and holes in their Pact which need to be quickly mended or plugged. If this is not done quickly, they will continue with intra-pact discords until the time of filing in nominations for next year’s elections. And the consequences of that need no disquisition. Theirs will certainly be a pact destined for sinking, for electoral defeat and humiliation. They have a bit of time, but not too much time, to mend their cracks and plug their holes.

Time is also running out for them to make meaningful jettison, to leave the sinking pact. Everything has to be done now and quickly so. They have to quickly work on the mending or plugging their cracks or holes. And they also have to quickly make decisions on whether to abandon the idea of the Pact because it’s not possible for them to mend their cracks or plug the holes in time for next year’s elections and the campaigns that such elections call for. The choice is theirs.

But it is not limitless in terms of time and space. We say this because the ways in which they are seeking to achieve their goals are bound by contest, changing with circumstances even if they remain steadfast in their commitment of going into next year’s elections under a united opposition front. And the mark of the leadership of the Pact will be measured by their ability to understand the context in which they are operating and their willingness to act accordingly.

We therefore urge the leadership of this pact to pay a lot of attention to what people are saying, including to what the ordinary Zambians are telling them. Many people have spoken. Some correct, others wrong. Some of the things that have been said they may dislike and totally disagree with. Anyone, no matter who, may point out the shortcomings of their pact and of themselves as leaders. If they are right, they should correct those shortcomings.

If what they are proposing will benefit the people whom they claim to be representing, they should act upon it. And the more quickly and thoroughly they do so, the better. The time to criticise the Pact and its shortcomings is now and not when it’s lying in the political cemetery of our political parties, with R.I.P on their graves, hoping it meant Return If Possible and not Rest In Peace.

Lackson Kazabu, the UPND chairperson for education, science and technology, has made interesting observations and has given valuable advice on this Pact that should not be ignored unless at the peril of those on board this pact.

Kazabu says “…delays in making critical decisions is causing these problems, so let us make that big decision now including that of the presidential candidate so that those whose hearts will be broken can have sufficient time to heal and rally behind a chosen candidate and personally I have no problem with HH or Sata because as a politician, my interest is to serve mother Zambia…” Kazabu believes this pact can work so long they remove selfishness from it and no individual should be allowed to dismantle the pact considering the hope people have invested in it.

Again, Kazabu is emphasising the fact that time is of essence in the mending and plugging of these Pact cracks and holes. Dragging the problems until the ‘right’ time for those involved in it to get what they want or what they desire will not do. But we don’t think all those involved in this pact are propelled by noble and selfless sentiments.

The idea of a pact may be a very noble one but the sentiments of some of those behind it may not necessarily be noble and selfless. Not every politician in this country is there primarily to render a selfless service to the masses of our people; not every politician in this country is in politics to serve the people wholeheartedly and never for a moment divorce himself or herself from the masses, to proceed in all cases from the interests of the people and not from one’s self-interest or from the interests of a small group.

And not every one of these politicians can be said that every word, every act and every policy of theirs conforms to the interests of the people. But these are the politicians we have in our country, and we have them in the majority. Again, this is a fact we should not lose sight of. We have to deal with what we have as we continue to hope for the best and construct a good and selfless political leadership for our country.

We desire and hope for a selfless political leadership but its not there today, we don’t have it today – we may have it in the future. But we have to deal with the problems of today as we try to struggle for a better leadership in the future. This means that we have to take into account the selfishness of our present leaders when we seek solutions to political questions that may arise from time to time.

And this applies to the challenges facing the PF-UPND pact today. It may not be totally wrong to proceed from an understanding that we are dealing with selfish people who think of themselves first and the interests of their people as a by the way, as something to use in propaganda and rhetoric. But of course there is no politician who will ever stand up and say, ‘I am selfish and I am proceeding from self-interest.’

They will always tell you that they are selfless and they are only there to serve the people. But read their lips, watch their actions they will tell you what they truly represent. Even from a selfish point of view, this pact can still be salvaged. A careful analysis of what this happenstance pact represents will reveal that the overwhelming majority of those involved in it want to be in government next year, want to be ministers, diplomats and so on and so forth, in a pact government.

This selfish-interest can still be strong enough to unite them and fool the people that they are doing all this in response to their demand for a strong and united opposition when they are nothing but vultures, hyenas trying to fill up their own stomachs. Each one of them has to be made to see what they will lose or not gain if they fail to mend the cracks or plug the holes in the Pact.

But of course there is a limit to how far they can go trying to mend the cracks or plug holes that are impossible to mend or plug. At some point they may have to bid farewell, goodbye to each other and to their pact idea, sad as it may be. There is no parting or breaking up that is sweet. But sometimes this is a reality that we all, at one time or another, have to face.

If something is destined to die, sometimes there is nothing one can do – it has to die. But every effort should be put in saving that which can be saved. It’s not wise to bury something that is still alive, that is still breathing. Let it die before you bury it. Let the Pact die before you bury it. Don’t remove the oxygen mask from its mouth and nose until it stops breathing.

Labels: PF-UPND

posted by MrK @ 3:57 PM