Maravi

Rupiah is waking up to the Pact reality

Rupiah is waking up to the Pact reality
By Editor
Thu 22 July 2010, 04:00 CAT

There is no doubt that the MMD’s popularity and influence has waned considerably over the last few years.

And it will help them a lot to start recognising the scale of their loss of popularity and influence. It is clear to all that the MMD has become associated increasingly with the most disagreeable messages and thoughts. It must be appreciated that this loss of popularity and influence is a deeply felt distaste, rather than a momentary irritation. And it should not be dismissed as a mere false perception. The MMD is firmly linked to corruption.

And today, the most corrupt elements are connected to the leadership of this party. And at the helm of that corruption is Frederick Chiluba whom this party sees as a reliable and dependable friend, a political advisor and consultant for the top leadership of this party. They are considered to be indifferent to the moral arguments against their association with Chiluba and other corrupt elements.

They are seen and thought to favour greed with a ‘devil take the hindmost’ attitude. And these distasteful perceptions will endure and do them damage for a long time.

Clearly, the MMD’s loss of public confidence, trust and support has nothing to do with the PF-UPND pact. It has also nothing to do with any of the opposition political parties. It has everything to do with themselves.

The opposition will not win, under whatever formation, because the MMD is despised, but because they are understood, supported and trusted. At the next election, the Zambian voters will have had this MMD government for 20 years.

They may hate them, but they know them. For the opposition to win, the voters’ hatred for the MMD will not be enough. What the voters will need to vote for the opposition is to know them – their identity, their character.

Probably this time Rupiah Banda is right by not pinning his election strategy on the PF-UPND pact crumbling. We say this because with or without the pact, the PF or even the UPND as individual political parties can defeat the MMD. And both the UPND and the PF have in the last three elections nearly defeated the MMD. In 2001, UPND was robbed of an election victory through electoral fraud.

And the MMD were declared winners of that election with the narrowest of margins. If the Zambian people were not peaceful, the country would have become ungovernable and the confusion that we see in other countries after disputed elections would have visited us. In 2006 and 2008, the PF put up a very good performance and with free and fair elections – devoid of any fraud – it would have been difficult to deny them victory. In the last election, the MMD was in an electoral pact with ULP and FDD. But we know that this alliance only produced slightly over 30,000 votes above that of the PF candidate. These are not wide margins that cannot be wiped out. Clearly, next year’s elections will be highly contested with probably the main two top contenders being the MMD and PF. But that’s not to say others cannot pull a surprise and do better than we today expect them. In politics, things can change in a very short time.

So, with or without the pact, the MMD, if they don’t work hard to alter the state of things stand a very high chance of losing next year’s elections. And their problems do not lie with the Pact, PF or UPND but with themselves, with what they have done or not done. It is what they have done or not done that will cost them next year’s elections.

We have no doubt that their support of Chiluba and the defence of his corruption has not gone well with the Zambian people and they may pay the price for that decision and action. Whatever may have been the reason for their embracement of Chiluba and the defence of his corruption, there is no doubt about its imbecility. There is not the slightest shadow of doubt that this was a reckless, unprincipled and immoral political gamble that is bound to backfire. We don’t know how they will manage in this short time to turn their backs on this most ugly decision and action and realise that if they are again to be regarded as a decent political party with a decent leadership, they have to act up to different standards than the ones that they have been following over the last few months.

This is a government and a political party that is trying to sanction corruption by removing the offence of “abuse of office” from our statute books. The Zambian people resent most bitterly this unconcern for the prudent and diligent management of public resources; this unconcern for the lives of innocent men and women. Unless the MMD faces this fact, they shall pay the price that must be paid by those who fail to read the signs of the time.

We have enough faith in the Zambian people to believe that when they realise what the MMD leadership has been doing against them, when they come to learn what this political party that has been consolidating its hold on political power only on the basis of corruption and other abuses of office, they will have no choice but to turn their backs on them. The record of the MMD on all issues speaks for itself. One does not need to listen to the PF-UPND pact to turn against the MMD. All one needs to listen to is Rupiah’s utterances. This is a man who embraces and defends corruption, intolerance and violence.

Although sometimes he tries to pretend to be a man of peace, Rupiah is a tyrannical leader full of anger and hatred. He has no respect for the humanity of fellow citizens who don’t worship him, who don’t support him, who oppose and challenge him. And Zambians understand this aspect of Rupiah’s character. They know him to be a liar because he has told them lies about many things. These are the things that will cost the MMD next year’s election and not whether the Pact is there or not. The opposition does not begin and end with the Pact.

With or without the Pact, the MMD is likely to lose next year’s election. The only thing that will save the MMD from electoral defeat is to change its bad and corrupt ways and be sensitive to the needs and interests of the great majority of the Zambian people. The crumbling of the Pact will not save the MMD from electoral defeat. The PF, as demonstrated in the 2008 elections, has enough public support to take on the MMD. In two successive elections, the PF has beaten the MMD in areas where it matters most – Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces, the principal and most populated cosmopolitan areas of our country.

And they also were defeated by this same party in Luapula and Northern provinces. And it is worth noting that in the 2008 elections, the PF extended its areas of support and influence at a very fast rate. No serious politician or political analyst can dismiss this performance and go into next year’s elections thinking or believing there is no serious opposition to the MMD.

Clearly, the only thing that can save the MMD from a humiliating defeat in next year’s elections is to restore the confidence of the Zambian people and win back their trust. Any other scheme will not do. Even the destruction of the PF-UPND pact will not help them much because, as we have already stated, the opposition does not begin and end with the Pact. The opposition is much bigger than the Pact. It is good that Rupiah, somehow, seems to understand this fact better than most of his minions. But what remains to be seen is what measures he will take to restore public trust in the MMD and in himself to enable him win next year’s elections.

Labels: PF-UPND, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 12:15 PM