Maravi

Zambia's direction is unclear because of stubborn leadership - Shamenda

Zambia's direction is unclear because of stubborn leadership - Shamenda
By George Chellah
Fri 03 Sep. 2010, 04:00 CAT

ZAMBIA’s direction is uncertain because of stubborn leadership, Fackson Shamenda observed yesterday. In an interview, Shamenda, who is former Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president, said the country was currently on an unclear path.

“The direction the country is taking is not clear because of stubborn leadership. I don’t think there is sufficient guidance by the leadership to guide the country forward,” Shamenda said.

“It’s like we have become so sensitive even to those who are helping us. For example, the issue of donors, surely there should be a better way of handling such matters.” Shamenda insisted on the need for the country to be focused.

“It seems we don’t know what we want as a country. Just like somebody once said that ‘you can’t get lost if you don’t know where you are going’ that’s the situation we are in,” Shamenda said. “We don’t seem to know where we are going.

Instead of people discussing issues, that’s both the opposition political parties and those in government, they have all fallen in the trap of discussing trivialities.

“It’s now 46 years after independence; we should be mature so that our interests should not be personal but the interests of the wider society.” He said the country should avoid situations where even good ideas are ignored simply because people in leadership want to be unnecessarily stubborn.

“Since we introduced a multiparty system, the opposition political parties, the civil society and the media have become part of the governance system. The people in authority should not be too sensitive and think that whatever is being said is to undermine their authority,” Shamenda said.

“We should move as one people. It’s like in a football team; if a captain is stubborn, he can’t win the game. In a similar vein, the way we are moving as a country, it is supposed to be team work.” He stressed the need for continuity in the government programmes.

“There was Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba and Levy Mwanawasa and this administration. We have also programmes were left by the previous government. You can’t begin saying that the programmes we are seeing now were initiated by this government, no. It’s too short a period!” Shamenda said.

“It’s a continuation of programmes from the previous government. That’s how the system operates. It's important we work together as a country instead of doing things without a vision.”

He said the country would only have a proper direction if the leadership began to embrace divergent views. “Not where you are becoming suspicious that if it’s something which is coming from The Post…like some leader said that ‘if you are praised by The Post, then there is something wrong with you; you are with the other side.’ Even a mad man can be reasonable sometimes,” said Shamenda.

Labels: FACKSON SHAMENDA, LEADERSHIP, MMD

posted by MrK @ 11:59 AM