Celebrating 46 years of independence with Judas

Celebrating 46 years of independence with Judas
By The Post
Sun 24 Oct. 2010, 04:50 CAT

As always on this day, we start by paying tribute and giving thanks to those who selflessly struggled for the independence of our country. This is a generation now reaching the end of a long and heroic struggle. And those of that generation, who are singled out to stay the longest, have to bear the pain of seeing the aims and purposes of their struggle being betrayed.

They fought a noble battle and lived their lives in pursuit of a better life for all of us. And the independence that we celebrate today is the sweet fruit of their lives of struggle and sacrifice.

We have many problems and challenges today. But judging by the record of the past 46 years of independence, the two most decisive factors affecting the future consolidation of our independence and expansion of our democracy will be economic development and political leadership. We say this because economic development makes the consolidation of our independence and the expansion of our democracy possible; political leadership makes it real.

But today we have a political leadership whose only discernable preoccupation is stealing public funds and abusing their offices in all sorts of ways. This is a leadership that is consistently preoccupied with enacting unjust laws that allow them to steal public funds and go scot-free; a leadership that is preoccupied with enacting laws that will help entrench itself in power. But we know that a politician who abides by unjust laws and permits anyone to trample and mistreat the country in which he was born, is not an honourable person.

In life, there must be a certain degree of honour, just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many people without honour, there are always others who bear themselves the honour of many people. These are the people who stand up with great force and courage against those who steal the people’s freedom, the people’s independence, that is to say, against those who steal human honour itself. In those people thousands more are contained, an entire people is contained, human dignity is contained.

We were taught that the 24th of October is a glorious anniversary of national rejoicing because it marks the day on which Zambians triumphed against the yoke of British colonialism. We were taught to cherish our beloved flag of the lone fish eagle, and to sing the verses of our national anthem: “Stand and sing of Zambia proud and free, land of work and joy in unity.

Victors in the struggle for the right, we won, freedom’s fight, all one, strong and free…” All this we learnt and we will never forget, even though today our country is being governed by a Judas Iscariot and his team of opportunists and renegades of all hues; even though there is harassment and attempts to humiliate those who practice the ideas taught to them since the cradle.

The majority of the Zambian citizens were born in a free country that their parents fought for and bequeathed to them and this country will sink into the ground before they consent to having this independence rendered meaningless by anyone.
They are trying very hard to destroy everything the Apostle of our independence stood for and established in our homeland.

They want to extinguish that forever, claiming its misguided socialist ideas and practices that have no value in today’s world. They are amending laws that were enacted to defend the dignity and honour of the great majority of our poor people. They are doing everything to enable themselves to rape this country. So great is their affront.

But the ideas of our Apostle are refusing to die, they are still alive - they are being defended by people no one ever imagined would be the ones to defend them. There are Zambians who are every day harassed and humiliated for defending the standards, values set by the Apostle. There are young men and women who are every day working very hard to ensure that the ideas, standards and values of the Apostle keep on living in the heart of his nation.

It is understandable that honest men and women should be harassed, humiliated in a country where the President is busy defending thieves, corrupt elements, ensuring that they go scot-free and keep their loot, changing laws to allow themselves to continue stealing public resources.

These are the challenges we today face as we celebrate the 46th anniversary of our country. And the Apostle will be invited to join Judas Iscariot at state functions to celebrate our independence.

The Apostle will not refuse. Humble as usual, he will smile for everyone waving his white handkerchief. He is polite and very cultured. He will celebrate with them, but inside his heart is bleeding looking at what they are doing and the brazenness with which they are going around doing and defending wrong things. They don’t even attempt to disguise or cover up what they are doing. They don’t bother in the least to conceal what they are doing.

They think they have manipulated and deceived the people with their lies. But they are just deceiving themselves and no one else. They are constructing a Zambia of wolves, devoid of any solidarity and patriotism. Their only commitment is to their stomachs and pockets.

They are there to eat and drink. That’s all. And they will not be satisfied until everything in this country belongs to them and is controlled by them. At their hands, the best and noblest Zambians are being harassed and humiliated. They are being called all sorts of names.

They have changed all the good laws the Apostle enacted. They have even dropped the Apostle’s mantra of “One Zambia, One Nation”; because meaningful unity is not good for them, it stops them from manipulating the people on ethnic and regional basis. When they talk of unity, it’s just in rhetoric and lip service.

They are just short of changing the national anthem and the flag. We don’t think they actually like the Apostle’s national anthem and flag. After all, Judas’ political advisor and consultant flies the flag of Israel - a country whose Zionist ideology he doesn’t even understand.

If there is in your hearts a vestige love for your country, love for justice, you cannot stand aside and watch Judas destroy your country and everything the Apostle struggled so hard to build.

This is the state of the Zambia whose 46th independence anniversary we today commemorate; a Zambia with a serious challenge and problem of political leadership. Clearly, as we celebrate this happy anniversary, which also brings some sad feelings, let’s resolve to honour the Apostle and those who fought alongside him by struggling without respite to halt the destruction of the standards, principles and values they had established in our homeland.