University education

University education
By The Post
Tue 12 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT

It is said that “a good man leaves an inheritance for his children…” (Proverbs 13:22). Responsible leaders do not only think about the present, they cast their eyes to the future. It is not possible to be a great leader without being a visionary. Visionary leadership requires a level of selflessness and magnanimity that puts the interests and welfare of the public before one’s personal interests.

This type of leadership is not only necessary in the context of a nation, but this responsibility cascades even to leadership in a family situation. There are certain things that a good man or woman must do for his or her children.

A good man or woman must make sure that the next generation that he or she has produced is well catered for to the extent that it is possible. Having said that, it is not possible to provide everything for one’s children after one is gone. But there are certain things that are supposed to be provided to them that make it possible for them to be able to look after themselves.

A decent upbringing and a sense of responsibility are some of the greatest gifts a parent can give to his or her child. Very close to this gift must be the provision of a decent education. Education is an important heritage for society. Every generation must ensure that to the extent that it is possible, the next generation is better educated than itself.

If we don’t educate our next generation, we are surrendering our children and our nation to a state of servitude to those nations that emphasise education. It is amazing what education does for all of us. People who were once the sons and daughters of paupers are lifted out of poverty and therefore able to make a decent contribution to their country. It is Nelson Mandela who said that education makes rich men and women out of children of the poor.

Democracy and the ability to choose leaders is founded on the understanding that those who govern do so for collective good. This means that they are supposed to work to better the lives of every citizen to the extent that is possible. To the poor, they are supposed to promise a better life. An improvement of the standard of living for the majority of our people is what this is all about.

A democracy that does not produce prosperity and wellbeing for our people is a hollow democracy not worth anything to our people. On the other hand, a democracy that delivers a better life for those that have lived in poverty and dejection is a priceless gift for the nation. There is no better way to help the majority of our people to improve their lives than to help them educate their children so that the next generation is better than the last.

Many of us, in the generation that occupies various influential positions today, are either parents who came from a life of poverty in the village or are children of such parents. Forty-six years ago when our nation gained independence, there were not many who were rich but many of our people have made strides in various areas of our national life for the simple reason that they received a free education that turned the children of paupers into princes and princesses.

It is immoral to stand by whilst an army of illiterate and uneducated boys and girls, young men and women are being consigned to a life of poverty because their government does not care. This is what we see in what is happening at the University of Zambia. To see or hear of a child who has struggled through life and come so close to being lifted from a life of poverty and hopelessness through receiving a decent university degree, being sent away from university because they cannot afford fees should break the heart of every patriotic Zambian.

We may be a poor country and cannot afford many things, but we should not accept not being able to educate the next generation. Every sacrifice needs to be made to educate the future of this country. What is happening at the University of Zambia is just an epitome of the crisis that exists in the education sector today. We have a bottlenecked constriction in the system that is consigning many otherwise intelligent and able children to a lack of education because the government does not accept the responsibility to educate its citizens.

Rupiah Banda and his friends would rather be clamouring for increased salaries and other perks than pay attention to issues that matter. Rupiah can never sit down and really think about a strategy that will take our country forward. For him, as long as he is well fed, his children have gone to school – yes, notwithstanding his age, he has little children who go to school – he does not care.

Education ranks very high and close to provision of health and nutrition as fundamental duties of a sane government. A government that does not concern itself with these issues as a matter of primary duty does not have the right to govern. It is unfortunate that at a time when we are facing multiple crises in various areas of our national life, Rupiah and his minions are more concerned about not being accountable for abuse of office. This would be laughable if it were not so serious.

We cannot understand how any government could say that it should have the right to abuse its office without being sanctioned by the law. Even in a country where they have excess resources, this nonsense would never be accepted. But in our case, we are struggling to provide the basic necessities of life to our people, and as we can see from what is happening at the University of Zambia, we are consigning the poor to a life of little or no education and yet Rupiah has the energy to fight for the removal of the bar to abuse of office.

It is not too long ago that we had serious strikes by medical doctors due to poor conditions and the lack of facilities to work with. One of the major reasons why the government struggles to provide decent education, medical care and the necessary social amenities is corruption and abuse of office.
If Rupiah and his minions were interested in providing decent social amenities to our people, they would want to ensure that there be no room for corruption and abuse of office.

Indeed, as the professor from the University of Oslo’s Department of Media and Communication Helge Ronning observed, if they had nothing to hide, they would not be sensitive about being transparent. They are more determined to regulate the media in a way that stops it from informing the people than to provide services to our people.

It is no wonder they are not interested in enacting the Freedom of Information Bill. It would be interesting what such legislation would show if they could ever accept it. Our people would want to know how much is being spent on Rupiah’s trips which could be available to alleviate some of the problems that the University of Zambia faces. Our people would be interested to know what their government is doing with their resources.

To Rupiah and his minions, this is totally unacceptable. They do not want our people to know the truth. They also do not like anybody who tells the truth about what is happening in our country. This is why they accuse anyone who criticises them of insulting them. To them, when we tell them that children are being sent away from school, we are insulting them. When we tell them that vast numbers of our people cannot access medical care, we are insulting them.

When we tell them that some of the infrastructure that could help our people to trade and look after themselves is in a deplorable state, we are insulting them. We have no doubt that even when we tell them that they have a duty to ensure that the children of our nation, the next generation is educated, they will say we are insulting them. They want all of us to be quiet and watch them as they wreck our country. They have tried to intimidate the Church for speaking the truth and now, they have even resorted to telling the benefactors of our people – the donors – to go away if they insist on requiring the government to fight corruption.

For Rupiah, it is better for donor funding to the health sector to be frozen than to fight corruption. For Rupiah, it is better for thieves like Frederick Chiluba to keep what they have stolen from our people than to recover that for the education of some of our children. The logic that drives Rupiah has nothing to do with the interests of the people. It is personal interests and nothing else.

His greed and self-centredness should not surprise anyone. Rupiah does not care for our people.