Maravi

Heed Col Panji’s advice

Heed Col Panji’s advice
By The Post
Tue 09 Nov. 2010, 04:00 CAT

Rupiah Banda’s removal of the offence of abuse of office from the Anti Corruption Commission Act is an abdication of responsibility. When a president is elected and sworn into office, one of the key things that he promises to do is to serve his people and to do only that which is in their interest.

We know that the words that are used refer to upholding the Constitution and doing such other kinds of legal things. But the spirit of the swearing that takes place is that the person who takes office is doing so for the interest of the public and not his own. This means that a president is expected to always think about the greater good. This is what makes statesmen out of ordinary politicians.

We are told that power by its very nature tends to corrupt and that absolute power to do whatever one wants corrupts absolutely. One of the most destructive ways in which power corrupts is the tendency that those who have it develop to abuse it for their personal benefit.

And for this reason, it is said that the highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it. For this reason, successful leadership and use of power is said to be a constant practice of self-limitation and modesty. The reason for this is also self-evident. Those who possess power have to battle against the temptation to abuse it. This is not a problem that only affects the dishonest and criminal types. It is a problem for anyone exercising any sort of power over the lives or affairs of other people. This is where modesty comes in. A realistic and humble approach to public affairs helps to limit the temptation for abuse. On the other hand, a pompous and grand appreciation of power lays the foundation for its future abuse.

This is the problem that Rupiah has. He has an over-inflated appreciation of the finer benefits of power to the extent that he does not seem to appreciate the necessity for the rigour and hard work that power requires those who possess it to exercise in order to benefit the people on whose behalf they possess such power. For Rupiah, power is not about changing the lives of our people; it is about enjoying himself and doing as much as he can to benefit those that are around him, especially his family. This explains Rupiah’s playboy culture of jet-setting like a Hollywood movie star, as Michael Sata once put it, never stopping to ponder solutions to our country’s many problems. In many ways, Rupiah is not a picture of a responsible leader, let alone head of state.

It is very difficult not to agree with the observations of Col Panji Kaunda on the state of our nation today. It is true that corruption was the country’s number one enemy. With the playboy culture that has been institutionalised by the President himself, it is not difficult to understand why his government is comfortable defending the ‘right’ of public officers to be corrupt. This is what their fight to remove the offence of abuse of office from the Anti Corruption Commission Act amounts to. We say this because the Anti Corruption Commission Act was written to protect the public from public officers who have a tendency to abuse the authority of their offices through all sorts of ingenious ways, thereby acquiring vast amounts of wealth which they could not possess if they were not public officers. In other words, the only explanation for their wealth is that they have access to government power which is meant to be used in trust for the people and yet they turn it inside out, using it only for their own benefit. There is a good reason why that law was written.

It is foolish to suggest, as we have heard some say, that this law presumes people guilty of crime before they are tried. This is an argument that George Kunda, an experienced lawyer, has been using to try and mislead our people. George knows that there is no law in our country today that presumes anyone guilty before they are tried. But for his own reasons, he finds it beneficial to deliberately mislead the public in this way. George knows that abuse of office is not the only offence where an accused person is expected to explain certain facts that are proved about them. George knows that if one is found with goods that have been proved to have been stolen, one is expected to explain and defend themselves from a charge of being found in possession of stolen goods.

Similarly, if a public servant is found to possess more wealth that he could have lawfully earned, he or she is expected to explain. This requirement is provided for under our Constitution. But George is not interested in what the law says. His job is to deliver to his political master. This is what happens when people know that what they are doing is wrong. A government which is supposed to be run by laws and not men has chosen to abandon the law and wed itself to crime and criminals. Rupiah and George would not be fighting to dilute the law against corruption in our country if they had not wedded themselves to crime and criminals. As Col Panji has observed, it will not be very long before we begin to understand what it is that they are defending so tenaciously. Col Panji’s reminder that governments do change is a useful reminder to people like George who have begun to behave as if they own the country and can do as they please.

The behaviour of Rupiah and George has demonstrated the depth of the crisis of leadership that we face as a nation. We have so-called leaders who have no compassion towards, or feeling of pain on account of, the suffering of our people. Our country is not supposed to be poor. We are very fortunate in that we have been blessed with a lot of resources that could and should be turned to the benefit of our people. But for this to happen, our leaders must begin to think more about what benefits our people than what benefits them personally.

There is need for a leadership whose agenda is delivering goods and services to our people that transform poor lives into comfortable ones. There can be no denying that corruption is one of the greatest obstacles against our ability to achieve this state of affairs. It would not surprise us if it were possible that for every kwacha that is spent, only 10 ngwee is spent on actually delivering services to our people. This is the tragedy of corruption.

This is the only place where a thief like Frederick Chiluba who was president for 10 years can stand up and say that he banked US $8 million of his own money into a government account. Surely, Col Panji’s observation is very important; where did Chiluba get the US $8 million that he banked in a government account? It is clear that that could not have been money that he earned doing legitimate things; these are proceeds of crime.

A man who occupied a public office such as Chiluba did should be required to explain the source of money like that. But Rupiah and George believe that public servants should not answer such questions because according to them, this is against the Constitution. The manoeuvres that Rupiah is encouraging are going to turn our country into a kleptocracy where crime is officially accepted and protected by those who are in power. The tragedy of this state of affairs is that it is our people who are going to pay a very high price for the plunder that will ensue.

This is a country where Rupiah and his minions are building secondary schools and spending money like they are building multiple universities. How can a simple, basic secondary school cost K45 billion to build? Not too long ago, the same schools were being built for K25 billion or so. Even that was too much, but now the greed in their hearts has overtaken them. They are doing things that they could never be able to explain. Clearly, a major proportion of this expenditure is nothing but embezzlement, corruption and plain theft of public resources.

This is what Rupiah would rather defend. Anyway, let those who have ears hear what Col Panji has told them. In Chile, those who abused the rights of people together with Pinochet, and thought that they would get away with it, are today being pursued for their very old crimes. Indeed, umulandu taubola!

Labels: ACC, PANJI KAUNDA

posted by MrK @ 7:47 AM