Maravi

Caleb, the truth and the lies of his league

Caleb, the truth and the lies of his league
By The Post
Mon 13 Dec. 2010, 04:00 CAT

MANIPULATORS have never deserved anybody's respect or been successful anywhere. And as we have stated before, manipulators are like little sailboats that go with the wind and the waves. Manipulation is synonymous with opportunism. Manipulation doesn't have substance; it doesn't have roots.

We think everything - respect, understanding, serious analysis, relationships - is possible among people who are honest with themselves and with others. Lies, half-truths, cheap propaganda, calumny have never built anything.

And moreover, even the Bible warns us repeatedly about the fallacy and dangers of resorting to lies, of living by lies.

We are told in Proverbs 12:9 that "a lie has a short life, but truth lives forever".

We are also told that "honest people will treat you fairly; the wicked only want to deceive you" (Proverbs 12:5); "what I say is the truth; lies are hateful to me" (Proverbs 8:7); "...I hate pride and arrogance, evil words and false words" (Proverbs 8:13); "the Lord hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest works" (Proverbs 11:1); "when you tell the truth, justice is done, but lies lead to injustice" (Proverbs 12:17); "lying is an ugly blot on a person's character, but ignorant people do it all the time.

A thief is better than a habitual liar, but both are headed for ruin. A liar has no honour. He lives in constant disgrace" (Sirach 20:24-26); "...liars deserve to be cursed, because they have been the ruin of many people..." (Sirach 28:13).

We are also told that lies have no legs and therefore cannot stand.

For a lie to stand, more and more lies need to be told. You do not need to be genius to know that a life of lies, half-truths and general deception is a one-way street to the destruction of oneself and others.

Those who seek to do what is right, what is good can never have a better ally than truth. And they will never have any reason to resort to lies, calumny, manipulation and deceit.

Yes, mistakes they can and will make; they will get things wrong, but never lies, deception, manipulation and general falsehoods. And because of this, honest people have no problems correcting their mistakes, their wrongs.

Truth is to a person seeking direction what a torch is to a person walking in the dark. And if you are honest, truly honest with yourself and others, you can never think of resorting to lies, manipulation, deceit and falsehoods.

Lies, and all these other things that accompany them, show serious lack of self-respect for oneself and others.

Only corrupt people, people without respect for others and for themselves live by lies. We say this because if you are truly honest, you will know the worth of yourself and of others and as such you can never be corrupted by office, power or money.

In life we are all forced to make choices at one point or the other. We also have to take sides on issues as a natural part of our existence as human beings.

Moreover, as human beings, we are everyday faced with a choice between good and evil. Without truth we would have serious difficulties knowing what position to take on any given issue.

But the truth being the never-failing ally of those who want to do good is a definite guide showing us where to go and what to do.

We also know that the individual does best in a strong and decent community of people with principles and standards and common aims and values; people who respect the truth and try to live by it. All this is rooted in a straightforward view of society.

When we are faced with a situation where we have to choose between defending the truth or siding with those who bend it for evil ends, we have no difficulty in making the choice.

This is what we see in the way that Bank of Zambia and Caleb Fundanga have allowed themselves to be used as tools in the hands of liars and political fixers.

We say this because we have no doubt in our mind that if those who sat at Bank of Zambia to decide the fate of Finance Bank were asked why they made the decision, and they were honest, they would have to say that politics and not banking played a significant role.

And this is where lies and half-truths have been allowed to destroy an institution that many people have laboured to build over a generation.

There are not many Zambian businesses that can boast of the kind of successes Finance Bank has known. That is not to say that the people behind Finance Bank never did anything wrong, are angels. That is not our point. We are not their apologists.

We are sure they can speak for themselves and articulate their own defences to justify what they did or did not do.

But we are more interested in examining the behaviour of the Bank of Zambia, of public officers at that institution and others in the public service who were tasked by those who govern our country to deal a deadly blow on Finance Bank and its shareholders, particularly its founder Rajan Mathani.

We wonder whether people like Caleb are in a position to face the public and tell them the truth of what they know about this Finance Bank affair.

Already Caleb has presided over lies, deceits, half-truths and falsehoods about their intentions and reasons for moving into Finance Bank. Caleb has personally lied to the Zambian people, his ultimate employers, who pay him such a gigantic salary every month of over K150 million.

[No minister needs to make $30,000 per month. - MrK]

We know that Caleb is telling lies not because he is generally a liar. It is simply because he is highly rewarded for this. He has a job to keep and a huge salary to defend! But this is not the way things should be.

A person in Caleb's position should be prepared to stand on the side of the truth and defend the interest of our people.

It is very sad for us to see Caleb telling lies because we have known him to be a respected and honest person with strong public interest motivations, with principles and standards.

But today our friend, our hero, our torch-bearer on all that is good in a public servant has betrayed the people, has hired himself out to crooks, thugs, tyrants, hoodlums, bandits and plunderers of public interest.

Caleb has been defeated by lies and fear.

This is why we say truth is the only enduring ally of those who want to do what is right. If Caleb remained truthful in all his dealings with the public, he would not have carried through the instructions that have dented his image irreparably.

Our people will always remember that when the crunch came, Caleb sided with what was wrong, aided the abuse of power. Anyway, this is what money can do.

There's another professional, a highly respected one for that matter, whose position many people will find very difficult to understand.

And that is Jacob Mwanza, a former governor of the Bank of Zambia, who had accepted to play a role in the hounding of Rajan from his bank at a monthly fee of US$ 10,000.

But where has that left him? He got the money but he has lost something more valuable than cash.

And that is his integrity, his independence and indeed his professional standing. How can a well-respected former central bank governor be found on the scene of a bank wreckage?

Those who hired Jacob didn't have even the decency to protect his image by making sure he was not there when the trigger on Finance Bank was pulled.

The central bank's image in the eyes of those who understand what role it should play is severely dented. Caleb, representing the present standing of the central bank, has shown himself as a spineless public defender incapable of standing on the side of the public.

Jacob representing the history of the central bank has also demonstrated that his judgement is not much better than Caleb's. We have no doubt that today he is saying 'I wish I had stayed at Citi Bank'.

But this is what happens when people are driven by expediencies of the moment without carefully examining what principles may be at stake and what that holds for the future.

The way that Caleb has behaved over Finance Bank raises a lot of questions about the viability of Zambia's financial sector. We say this because we read the published accounts of the banks that are operating in our market.

And there are quite a few that have serious problems. Before taking the actions that they have taken against Finance Bank which is a much stronger bank, for political reasons, they should have thought very carefully about the implications their actions would have on the banking sector as a whole.

But we know that mercenaries don't care about tomorrow; today owes them everything and the future nation owes them nothing.

We should not be surprised that lies and half-truths is the currency that is being used to run very important public affairs in our country.

Working with truth is not always easy. It requires a high level of discipline, humility and willingness to face the temerity of one's decisions and actions.

This is because the truth is not always friendly, especially so in a society that is governed by liars, plunderers, crooks, tyrants, intolerant elements of all stripes and shades, of all hues.

We should expect this government to continue relying on intimidating public officers into telling lies on its behalf. This is the only weapon they have in their arsenal.

This is why we must remain vigilant and expose lies and liars whenever we have the opportunity to. Unless we fight this cancer, our very democratic existence is threatened.

There's no way they will be able to carry out this scheme without continuing to tell lies, half-truths, falsehoods and without having to resort to manipulation and calumny.

The Zambian people should prepare themselves for more and more lies from Caleb and his political masters over the affairs of Finance Bank.

As for us, we again turn to Amilcar Cabral for guidance and inspiration: "Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories..."

Labels: BOZ, CALEB FUNDANGA, CORRUPTION, FINANCE BANK, NATIONALISATION

posted by MrK @ 3:30 PM