Maravi

Developing a country without developing the people

COMMENT - There is absolutely no shame in admitting that a specific policy has not worked - as long as that admission is accompanied by a change of course. That is in essence what leadership is all about - recognizing an error and correcting it.

Developing a country without developing the people
By The Post
Fri 21 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT

Justice is the beginning of order and peace in the lives of individuals, as well as in society as a whole. If justice reigns, business is honest, fraud is repressed, the helpless and humble are defended, citizens obey, and rulers justly distribute the burdens and profits of life in society.

It is necessary to be very clear on this point. To deal with the poverty – the inhuman poverty – lived by the great majority of the inhabitants of our country, we must attain the most exact understanding available of the causes of this situation of poverty.

It is necessary to make use of whatever tools human thought offers to help us understand our social reality.

The other day, Rupiah Banda, the President of our Republic, said that Zambia’s recent positive economic growth was not translating into significant reductions in poverty levels and that the poverty levels in the country were acute, especially in rural areas where the dwellers have been left out of the main economic realm of activities.

These acute levels of poverty are impoverishments caused by the unjust political, economic and social structures.

And the challenge facing us is how to respond to them.

Clearly, it is important to maintain and strengthen democratic structures in our country if we are to enjoy a peaceful, just, fair and humane developing future.

The poor deserve preferential attention.

We say this because economic justice, as we have stated before, requires that each individual, regardless of where they live, has adequate resources to survive, to develop and thrive, and to give back in service to the community.

It is also clear that we cannot talk about economic growth without looking at social progress.

This is so because economic growth depends, in the very first place, on social progress.


You cannot claim to be developing a country when you are not developing the people.

There is a great danger when government policies are combined with clear social concerns.

We say this because where economic programmes and policies are not combined with clear social concern, they bring economic deprivation.

And this is the result of the increase in poverty that we are seeing amidst what is being said to be improving economic performance of the country.

And situations of great injustice require the courage to make far-reaching reforms and to suppress unjustifiable privileges.

The fight against injustice is meaningless, unless it is waged with a view to establishing a new social and political order in conformity with demands of justice.

The serious socio-economic problems that occur today cannot be solved unless knew fronts of solidarity are created: solidarity of the poor among themselves, solidarity with the poor to which the rich are called.

Institutions and social organisations at different levels, as well as the state, must share in a general movements of solidarity.

The issue of economic development cannot be reduced to technical jargon because it affects the lives of people and indeed their dignity as human beings.

Whatever affects dignity of individuals and peoples cannot be reduced to a technical problem.

If reduced in this way, development would be emptied of its true content, and this would be an act of betrayal of the individuals and peoples whom development is meant to serve.

If we say our country is developing, that we are making economic progress, then we should ask ourselves: who is benefitting from this economic progress if the people for whom development is meant to serve are not?

It will thus be seen at once that the questions facing us are above all moral questions; and that neither the analysis of the problem of development as such nor the means to overcome the present difficulties can ignore this essential dimension.

Today, given the worldwide dimension which the social question has assumed, this love of preference for the poor, and the decisions it inspires in us, cannot but embrace the immense multitudes of the hungry, the needy, the homeless, those without medical care, and, above all, those without hope of a better future.

It is impossible not to take account of the existence of these realities. To ignore them would mean becoming like “the rich man” who pretended not to know the beggar Lazarus lying at his gate (Luke 16:19-31).

Our daily life as well as our decisions in the political and economic field must be marked by these realities.

Likewise, our leaders, while they are obliged always to keep in mind the true human dimension as a priority in their development plans, should not forget to give precedence to the phenomenon of growing poverty in our country.

Unfortunately, instead of becoming fewer, the poor are becoming more numerous in our country.

The motivating concern for the poor must be translated at all levels into concrete actions, until it decisively attains a series of necessary reforms.

We need to reform certain unjust structures and in particular, our political institutions, in order to repress corrupt forms of government.

We say this because the “health” of a political community is the necessary condition and sure guarantee of the development of the whole individual and of all persons.

And none of what has been said can be achieved without the collaboration of all in the framework of a solidarity which includes everyone, beginning with the most neglected.

But at the same time, solidarity demands a readiness to accept the sacrifice necessary for the good of the whole community.

We wish to appeal with simplicity and humility to everyone, to all men and women without exception.

We wish to ask them to be convinced of the seriousness of the present moment and of each one’s individual responsibility, and to implement – by the way they live as individuals and as families, and by the use of their resources, by their civic activity, by contributing to economic and political decisions, and by personal commitment to national undertakings – the measures inspired by solidarity and love of preference for the poor.

This is what is demanded by the present moment in our country and above all by the very dignity of the human person.

We say all this bearing in mind what Simone Weil once said: “At the bottom of the heart of every human being, from the earliest infancy until the tomb, there is something that goes on indomitably expecting – in the teeth of all the crimes committed, suffered and witnessed – that good and not evil will be done to him. It is that above all that is sacred in every human being.”

Labels: EDITH NAWAKWI, NEOLIBERALISM, POVERTY, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:10 AM