Maravi

A Lozi is a Lozi

A Lozi is a Lozi
By The Post
Sat 22 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT

Things must be called by their right names. This does not mean that we are speaking with hate, nor harshly about anyone. We should analyse, censor, criticise seriously all these things.

There is no section of our nation that has all the virtues, neither does any have all the vices. There are problems in the Western Province of our country which no honest person can deny. And the problems that are in Western Province today are deep-rooted and have nothing to do with the way we are reporting on them as a newspaper. We are not the creators of the confusion that has rocked this very important part of our country.

Those who are seized of the responsibility to govern and therefore deal with problems such as the ones in Western Province need to be honest, sincere, upright and men and women of unquestionable integrity. It is not possible to deal with deep-seated and complex problems by employing lies, deceit, character assassination, calumny, cheap propaganda and any other dishonest means that may appear to give those who use them advantage. We say this in the light of the infantile reaction of Ronnie Shikapwasha, Rupiah Banda’s government spokesman, to our coverage of the treason charges levelled at 23 Lozi men. Ronnie accuses us of trying to incite the Lozis into thinking that they are hated by the rest of Zambia by referring to them as Lozis. How Ronnie arrives at this interpretation of the use of the word Lozi is beyond our comprehension. Either this man is very dull or he is irredeemably dishonest. We say this because no sane person can honestly say that by reporting that 23 Lozi men have been charged with treason, we are telling the Lozis that they are hated by the rest of Zambia. Which word in that headline communicates the sense that Ronnie is accusing us of?

A responsible leader will not resort to finding cheap scapegoats to justify their own mistakes. It is clear that Ronnie and his puppeteers, those who are pulling the strings that make his mouth move endlessly, are worried by the crisis that their irresponsibility has created in Western Province. It’s clear that they are creating a Zambia, a nation, a society which even they themselves are starting to get scared of, and are afraid to call what is happening in it, the things they are doing in it by their names. Blaming The Post will not change the complexion of Ronnie’s government’s problems. If they think that by blaming The Post or destroying The Post, they will have removed the source of their problems, they are cheating themselves. The problems in Western Province are much older than The Post. The people in Western Province are raising issues that have nothing to do with The Post. These jokers would be better served if they stopped trying to hide behind the finger that they use to point at The Post and started dealing with real issues.

It is not possible to resolve problems if you are not prepared to be honest about what the problems are. It is like somebody suffering from syphilis or gonorrhoea going to a doctor and telling the doctor that he has a headache. The doctor may examine them, give them panadol and send them away. They may manage to deceive the doctor but that does nothing for their problems. Problems must be admitted, clearly defined and solutions prescribed. The government, rather than engage in cheap politics of character assassination, should deploy the resources at its disposal to understand the mistakes they have made which have allowed the situation in Western Province to get to where it got. Whether we call the 23 men who were arrested Lozis or Zambians will do nothing to solve the problem on the ground in Western Province. In fact, if we ran a headline that said that 23 Zambians had been arrested for treason in relation to the problems in Western Province, we would be guilty of misleading the public. That headline would tend to suggest that the problem of treason in Western Province covers the whole Zambia and all our people from various regions of our country are a party to it. It was more accurate for us to say 23 Lozis were arrested for treason. And moreover, the stationery used to arrest people in our police stations still carries this identity. There is a provision where one has to state his tribe, village and chief. None of the 23 men charged with treason belongs to any other tribal group of Zambia other than that of Lozi. What is wrong with us reporting that which the police recorded from these people? Is calling a Lozi a Lozi today an insult, a crime? Why should reporting that Lozis have been arrested make the Lozis feel hated by the rest of Zambia?

It is clear that Ronnie’s job is that of a spin doctor. To remain relevant, he has to continue saying something even if what he is saying doesn’t make sense.
We are not surprised that we have the kind of problems that are being experienced in Western Province when we have a government that can be so irresponsible as to reduce a complex problem that people have carried for many years to a question of names or tags for tribal groupings. The problem in Western Province has nothing to do with who is called what. It seems to us that the people of Western Province are desirous of a greater say in matters that affect them daily. They want to be a better part of the governance system that is supposed to deliver services to them. These are simple issues in and of themselves. But when they are placed in the historical context of the Western Province, we are made to realise that some complex questions would have to be asked and answered. This is the issue that the government is supposed to be grappling with: trying to understand what the people of Western Province are saying and how that can be addressed in a way that ensures that those people who are raising issues appreciate that their problems are dealt with and the government is able to justify whatever they do as a necessary consequence of their responsibility to govern. Trying to bully people and blame anybody and everyone for problems that they have a responsibility to manage is reckless cowardice that could land this country in a lot of problems. Ronnie must learn to think beyond the politics of keeping his job.

What is distinctly lacking among our leaders in Rupiah’s government is a culture of tolerance and humility which places the humanity of others before self and accepts that all citizens have a right to participate in the shaping of their destiny directly without fear of reprisal. They have a reputation for intolerance that is difficult to match.

Since the recent problems in Western Province started over the Barotse Agreement, we have written four editorial comments critical of the way the Barotse Agreement activists were going about their issues and also of the way the government was handling the matter. In these comments, we also offered solutions on how the matter could be approached. Neither the Barotse Agreement activists nor Ronnie’s government paid any attention to our advice. And today Ronnie has the audacity to try and accuse us of the nonsense he is accusing us of. Ronnie needs to have his head examined. We say this because all the comments we have written on this issue are there for any literate person to read. And also all the stories we have published on this issue are in the public domain. And nowhere can any honest person accuse us of being negative, of encouraging confusion. It is only a dishonest person like Ronnie who can have the courage to do so. But this is what happens in a society when standards, values and principles are lost.

Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, RICHARD LUONDE, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 4:29 AM