Maravi

Politics of slander, lies, malice and character assassination

Politics of slander, lies, malice and character assassination
By The Post
Sun 13 Feb. 2011, 04:00 CAT

Our elections should not be turned into humiliation contests where the dignity of those contesting must be shredded. And the campaigns that precede our elections should not be turned into parades for the determination of who can insult the most, lie the most, scandalise the most, malign the most.

They should not be turned into contests for the determination of who is the most malicious, who can slander the most. Elections, after all, are not a fight for survival, but a competition to serve. They are a central institution of democratic representative governments.

And the authority of the government derives from the consent of the governed.

The principal mechanism for translating that concept into governmental authority is the holding of decent elections in which the best candidates are elected.

Therefore, election campaigns must be carried out in a decent and honest way, devoid of slander of other contestants. All those who take part in our elections must be guided by the truth, integrity and justice.

And as we have repeatedly pointed out, it is necessary to remind all our politicians and their supporters that elections are for the good of the people and the country, and not for a political survival of any individual or political party.

If the spirit of the primacy of the common good were to animate all our politicians and their political parties, we would not be witnessing character assassination, slander and malice in our political campaigns which leave the public dismayed and disheartened.

In the present atmosphere of fierce competition and character assassination, malice and slander, we remind our politicians and their supporters, and indeed the whole nation, of the noble goals of elections.

Our elections are aimed at the promotion of the common good and the selection of the best among our politicians to be the servants of our people.

And as Harry Molenaar, the Dutch Ambassador to Zambia correctly observes, our election campaigns lack substance and are very rich in slander, character assassination, malice, boastfulness and lies.

Election campaigns should concentrate on programmes to improve the life of the nation than on character assassination and personality issues.

Yes, the character and personality of a candidate is important and our people have a divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, we mean the characters and conduct of their rulers.

But this should only be of value insofar as it is related to one’s public service.

What should concern us is the candidate’s competence, courage to speak out the truth, concern for social justice, desire to work for the common good instead of self-enrichment, disposition to use power for service, especially service of the poor and underprivileged, openness to dialogue, good moral standing, transparency and accountability to the electorate.

And in casting our votes, we should never be swayed by how much a candidate has been maligned, defamed, has had their character assassinated and so on and so forth, but solely by the consideration of which of the candidates is better for the nation and the good we think they can do for our country and our people.

For those who are offering themselves for public office for the first time and are yet to hold office, we should evaluate them on the basis of their competence and their reputation for honesty and selfless dedication to the common good.

As for those who are offering themselves for re-election, the record of what they have or have not achieved should speak for them.

We should ask ourselves: did they fulfil their promises? Did they offer quality service to all the people and not only to those who voted them into power?

Were they corrupt in their dealings? Were they available to listen to the concerns of the people? Were they selfless in responding to the needs of all, especially the poor?

There is need for civility, dignity and respect in our political campaigns. Our politicians should respect truth and their political opponents.

They should learn to be tolerant with people who have different political opinions.

People can differ without having to malign, defame and character assassinate each other. This is why politics only needs people with integrity.

And there should be no room for scoundrels in our politics.

No candidate or political party should win because their opponents are despised as a result of them being bombarded with lies, malice, slander, character assassination and so on and so forth.

They should win because they are better understood, supported and trusted.

There is no choice between being decent and honest and unelectable; and electable and being malicious, slanderous, dishonest.

As for the MMD, the Zambian voters would have had them for 20 years at the next election. They may hate them, but they know them.

They should also be given chance to know those in the opposition – their identity and character as individuals and as political parties.

We want good governments.

But good governments can only arise from good elections.

And good elections can only become a reality if we conduct ourselves in a good way.

Insulting political opponents and maligning them, assassinating their character is certainly not a good way to campaign in elections and let alone have good elections.

If we want good elections, we must start to build a political culture that can make them possible. We cannot have good elections and a good government without working for them.

We must work for these things together because this can only be done together.

Let’s have fair play in our politics and in our elections.

We know that the scoundrels that today dominate our politics are incapable of conducting themselves and their campaigns in a manner that respects the dignity of their opponents.

They don’t believe they can win an election without lies, malice, character assassination and indeed corruption.

And this is why they seem to be permanently wedded to insults in their campaigns.

Genuine goodness is threatening to those on the opposite end of the moral spectrum.

And this is why our politics need people with credibility and whose presence in the political arena can bring good values to our political process.

We need politics that is guided by good values of respect for human dignity, human rights, common good, social justice, solidarity and concern for the welfare of the poor.

Dirty people with dirty mouths should have no room in our politics.

We say this because politics is not a dirty game. It is a genuine way of being at the service of others for the integral development of the country.

And for this reason, let us not tolerate insults in our politics; let us not tolerate lies in our politics; and let’s not allow character assassination to dominate our election campaigns.

We should ask ourselves, as citizens: what is our role in ensuring honest politics in our country?

The best way to ensure this is to reject lies, malice, insults, slander from our politics.

Whenever a politician opens his mouth to insult or malign others, regardless of how much we support him or her, we should boo them. In this way, they will know that we don’t like this kind of politics.

And no politician, no matter how unwise they may be, will disobey that during an election year.

But we seem to cheer them on when they insult or malign their political opponents.

This should stop if we want good elections and a good government. Let us all co-operate to remove insults, malice, slander, character assassination and cheating from our politics.

Labels: POLITICS

posted by MrK @ 3:19 AM