Maravi

‘Actions speak louder than words’

‘Actions speak louder than words’
By The Post
Sun 06 Mar. 2011, 04:00 CAT

A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not. And a leader’s competence should go beyond words. On Wednesday, Rupiah Banda said very good things, albeit sometimes contradictory, in Mporokoso: “Politicians must not bad-mouth their opponents during campaigns.

Politicians must focus on things that they would do as opposed to speaking ill or inciting violence against their opponents. Everyone who wants to be a leader has a duty to tell the truth about what he intended to do and not talking about opponents.

Even a man, if he is proposing a girl and he wants her to accept him, he must not brag that ‘I will buy you a car or I will take you out of poverty.’ Similarly, all our leaders when they come to stand before you, they must talk positively about what they intend to do and not tell you that ‘we will be better, we are going to do this and that.’ Voters should listen to all politicians, even those they dislike, soliciting for their votes but must make a wise choice as to who they would want to be their leader.”

And in a more or less contradictory manner, Rupiah went on to say that his first responsibility would be to build a road from Kasama to Mporokoso, then Mporokoso to Kaputa and Mporokoso to Kawambwa districts to open up the areas to development such as mining, agriculture and other sectors. He assured chief Mumpolokoso that he would try to find mining investors to come and explore mineral deposits in his area.

Truly, leadership goes beyond words. And as Jose Marti once observed, “Doing is the best way of saying.” For politicians, example is the best way of leading. Truly, anyone can say that they will turn your night into day. This is very easy to say. But what matters is what they do. People can promise heaven but fail to even deliver purgatory.

Today Rupiah is saying all these sweet things. But just the other day, he was saying almost the opposite. He was calling Michael Sata a bad-hearted person with an ugly face, “Kuipa mutima ngati kumenso kwake mambala.” This is Rupiah’s deed, the other are Rupiah’s words. So if we really want to judge the true character of Rupiah and what he truly believes in, we have to follow what he does, his deeds. We say this because good words without equally good deeds are worthless. And as we have stated before, a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. Rupiah, by his words, seems to know the way and is showing us the way but he is not going the way. Rupiah is not leading by example. He says one thing and does exactly the opposite. Rupiah calls for decency but goes on to demean, belittle, insult and mock his political opponents. Rupiah calls for peace but at the same time he goes on to promote injustice, to defend wrongdoing and wrongdoers. We all know that injustice is not a recipe for peace but for the destruction of peace. Look at the unjust way Rupiah deals with those who oppose him: his government kills, maims, humiliates political opponents. And there are many examples of these. Rupiah says politicians must not bad-mouth their opponents during campaigns. But listen to what he says about Michael and others, how he disparages them, insults them, attempts to humiliate them. This is totally the opposite of what Rupiah is saying politicians should not do.

Rupiah says politicians must focus on things that they would do as opposed to speaking ill or inciting violence against their opponents. Rupiah speaks ill of his opponents. He also incites violence against them. We don’t need to go far in looking for examples of how Rupiah incites violence against those who detests because we are the example of that. Rupiah has incited MMD cadres to harass, humiliate and beat up our reporters. And he justified violence of his cadres against us. His justification was that we insult him and his supporters have every reason to be angry with us and defend him. Rupiah has gone as far as accusing us of having pocketed US $30 million from state institutions using Zambian Airways. And to this day, neither him, his police, Anti Corruption Commission or Drug Enforcement Commission officers have been able to produce any evidence of us having stolen US $30 million or a cent from any state institutions or indeed any other person. Rupiah has accused us of being queer, morbid and all sorts of things – things he has no evidence of, things he cannot in any way prove. But nevertheless, he has done it to humiliate us. And yet today, the same man is talking against such practices. The truth is Rupiah has a bad mouth, bad-mouths other people, insults others, accuses his opponents of wrongs they have not done and that he has no evidence of. It is alright for him to do so to others but it’s not okay for others to do the same to him. So when Rupiah says politicians must not bad-mouth their opponents during campaigns, what he means is that they should not bad-mouth him – he can bad-mouth them, but they shouldn’t do the same to him.

Rupiah says voters should listen to all politicians, even those they dislike, soliciting for their votes but must make a wise choice as to whom they would want to be their leader. This is the right approach to politics. And no one can take issues with this position of Rupiah. But the issue comes in on practice. Rupiah does not practice what he preaches. Today he is telling voters to listen to all politicians, but in 2008, this same Rupiah, this same man saying these things, was telling the people of Eastern Province to chase away presidential candidates who hail from other regions of our country and tell them to go and campaign where they come from. How can people listen to someone they are told to chase away?

Rupiah uses a very inappropriate example of a man proposing a girl to teach our politicians how to campaign. He says they shouldn’t be bragging about what they will do for the voters. But he goes on to start promising the people of Mporokoso what he will do for them; that he will build roads for them and open up their area to development. What do these contradictions of Rupiah amount to? The only simple explanation is that the man is saying things he doesn’t mean, he is engaging in sweet nothings and as a result, he is creating a series of contradictions for himself. As we have stated before, example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing – follow the grain in your own wood.

It is not fair for Rupiah to ask of others what he himself is unwilling to do. The good things he is talking about, the good political practices he is advocating must begin with him as President of the Republic and leader of the ruling political party. Rupiah must set the example. It is said that leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and actions. Clearly, leadership is the ability of a single individual through his actions to motivate or inspire others to higher levels of decency. They say ‘actions speak louder than words’.

Labels: RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 7:25 AM