Maravi

Development and selflessness in leaders

Development and selflessness in leaders
By The Post
Tue 07 June 2011, 04:00 CAT

The right to vote bears positive fruits for the country when people choose good leaders for presidency, members of parliament and councillors.

And during elections, we, the people of Zambia, have the right to choose those who will represent us and we must do our duty as citizens by choosing representatives who will serve the country with justice towards all. And as Fordson Kafweku, World Vision Zambia operations director, has observed, selflessness in leaders will always foster development.

We strongly advocate the election of people who consider themselves accountable to their electorate, who consider the public interest rather than their own, who keep in touch with the people who voted for them, with their constituencies and wards, and who are faithful to their election promises. We also advocate the election of representatives who respect the rights of others, who do not use their position to amass wealth, unmindful of the many who have little or none. We need representatives who respect the religious beliefs of others and not those with a very high propensity to attack and scandalise religious leaders and their congregations who do not subscribe to their agenda.

We should all realise that we have the moral responsibility to vote for candidates who follow the example of Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve and who emptied himself for the good of everyone.

Let us now review the performance of those we had elected in the last elections to represent us, weigh them in the balance of truth, justice and unselfish service, and, if we find them wanting, reject them and elect others in their place. That is our inalienable right. Our vote can help eliminate the unworthy and improve the quality of governance in our country.

This power, once again, is in our hands this year. Let us use it wisely and bravely. Our vote is a powerful weapon for justice, peace and development. On our voting, on the quality of it, the discernment behind it, depends the progress of our country and the wellbeing of our people.

When the time to cast our votes comes, we should never be swayed by personal profit but solely by consideration of which of the conflicting issues or candidates is better for the nation, for our constituency, for our ward. We should scrutinise the people who wish to represent us and select our candidate strictly according to the good we think they can do.

The interests of individuals and their political parties should be kept subordinate to the public good.

There is need to realise that without selfless leaders, there will be no meaningful development in our country. Selfish leaders think of themselves first in everything they do. In the national projects they undertake, what propels them is not the benefit to the people they are elected to serve but their cut, what goes into their pockets. Sometimes, they design and undertake projects simply to get themselves some benefit. What goes to the people is of secondary interest to them; what is primary is their cut, their personal benefit.

You see this in many of the projects this government of ours has undertaken. The mobile hospitals are a clear example of this. There is nothing much to those mobile hospitals beyond the personal benefits that those who undertook them have accrued. This project benefits no one other than Rupiah Banda and those who worked with him on it.

Look at the schools they have been constructing! Yes, our people need schools. But those who represent them today have been cashing in on this legitimate need of our people.

A rural school that could be constructed for K2 billion is usually completed at an amount in excess of K5 billion. When we examine these schools, there is nothing much in the buildings other than concrete blocks from cement and sand, a metal roof frame and corrugated iron roofing sheets. That’s all. A school that could well be constructed for less than a billion kwacha is completed at K6 billion! Why?

Who gets this money? This money goes to the companies owned by the same people who run government or their friends. They are the ones building these schools at such a high cost to the taxpayer. We all know how much our members of parliament, our deputy ministers and Cabinet ministers earn every month. But look at how much wealth they have amassed over the last few years they have been in government! Look at the houses, lodges and other buildings they have constructed for themselves over the last few years! They have no bank loans attached to these structures.

Where did the money come from? We know that money does not grow on trees, so where did it come from? Look at how fat they have become! Almost every one of them, especially those who are deep in these deals, is very fat and almost failing to walk properly. They are suffering from serious cholesterol problems when the people they represent are so thin and could easily be blown by strong winds!

What we have said about the construction of schools can be said about clinics and hospitals and road construction projects. All these projects are going to them or their friends and they are being completed at much higher costs than the Zambian people should pay.

Look at the quality of the roads they construct for us! We have companies that have been working on the same road every year, getting our money for nothing. They are never disqualified because of poor workmanship. Go to Eastern Province and see the type of roads these representatives of ours have been spending billions of our money on! Look at their quality! Every year, the same road is being worked on by the same contractor. How and why?

As for feeder roads, the story is even worse. There, there is outright theft for which these representatives of ours and their agents should be arrested and prosecuted. Look at the NAPSA deals – both the US $15 million Meanwood land deal and the US $98 million Society House deal! Our representatives are defending all these clearly corrupt deals. Why? The truth is that they are part of the beneficiaries.

The people involved in these deals are their friends, their agents, people they eat with. How can you have development in the country with such representatives in charge of things? Yes, this expenditure of theirs increases the Gross Domestic Product of our country, it shows that our economy is growing. But how? And who is benefitting? This is why we are recording economic growth without development, without improvement in the wellbeing of the people.

This is what happens to a country when you have selfish leaders, leaders who do not discharge a public duty in a selfless manner. If we continue with this type of leadership, we will continue to hear about projects here and there but with no development accompanying them, with no improvement in our wellbeing resulting from them.

Labels: GOVERNANCE, LEADERSHIP

posted by MrK @ 1:47 AM