Maravi

Politics and principles

Politics and principles
By The Post
Sat 23 July 2011, 14:00 CAT

There is need for politics that are rooted in a straightforward view of society, in the understanding that the individual does best in a strong and decent community of people with principles and standards and common aims and values.

And Christopher Kang’ombe is very right when he says that lack of values in Zambia’s politics has led to bad governance practices. It seems now politicians are ready to do anything just to stay in power, to be elected or re-elected. There are no standards, there are no principles, there are no values.

Everything goes. Well, it is said that “those who stand for nothing fall for anything”. There is no choice between being principled and unelectable; and electable and unprincipled. One should win because of what they believe. Yes, people should be pragmatic and adapt to the changing environment. This is perfectly in order. And change is an important part of life. Those who don’t change die. If the world changes, and we don’t, then we become of no use to the world. Our principles cease being principles and just ossify into dogma. But we shouldn’t change to forget our principles. We should change to fulfill them. And we shouldn’t change to lose our identity but to keep our relevance. In politics, change is an important part of gaining the people’s trust.

This nation was founded by Dr Kenneth Kaunda and his colleagues on very strong principles, on very high levels of honesty, integrity, patriotism and love for our fellow citizens. All that has changed.

Today, this is a nation of vultures. It is each man for himself; no one is his brother’s keeper. There is need for change. There is need for us to go back to the founding principles of our nation and once again show our people that politics is not some byzantine game but a real and meaningful part of their lives. There is need to show our people that politics is not a dirty game but a genuine way of being at the service of others for the integral development of the country. And for this reason, politics needs people with credibility whose presence in the political arena can bring good values to the political process. Therefore, our participation in political life should be guided by good values of respect for human dignity, human rights, common good, social justice, solidarity, integral development, concern for the poor and non-violence in resolving conflicts.

Some people find it strange to talk of “honest politics” since politics is mostly perceived as a “dirty game” because of opportunistic and incompetent politicians. Such politicians disrespect the dignity, rights and freedoms of persons. This does not make politics a “dirty game”, fit only for thieves, crooks, scoundrels, jackals and so on and so forth! But politics should be honest and responsible because it is an effective way of serving others and working for the integral development of one’s country. Politics must be exercised or practiced within the limits of the moral order.

The founding fathers of our nation based their politics on morality, honesty, integrity, patriotism and love. To borrow from Vaclav Havel, we would say “Let us try in a new time and in a new way to restore this concept of politics. Let us teach ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of the community rather than of a need to cheat or rape the community. Let us teach ourselves and others that politics can be not only the art of the possible, especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals and pragmatic manoeuvering, but it can even be the art of the impossible, namely, the art of improving ourselves and the world”.

We must work unceasingly to lift this nation to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of morality, integrity and honesty in public life. Let us not accept low standards in our politics. Everyone has a role to play in creating the type of Zambia we want to live in. And everyone can benefit, everyone has responsibility, everyone has rights. Let us not wait for a messiah to one day appear and redeem our country. As Nelson Mandela says, “no single individual can assume the role of a messiah”. We do not need to wait for some stroke of good fortune, some benign giant, some socially conscious Samson to come along and pick up the wretched of the earth. A good society will not come by itself. We have to work for it. We have to struggle for it. In a word, we have to create it. We must do it together. We cannot buy our way into a good society. We must work for it together; we must plan for it together. This can only be done together. It is said that leaders lead, but in the end, the people govern. Our daily deeds as citizens of this country must produce an actual Zambian reality that will reinforce our belief in justice, strengthen our confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all. We shouldn’t allow the resources of this country to benefit just a few.

Again, to borrow from Havel, we would say “our country is not flourishing. The enormous creative and spiritual potential of our nation is not being used sensibly…But this is still not the main problem. The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fail morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore each other, to care only about ourselves…We had all become used to the totalitarian system and accepted it as an unchangeable fact and thus helped to perpetuate it. In other words, we are all – though naturally to differing extents – responsible for the operation of the totalitarian machinery; none of us is just its victim: we are also its co-creators”.

It is said that democracy is more than the sum of its institutions. Truly, a healthy democracy depends in large part on the development of a democratic civic culture. Culture in this sense refers to the behaviours, practices and norms that define the ability of a people to govern themselves. In the end, we get the government we deserve.

Labels: CHRISTOPHER KANG'OMBE

posted by MrK @ 11:08 PM