Maravi

Being fair, just and honest the Rupiah way

Being fair, just and honest the Rupiah way
By The Post
Thu 04 Aug. 2011, 14:00 CAT

Rupiah Banda likes talking about things he doesn’t understand well and saying things he doesn’t mean. In life, it’s always very important to be clear about things. No one takes pride in belonging to a backward, poor Third World country. And in saying our country is backward and poor, is a Third World country, we are not in any way trying to deride anyone or to insult our people. This is merely stating facts. This is the reality of our existence.

Rupiah says, “We will leave the negative words to Sata and The Post. Can you imagine what a visitor to Zambia thinks when they read The Post! They must think we are a backward Third World country. But they are wrong and The Post is wrong.”

Rupiah lives well and eats well. He has everything that a citizen of the most developed countries of the world has. Rupiah has First World diet, medical care, social security through his presidential retirement benefit, education for his young children and so on and so forth.

But the painful truth is that, despite Rupiah and those close to him living a First World life, the great majority of our people are poor, hunger persists and tends to grow in most parts of our country. Hunger, poverty, disease, ignorance, unemployment, lack of opportunity, insecurity, inequality, hopelessness are the terms that could well define the living conditions of a great part of the population of our country.

It is an imperative need of our times to be aware of these realities, because of what a situation affecting the great majority of our population entails in terms of human suffering and the squandering of life and intelligence. We are not saying all this from without. Let’s look even at one statistic of access to a doctor. Modern human beings cannot live without healthcare. Zambia has one doctor per every 8,300 citizens while a country like Sudan has 4,500 citizens per doctor; Haiti 4,000 citizens per doctor. Cuba, a Third World country, has the world’s best statistic on this score with 170 people per doctor, beating Italy with 240 people per doctor, France 300 per doctor and the USA 390 people per doctor.

The cold eloquence of these figures is in itself terrifying enough. But beyond them lies a tragic situation of abject poverty and neglect that is individualised several times over. This is the expression of the enormous abyss separating us from the developed world and, furthermore, of the evident inequalities still existing in our country, not fully reflected in overall statistical indicators.

There are many children dying from preventable diseases everyday in our country. There are many children who go to bed hungry every night in this country which Rupiah thinks is not backward and a Third World country. Whatever efforts are made to protect them, to prevent their death and illness, to provide them with food, housing, medicine, clothing and education, will shape the basic human qualities of that decisive percentage of the future population of our country. And yet, in view of the present trends, what sort of country will we hand over to those children? What sort of life lies ahead for those millions of mouths that have to be fed in this underdeveloped country of ours, those millions of bodies that have to be clothed, shod and sheltered, those million of minds that will strive for knowledge, those millions of human beings who will strive for a decent life, worth at least of the human condition? What will their quality of life be like?

The economic growth statistics that Rupiah and his friends like to band around do not reveal the true dimension of this problem since, all too often, they do not take into account the differentials between the various income sectors of the population of our country. Hunger is a phenomenon intimately associated with poverty, with the marked income imbalances in our country, with the lack of opportunities, with ignorance, with inequalities and injustice. Of course, the hunger of another human being is not something that disturbs Rupiah. This man rejoices over the hunger of others. We have not forgotten what he said to Milton Phiri: “Yamunyokola njala.”

Squalor, disease and lack of healthcare are other basic aspects – together with hunger – characterising the dramatic social situation in our country. The analysis of some indicators and figures is revealing. Rupiah should look at the infant mortality rates and other indicators to see why our country is said to be backward and why it is a Third World country.

As a sector of our Third World nation, women suffer doubly all the calamities related to living conditions that exist in our country. And because they are the ones that bear the heavy burden of the home, they are the most hit by the lack of hospitals, medical care, schools, children’s institutions, child-mother programmes, hygiene and so on and so forth. An extremely high number of women in this country receive no attention during pregnancy. A much higher percentage than in other countries die during delivery without any type of care; and it is women who must see a number of their children die before they are 15 years old.

As long as health fails to be considered a fundamental right of man and a duty of the community; as long as the responsibility of the state and society in regard to healthcare fails to be recognised; as long as inequalities in the distribution of health resources fail to disappear; as long as poverty, hunger, ignorance and squalor fail to be directly fought against, little will be achieved in improving the human health in our country.

The law of natural selection ensured that only the fittest primitive men survived. Modern man must get the most from the land, for life can no longer be dependent on nature and the environment. The great majority of the people of this country lack the means of livelihood – as a result, there is large-scale poverty.

Therefore, this poverty, this backwardness, this underdevelopment, this Third World status we have to endure is not a singularly economic and social phenomenon. It is, first and foremost, a political fact.

These facts and realities are irrefutable. Everyone must be aware that such complex and difficult problems do not have easy solutions. Our aspirations and demands clash with the lack of understanding and selfishness. The existence of such a large number of poor people in a country whose president thinks it is not backward, it is not a Third World country, constitutes an affront to all of us. A stable, permanent solution must be found for this serious problem.

We would be very happy if Zambia weren’t a Third World country. But if a country like China is a Third World country, Rupiah should ask himself: what more Zambia? Rupiah should start talking about things he understands. It is very dangerous for a leader of a country to talk about things he doesn’t understand.

We say that Rupiah says things he doesn’t mean because he is pledging to conduct his campaigns in a lawful and civilised manner. This is a man who, just under three years, was trying to corrupt the electorate in Vulamukoko with sugar and mealie-meal, among other things. This is the man who was telling the people of Eastern Province to chase away anyone coming to campaign there and tell them to go back where they come from. Is this lawful? Is this civility?

Rupiah urges his cadres and followers: “Be fair and be just. Be honest with our achievements and do not tell lies…” Is Rupiah fair in his campaigns? A fair and just person cannot do what Rupiah is doing. Rupiah is abusing the state owned media, monopolising it to the exclusion of all other entitled citizens. Is this fair and just? Rupiah is urging his cadres to be honest and not to tell lies. But is Rupiah honest in his dealings and doesn’t tell lies? The answer is a categorical no because Rupiah is not honest in his dealings and tells lies, especially about his political opponents. This is not a recipe for governing well, for being a good president. A leader leads by example. Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing. You can’t lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself. And it is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself. Honesty towards yourself; looking into your mirror, anytime, all the time, will guide you.

Labels: MICHAEL SATA, RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 4:36 PM