Letters - Rupiah's hypocrisy

Rupiah's hypocrisy
By Mwanamulume
Thu 01 Sep. 2011, 12:00 CAT

Editor,

I have followed with interest the calls by the Republican President Mr Rupiah Banda that we should ensure that this month's elections are peaceful. This call has been made on every forum that he has spoken.

I, however, have like many Zambians come to the conclusion that he does not mean what he says, and that his calls are merely a calculated ploy to blind and silence us so that we accept the outcome of the elections regardless of whether they are free and fair or not. I say this because the utterances the President is making are not being backed up by actions.

Peace is not promoted by mere empty promises! Infact, the actions of the President himself from the time he became President of this country on contentious national issues have not been in the interest of peace. Rupiah's way of doing things from the perspective of an independent observer has always been to twist the arms of citizens. His decisions have always been at variance with the expectations of ordinary Zambians.

Most recently, there have been grave revelations that the South African printer engaged to print ballot papers might have engaged himself in corrupt activities.

If Rupiah were a peaceful leader, he would have strived to ensure a win-win situation and restore the confidence of all the key stakeholders in our electoral system before proceeding with the polls. But his actions left many fair-minded people speechless. Is this the way to promote peace?

Examples of offensive and annoying decisions made by the President abound but in the interest of word economy we shall not preoccupy ourselves with that. Except to remind Rupiah that we the ordinary citizens are not short of memory and we have the capability to even deduce the meaning or intentions of certain actions.

We may not be heard by our leaders but we are certainly not stupid.