Maravi

Hakainde fails to install his friend as Speaker

Hakainde fails to install his friend as Speaker
By The Post
Fri 07 Oct. 2011, 15:00 CAT

We congratulate judge Dr Patrick Matibini, State Counsel, on his election as Speaker of our National Assembly.

Our members of parliament made a very good decision in electing judge Matibini Speaker even though it was by one vote. That was a very important one vote. But even the World Cup is sometimes won with one goal and that single goal has never diminished the value of a World Cup victory.

This is a sweet victory for all Zambians of goodwill because the man who has been elected Speaker is a very outstanding citizen, a very progressive citizen who represents the dreams and aspirations of our people. He is a man who is above narrow, sectional or partisan interests. Judge Matibini is an intellectual who at the same time is a very ordinary and humble man, he is one of us.

Michael Sata and his government must be given all the credit that is due for supporting such a man for this important job. It shows that they are prepared to look for talent wherever they can find it and deploy it in the service of our people. Michael is beginning to prove that he is above petty and narrow sectional interests.

He is a nationalist. Our country needs more nationalists, patriots who will put common interests above their cheap egocentricities. In choosing judge Matibini, Michael has voted for public interests rather than mere political convenience. Judge Matibini is non-partisan, he is not a member of any political party. He was simply a judge of our High Court. And this is what the job of speaker needs. The Speaker must be an individual who is prepared to serve all members equally.

The Speaker is responsible for controlling the floor of House business and acts as referee during debates. It is the Speaker's duty to ensure that the rules of the House for conducting business are followed and that all members of the House have an opportunity to take part in debates. Balancing the right of the majority to conduct business with the right of the minority to be heard is one of the Speaker's most difficult tasks. And because of this, it is essential that the Speaker is seen to be above party politics.

From this, it can be seen that a Speaker requires a broad range of skills and personal qualities to successfully fulfill the duties of the position. It is therefore easy to understand why we celebrate the election of judge Matibini as Speaker of our National Assembly.

It marks the dawn of a new era in our politics, a promise of what could be if we all rose above narrow sectional or partisan interests. Such a situation would enable us to obtain services from the best brains in our country who might not have partisan connections or be inclined to partisan politics but still have something to offer. Michael is showing us how it should be done.

In a short time, he is assembling a team of respectable luminaries to assist him in delivering on his promise to change Zambia forever. Michael is not a young politician but he has not been afflicted by the cynicism that sometimes corrodes those who have spent too much time in politics. He is a pragmatist but his patriotism directs that pragmatism to the benefit of the people. Michael does not hesitate to change strategies and tactics, without compromising any principles, when the circumstances dictate so.

There is a lesson that those who are vying to run the politics of our country should learn from this man. Although it may not be very apparent in his personality, at the core of his heart, he is a servant of the people. He is looking to deliver what the people need and want. Michael has a keen ear for public opinion and seems to instinctively respond to it in a skillful way.

But in contrast to Michael, there are pitfalls in the character and politics of Hakainde Hichilema that should be avoided by those who want to serve our people. Hakainde is an opinionated politician who should not be followed by those who are serious to get to their destination. We say this because it seems that the only thing that matters to Hakainde is his ego and how he feels about himself.

He does not care about the feelings of those who are around him and their wishes and aspirations. Hakainde's political journey is about satisfying himself and nothing else. He has been blinded by ambition. This is why he sees nothing wrong in being a braggart, a cheap braggadocio, to borrow George Mpombo's words.

Our people should be cautious with politicians who are ready to subordinate public interests to their personal egos. There is something wrong with such people. Beyond that, there is something evil and dangerous about such people.

In everything, Hakainde looks for what is in it for him. We think that human beings should never draw away from the honest goals they seek and let themselves be influenced by ego, self-importance or even vanity. Human beings tend to make a fool of themselves if they think too much about the positions they should occupy in life, in things.

It would be wiser to aspire to a modest, simple or even anonymous place in life, in things, because if you have a true measure of the power of people as individuals, you know it is so fragile and such a small thing that it doesn't really make sense to magnify the role of any individual, no matter how intelligent, brilliant or able they may be. There have been many able, intelligent, meritorious figures in the course of history. It is therefore necessary that we value ourselves at our true worth (Sirach 10:28).

It worries us that Hakainde is ready to use the limited political influence he has to marginalise a whole people. We say this because Hakainde is working very hard to keep the Tonga-speaking people Balkanised and excluded from our national politics. This is why we have kept saying Hakainde wants to keep Southern Province like a Bantustan to deliver his wishes. This is wrong. Look at the way he has behaved over the election of Speaker of the National Assembly!

If we were to carry out an opinion poll within his own party, we would find that more than 90 per cent of his colleagues believed that judge Matibini was the best candidate for that job and not his friend Richard Kapita. But Hakainde, to satisfy his own ego, was determined to give that job to his friend. The Patriotic Front behaved in a patriotic manner by bringing a candidate that they thought was best suited for the job. Hakainde wanted to give a job to his unemployed friend.

This is the kind of person we are dealing with. We hope that his behaviour is beginning to show those of our people who wondered why the PF-UPND pact didn't work, the reason it failed. Hakainde can only be his own partner. This is not a person who can work with others unless he comes out on top.

This is why even though the MMD had more seats in parliament than UPND, Hakainde ensured that UPND provided the candidate for Speaker in their pact with MMD. This is the kind of person we are dealing with. Although he was a leader of a small Bantustan party in the PF-UPND pact, Hakainde wanted to emerge leader of that pact. How that was going to be done, only he knows.

Anyway, he is used to that kind of manipulation. We have said this before but it bears repeating. When he worked at Grant Thornton, he was not an accountant, he was merely a holder of a bachelor's degree in economics, and yet he somehow managed to carry himself as if he was a leader of the whole firm, when in truth he was not. Even in UPND, the situation is not different. When Anderson Mazoka died, Hakainde emerged from nowhere and literally installed himself as its leader on the back of tribal sentiments aired by his supporters.

No wonder Levy Mwanawasa describes him in the following terms: "The problem Mr Hichilema is having now is that he wants to cheat, to mislead, to show that he is what he is not…" Levy narrated why he considered Hakainde a cheat: "As part of his overall theme of non-partisan politics, Mwanawasa recalled an incident in which he first met Mr Hakainde Hichilema at State House before he became president of the United Party for National Development (UPND). He was brought to him by Mr Costain Chilala, the prominent Mkushi farmer. This was sometime in February 2006, the year in which Anderson Mazoka died.

Hakainde, as a member of the business community, had a specific business issue to raise with Mwanawasa. Mwanawasa recounted the incident: ‘He said he had been disadvantaged from government contracts because people were saying that he was a member of the opposition UPND. He said he was not a politician, he was only a businessman. He asked me to treat him that way.

I told him, ‘my government does not discriminate on political or tribal lines,' I said. ‘We will give you a job because you are capable of doing it.'

‘Hakainde said, ‘when I decide to join politics, I will come and join you in MMD because I am happy with the way you are leading this nation.' He said this over lunch at Nkwazi House.

‘I said, ‘Thank you very much for that show of confidence, but I want you to feel that whether you are with us or not, to me you are a Zambian entitled to anything you want which government is able to give. But I am glad at your show of confidence that if you should want to come into politics, you will think of joining me.'

‘Two months later, Mr Mazoka died. There was talk that Hakainde Hichilema was being considered to take over from Mazoka. Initially, he was refusing, then eventually he agreed. He didn't even have the audacity to come and explain himself to me. He didn't have to, but I don't know why he gave me the assurance that if the time came for him to join politics, he would rather be with me.

‘I regret the fact that we are opponents. I have a lot of respect for that young man. He could have played a very pivotal role in the governance of this country. But he has to be trained. I would have been happy to provide counsel so that he is moulded into a true leader. Now, he has joined politics. His understanding of politics is that it doesn't matter; you can cheat provided you get your goals.

‘If you have been following my politics, you will realise that I don't cheat. Maybe that is what has got me into trouble. I believe that if you don't cheat, if you are consistent, you will be right. The problem Mr Hichilema is having now is that he wants to cheat, to mislead, to show that he is what he is not.

‘When some people alleged that he could not assume the UPND leadership because he was a newcomer, he said it was not true because he was one of the pioneers of UPND, that he started UPND with Mazoka and other people…But when he came with Chilala to Nkwazi House, he said people were saying that he was UPND…

‘And in my view, he is wasting his talent in opposition politics…But I consider Hichilema's case a very unfortunate one…'"(Levy Patrick Mwanawasa: An incentive for posterity, Amos Malupenga, p 211-212).

This is the kind of man we are dealing with. Hakainde is a man who seems to listen to nobody. We wonder if he has even one advisor that he listens to. How can one lead people he does not listen to? And this explains why UPND which had acquired a national character as a political party is today nothing but a Bantustan party of Southern Province whose only service to that great people is to marginalise them.

We are not being malicious in saying this because the figures speak for themselves. In last month's elections, Hakainde polled 506,763 votes. Of that, 266,754 or 52.64 per cent of those votes were obtained in Southern Province. This is wrong, it will take them nowhere.

Those who are around Hakainde should know that they are dealing with a selfish self-centered man who cares nothing about the nation. As long as his interests are served, we have no doubt he would even leave politics. It is therefore good that his scheme to impose his friend as our Speaker has failed even if it is just by one vote.

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, PARLIAMENT, PATRICK MATIBINI

posted by MrK @ 8:49 AM