Maravi

Hakainde's dangerous anti-Bemba politics

Hakainde's dangerous anti-Bemba politics
By The Post
Thu 20 Oct. 2011, 09:40 CAT

Hakainde Hichilema seems to have regionalism and tribalism fixed in his brain. Everything to Hakainde seems to start and end with regionalism and tribalism. This is his outlook. This is his ideology. In everything, Hakainde sees tribe and region.

It is probably this, more than anything else, that explains Hakainde's reaction to the decision by Michael Sata's government to create a tenth province of our country - Muchinga Province. Reacting to this, Hakainde accused Michael's government of trying to channel national resources to one side of the country by creating another province.

Hakainde's position contrasts very well with that of his party's member of parliament for Mazabuka, Garry Nkombo, who in an interview with QFM welcomed the creation of Muchinga Province, saying Northern Province was too big and needed to be divided. Where Garry sees a logistical problem, Hakainde sees a regional scheme to enrich one region of our country.

The ultimate progress of our country will lie not in regionalism or tribalism of the Hakainde type, but in the unity of our people. This we believe very deeply. We have to put the unity of the people first and we have to put it ahead of any divisive partisanship or regionalism.

And in these times, as in times before, it is true that a house divided against itself by the spirit of region, of tribe is a house that cannot stand. So we would ask all Zambians, whatever their personal interests or concerns, to guard against divisiveness and all its ugly consequences. Through all time to come, we think Zambia will be a stronger nation, a more just society, and a land of great opportunity and fulfillment because of what we have all done together as a nation, as a people.

The reward to those who have worked selflessly and very hard to unite our people will come in the life of justice, fairness, peace and hope that our children will enjoy through the ages ahead. What we won when all our people united just must not now be lost in selfishness and politics of regionalism among any of our people.

We know very well that in politics, expediencies of the moment can be very tempting, hence, the besetting temptation of all politics to concern itself with the immediate present at the expense of the future. Above all, people are disposed to mistake predicting troubles for causing troubles and even for desiring troubles: ‘if only', they love to think, ‘if only people wouldn't talk about it, it probably wouldn't happen'.

Perhaps this habit goes back to the primitive belief that the word and the theme, the name and the object, are identical. At all events, the discussion of future grave but, with effort now, avoidable evils, is the most unpopular and at the same time the most necessary occupation for the politician. Those who knowingly shirk it, deserve, and not frequently receive, the curses of those who come after.

We wish, above all, to recall the past, so as to foresee and plan the future better. In Zambian history, the struggle for independence and the fight for a progressive political line has been intrinsically bound up with the fight for unity.

The struggle to defend and consolidate unity, the driving force of the independence struggle, demanded permanent vigilance and action to neutralise and eliminate the manoeuvres of backward elements and of national opportunists and reactionary elements. By defining regionalism, tribalism and racism as enemies to be fought against, just like colonialism, Kenneth Kaunda and his comrades deprived the opportunists of the chief instruments of their anti-people manoeuvres.

It is necessary to understand the grandeur, diversity and complexity of our country. Knowing this complexity means studying the divisiveness in our country of opportunistic elements like Hakainde and the ways of combating it.
tial that we understand this phenomenon so as to avoid false and futile debates.

Hakainde's regional and tribal politics are very dangerous. And they should be combated with all the tenacity we can marshal. We say this because the roots of an evil which we underestimate and decide to pull out at a later date become the roots of a cancer which can destroy us, invading the whole body, before we get to that ‘later date'. This will mean allowing divisive ideas of Hakainde's regionalism and tribalism to gain ground only to fight them when they are strong. It is like not fighting a crocodile on the bank only to fight him in the middle of the river.

The experience of suffering, humiliation and exploitation of our people in Sinazeze, Sindamisale, Chavuma, Chadiza, Shang'ombo and Kaputa is the same. All bear the same scars, all have known the same poverty, the same suffering, the same tears. They are united through the discovery of common wounds and sufferings. But above all, their unity is realised through effort, links that are forged through common struggles.

There is no good reason for Hakainde to think the creation of Muchinga Province is a means of trying to channel more resources to one region of our country. This is shallow thinking that is only fuelled by Hakainde's unbridled anti-Bemba outlook. Hakainde's anti-Bemba feelings are very dangerous and it is such things that lead to genocide.

Tribalists of the Hakainde type should have no place in our national politics. To claim a right to certain political positions based on tribalistic or ethnic ideology is destructive. Politics that are based on ethnic intolerance are destructive. All through history, tribalism or regionalism has been the cause of innumerable conflicts or even wars.

Among the tribes, as among individuals, dignity is a virtue and pride a vice. Tribes are not closed groups. They are but a small part of a wider society. It is not by segregating ourselves from those who are different that we shall preserve our own particular achievements. It is by sharing them that we become richer.

We should cultivate a loyal spirit of patriotism, but without narrow-mindedness, so that we keep in mind the welfare of all our people. To achieve this requires a political life that is governed, not by lies and deception, but by ethics and morality. It must be governed by a sense of truth and honesty.

All political issues must be governed by truth, honesty, morality, patriotism and self-sacrifice. It is regrettable to note that for some time, our political arena has been full of lies, cheating, hypocrisy, double standards and injustice.

It is high time Hakainde started looking at the politics of our country outside his dangerous anti-Bemba politics.

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, PROVINCES, TRIBALISM, UPND

posted by MrK @ 3:03 PM