Maravi

It's time for PF government to start delivering

It's time for PF government to start delivering
By The Post
Mon 19 Mar. 2012, 12:00 CAT

MICHAEL Sata and the PF promised the Zambian people a lot in their election campaigns. They promised to change or improve a lot of things in a very short time, in 90 days. As such, more is expected of them. Those with more to give, more is always expected of them. It was in the belief that PF can deliver on their promises that the Zambian people voted for them. Should there be signs, early signs, that they will not be able to deliver on their promises, public attitude towards them will quickly change.

There is need to always bear in mind that the Zambian people voted for Michael and PF not for anything else other than to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children.

If signs start to appear that they will not be able to deliver on their election promises, on their manifesto, public support for them may begin to decline. And there is no political party in the history of this country that publicised its manifesto in the way the PF did.

Actually, the PF was the only party in last year's elections that really campaigned on their manifesto. As Dr Euston Chiputa, president of the University of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers Union, has correctly observed, the Zambian people looked at the PF's manifesto critically and voted for them on the understanding that they can turn the country around and make it a prosperous nation.

And it is very easy for Michael and the PF to depart from their manifesto and start implementing other people's agendas which may not be in the interest of the Zambian people.

Today, there are many people coming in to advise Michael and the PF on this and that, people who were not anywhere near them before. Today, all sorts of diplomats, businessmen, academics, civil servants, clergymen are advising Michael. The country is full of good advisors, coaches.

What it takes to succeed in changing our country and improving the living conditions of our people is a bunch of interested and able players. But these were the same people who just a few months ago were the advisors of Rupiah Banda, were very close to Rupiah.

Anyway, that's how being successful is - people always drift to winners, to those who are successful. As John F Kennedy once remarked, "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan." But as the Bible states, "Anyone can give advice, but some people do so only in their own interest. Be careful when somebody offers you advice.

Find out first what his interest in the matter is, because you can be sure that he is primarily thinking of himself. Why should he come out on top instead of you? He will assure you that things look good, and then stand back to watch what happens to you" (Sirach 37:7-9); "Instead, rely on someone who…sympathetic with you, who will be sorry to see you fail…" (Sirach 37:12).

The only thing that will serve Michael and his government well is delivery on their election campaign promises. There is nothing which makes people more appreciative of a government than that it should be able to deliver on its election campaign promises, be able to deliver services.

The PF has now been in government for almost six months. But it still looks very unsettled. But as Euston has pointed out, five months of being in office was enough for the new PF government to settle down and end its excitement.

Everybody was excited about their election victory, but now it's time to get to serious work not only for those in political leadership or government but for all the citizens. Winning an election is like climbing a ladder. The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.

There is no need to rest on an election victory because an election victory is not an end itself; it is just a means to get to the top and do some serious work there. They need to get out and do some serious work. As Chinua Achebe wrote in A Man of the People (1967), "A man who has just come from the rain and has dried his body and put on dry clothes is more reluctant to go out again than another who has been indoors all the time.

The trouble with our new nation…was that none of us has been indoors long enough to be able to say ‘to hell with it.' We had all been in the rain together until yesterday. Then a handful of us - the smart and the lucky and hardly ever the best - had scrambled for the one shelter our former rulers left, and had taken it over and barricaded themselves in.

And from within, they sought to persuade the rest through numerous loudspeakers, that the first phase of the struggle had been won and that the next phase - the extension of our house - was even more important and called for new and original tactics; it required that all argument should cease and the whole people should speak with one voice."

Today, the PF government looks very strong and confident. But problems lie ahead. Despite having a very good manifesto, those in government don't seem to know where they are headed; and that is dangerous. Probably they are lost because they had no input in the PF manifesto and indeed in its election victory. Michael seems to be in control of his government.

He is hiring and transferring people at will, but few people seem to know where he is leading. The great thing in the world is not so much where we start as in what direction we are moving. There is need for Michael to clearly define the purpose of his government and match that with his actions.

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions. It is said that to think is easy, to act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking. Leadership is action, not position. And power is the ability to do good things for others.

What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things. People's expectations from this government are very high. And it is not the people's fault that their expectations from this government are that high, the PF pushed those expectations that high through their manifesto and other pronouncements during the election campaign.

They have no choice but to deliver. If not, their ending will be disastrous. As Saint Just once remarked, "He who makes a revolution by half digs his own grave."

Labels: EUSTON CHIPUTA, PF

posted by MrK @ 7:21 PM