Maravi

What human rights of MMD leaders are being violated?

What human rights of MMD leaders are being violated?
By The Post
Sat 03 Mar. 2012, 12:00 CAT

WE are surprised that of all people George Kunda can loudly complain of MMD leaders being subjected to untold suffering by the government and law enforcement agencies. George says the first five months of the Patriotic Front rule have been hell for close members of the MMD and that during this period, security agencies have been violating the fundamental rights of citizens and especially the rights of leaders of the party with impunity.

He accuses the government of being on rampage brutalising MMD members instead of protecting them. George says the PF government is not committed to upholding human rights, observing the rule of law and constitutionalism and that members of the MMD are still being intimidated and brutalised merely because of their political views and affiliation.

George is not telling the truth. The Zambian people have not forgotten how George and his boss Rupiah Banda ran this country. They had no respect for the feelings and dignity of others. George and Rupiah never cared about brutalising and maligning others.

One must have a very short memory to forget how they brutalised leaders, cadres and members of the PF. Who has forgotten the vicious campaign they led to malign, defame and humiliate Michael Sata? George was in the forefront of all that. He praised all that. He saw nothing wrong with it.

Who has forgotten how they treated Rajan Mahtani and unjustifiably took away his bank, a business he had built over a period of close to three decades? We have also not forgotten how George, his boss and their friends treated us. George personally accused us of all sorts of things - racketeering, homosexuality and so on and so forth.

George knew the truth but this did not matter to him. What he was interested in was to malign and humiliate us. And in many cases he tried to be clever; he avoided being direct and would be throwing innuendoes on the floor of the House against us.

If Michael was a vengeful person, George wouldn't even be in a position to complain today because he would have been reduced to pulp, he would be a humiliated and broken man. But again, it comes back to treating "thy neighbour as thyself" (Lev 19:18).

It was okay for George and his friends to do what they did to Michael and his colleagues but it's not okay for them to be treated even in a manner that is far less severe than they did. They made life impossible, unbearable for most of us. But we are not and we will not seek revenge against them because one can't build a united nation on the basis of revenge.

And moreover, what is one revenging against? There is no need to carry out any revenge against some of these scoundrels, jackals and pathological liars, shameless characters who may even be sick in the heads due to some other illnesses they are suffering.

It was okay for George and his friends to criminalise innocent actions of fellow citizens. But it seems it's not okay for them to be questioned by the police and other law enforcement agencies for the crimes they are suspected to have committed.

Why shouldn't law enforcement agencies visit them or call them for interviews when they are suspected to have stolen public resources? Are they looking for impunity the Chiluba way? They want Michael to treat them the way they treated Chiluba? That is not justice, that's corruption and abuse of power. They abused their power to let Chiluba go scot-free and they are expecting Michael to do the same.

We can only remind George, and all others, including ourselves, of the need to treat others as we would want to be treated in their place. But this does not mean we should be allowed to commit crimes and go scot-free. The best way to show love to a wrongdoer, to a criminal or to a corrupt person, is to get them arrested, prosecuted and jailed for that.

In that way, they may be stopped from committing any further crimes. Impunity for wrongdoers doesn't help them, does them no good. If one has committed a crime, prison should be their place. But let them receive a fair trial. And all of us should look for a fair trial when we have done something wrong and we should ensure that everyone else receives fair trial when in trouble with the law.

George should expect to be treated the way he treated others. That's what the Golden Rule teaches and demands - one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself or, put in another way, one should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated.

And treating others as you would want to be treated in their place will ultimately lead to your own protection and happiness. There are huge dividends in being honest, just and fair. Probably this is why there is universality about the Golden Rule in the world of religions.

In Christianity, we are taught that "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets" (Mt 7:12). In Islam, we are taught that " no one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself" (Sunnah). In Confucianism, it is said that "do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state" (Analects 12:2).

In Buddhism, the equivalent teaching is: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful" (Udana-Varga 5,1). In Hinduism, it is: "This is the sum of duty; do nought onto others what you would not have them do unto you" (Mahabharata 5,1517). For Judaism, it is: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire law; all the rest is commentary" (Talmud, Shabbat 3id). And in Taoism, they say: "Regard your neighbour's gain as your gain, and your neighbour's loss as your own loss" (Tai Shang Kan Yin P'ien).

Clearly, living by the Golden Rule will make one a better person and those around that person happier, and will make the community one lives in a better place. Of course, we will admit that there are strong arguments against the Golden Rule, that there are exceptions and logic arguments that the Golden Rule, taken to extremes, falls apart.

But that's not our worry, our concern. The truth is, on a day-to-day basis, living by the Golden Rule makes one a better person and with more better persons, a better nation. And people who look at life in this way have no time for revenge or retaliation and resist the tendency to strike back when treated badly. And this doesn't mean that we should be doormats.

We have to assert our rights but in a way where we still treat others well and not striking back just because they treated us badly first. If people are arrested, prosecuted and jailed for corruption, it's not revenge. That's what the rule of law demands. It would be lawlessness to allow people who have plundered the meagre resources of their poor people to go scot-free and keep their loot. We think this is what George is complaining about.

They don't want law enforcement agencies to visit them and make them account for what they are believed to have stolen. It's not difficult to see why George and his friends are behaving this way. They never, in the first place, wanted to be accountable. And in pursuit of this, they changed the law to allow for impunity, for stealing public resources and abusing public offices without being made to account. They abolished the law that made abuse of office a criminal offence.

Yes, it's true Michael is making some mistakes here and there. But none of those mistakes can be said to be a violation of fundamental rights of citizens, or an attempt to victimise, brutalise, humiliate MMD leaders and members. Michael doesn't seem to be concerned by that although he was their worst victim and bore the worst of their malicious propaganda.

Let them just face the law and cooperate with law enforcement agencies in their investigations. If their human rights are violated, we can assure them we would be the first to stand up and defend them.

That we can guarantee them. If at the end of the day they are imprisoned, we will, as we have done before to others, demand fair and decent prison conditions for them.

Labels: CORRUPTION, MMD

posted by MrK @ 10:44 PM