Maravi

Corruption always fights back

Corruption always fights back
By The Post
Sun 10 June 2012, 13:00 CAT

IT is said that recognising a challenge, a problem, is the first step in dealing with it,in trying to solve it.It is good that Michael Sata has recognised the fact and reality that corrupt elements have ganged up to fight him and his government.

This is not the first time they are doing so. Corruption always fights back. Corrupt elements ganged up to fight Levy Mwanawasa as soon as they realised that he was going for them.

It didn't matter that his government was in the first place sponsored by them. As soon as they realised that Levy meant business about fighting corruption, they started to fight back. Corruption always fights back against those fighting it. And when corruption fights back, it uses the same institutions being used to fight against it.

Corruption recruits those who are vulnerable in our law enforcement agencies, the Police, the Judiciary and other integrity institutions, including the Church. It recruits people in all these institutions to help defend it and attack those fighting it.

Judicial institutions are very key to fighting corruption. Without a positive attitude and support from those running our judicial system, fighting corruption becomes an impossible task. And the corrupt know this.

For this reason, they target and attempt to recruit law enforcement officers, judges and other judicial officers, pastors, reverends, priests and other religious leaders. And not all judicial officers are good and upright people, just as much as not all of them are bad and corrupt people.

Today we have police officers and other law enforcements agents who are working with criminals, with corrupt elements; we have police officers and other law enforcement officers who have been corrupted.

We also have judges who are in league with criminals, with the corrupt. In a word, just as much as we have good law enforcement officers and judges serving the people heart and soul, we also have law enforcement officers and judges in the service of corruption and the corrupt heart and soul.

We also have politicians who are serving the interests of the people heart and soul just as much as we have some in the service of corruption. We have clergymen who are also serving the interests of corruption just as much as we have clergymen who are totally and honestly dedicated to serving the interests of the people and of their Creator.

Corruption always finds some people, from all walks of life, to defend it and speak for it. Corrupt elements are very shrewd people. They know how to manipulate institutions and vulnerable individuals. They can even make very decent people serve their interests. Not everyone who is on the side of the corrupt is necessarily corrupt.

There are some decent people who have been misled, deceived and who have been manipulated to defend what is wrong, what is corrupt. Some politicians, for political expedience, have been made to side with the corrupt. Even Michael has travelled this path. Wasn't Michael, at one time, made to serve Frederick Chiluba and his tandem of thieves?

In the 2001 elections, Chiluba sponsored and supported Levy for president against Michael and others. But as soon as Levy started to pursue the corrupt, who included Chiluba and his friends, he became their enemy. And they turned to Michael for support against Levy.

It was Michael and his supporters who gave Chiluba political support and were the ones who went to the airport to see him off and receive him whenever he travelled to South Africa for treatment. Many people in the Patriotic Front were manipulated and made to believe Chiluba was an innocent person being politically persecuted by Levy.

It took them a long time to realise that this was a corrupt element who had just manipulated them, prying on their opposition to Levy, to give him political protection.

And soon after Levy died and Rupiah Banda came on the scene, Chiluba abandoned Michael and the PF and went back to where he thought the bonds were stronger. Chiluba and Rupiah had something in common that bound them together - corruption. This was weaker between him and Michael. Michael was simply misled to support and defend a corrupt element.

As soon as he realised what Chiluba truly was, they parted company and started to describe him as a corrupt element. Up to his death, Michael saw Chiluba as a corrupt element and regretted having defended him or supported him when Levy was pursuing him.

Of course, for Chiluba, the bond with Rupiah paid off in a very big way - he was freed from all his corruption charges and legal claims. There was an attempt to launder him as an innocent person who was being victimised by bad people. Which bad people? Of course, this included Levy and Michael.

It shouldn't also be forgotten that there were many clergymen and other innocent and decent people who were manipulated and mobilised to defend the corruption of Chiluba and his league.

With this support, they went for the innocent people who were genuinely and legitimately fighting corruption. We all know what happened to the champions of the anti-corruption fight under Rupiah's regime. They were accused of all sorts of things and vilified in all sorts of ways.

As usual, corrupt elements always attempt to paint those fighting them corrupt. They always attempt to accuse those fighting their corruption of being corrupt themselves. And they do this in a manner similar to the way thieves behave at KMB, InterCity Bus Terminus or on Cairo Road.

If one is pursuing somebody who has stolen from him at these places, the first reaction of thieves is to pursue those who are chasing after thieves, accusing them of being thieves themselves. In the end, a person who has been stolen from ends up being beaten as a thief when in actual fact, he is a victim of theft.

We have seen this today repeating itself in so many ways. The corrupt and the crooked are defending their corruption and theft in a very aggressive way. They have mobilised the weak and vulnerable and have turned them against those attempting to fight them.

Every ardent fighter against corruption in this country is being accused of this and that abuse by them. And they have recruited some desperate politicians like Hakainde Hichilema, Godfrey Miyanda, Charles Milupi, among others, to defend them and fight those who are attacking them. Some of these are very decent people.

Even if one hates Godfrey, the last thing one can accuse that man is of being corrupt. Godfrey is a different man who has been manipulated by the corrupt, prying on his political vulnerability and desperation. One cannot also accuse Charles of being corrupt.

Charles is an honest man whose political situation has pushed him into desperation, looking for a straw to hang on to. We have many others in our politics who are in a similar situation, who have been manipulated to defend the corrupt. But one day they will realise that they are defending and supporting a wrong cause.

It took time for Michael to realise that he was doing the wrong thing by defending and supporting Chiluba. And when he did, in no time, Michael managed to increase his popularity with our people and raised their confidence levels in him to
higher heights, enabling him to win the election and become their President.

Clearly, there is need for Michael to mobilise the people, all the upright forces, all the anti-corruption institutions and individuals in our country to defend and support his onslaught on corruption.

This is a very big war he has started because corrupt elements will defend their corruption with everything they have, including their lives. They are fighting for self-preservation and the protection of their loot.

This is not a war Michael will win without serious political mobilisation of all our people. It is not a war that will be won for him by the law enforcement agencies alone. Important as these institutions may be in the fight against corruption, they can only play a small but important role.

Final victory in this war will depend on Michael mobilising the broadest support of the great majority of our people. But like in every war, there will be casualties and Michael should be ready for this.

And like in every war, there are risks and Michael should evaluate the risks carefully. Like in every war, there is need to adopt the correct strategies and tactics because without them, victory is impossible and defeat is certain.

There is need for maximum unity among all those opposed to corruption and who are fighting for a corruption free Zambia. Unity is important in any battle.

But like in any other battle, reactionary forces always try to divide those fighting them. The corrupt divide the forces fighting them. They accuse innocent people of corruption to create mistrust, doubt, confusion and sow the seeds of division among the forces fighting them.

To avoid this, political leadership is required. And it is Michael's duty to provide that necessary political leadership that will help unite all the anti-corruption forces in our country. Only in this way can victory be assured and be certain.

We have no doubt that the instincts of our people for self-preservation will drive them towards that unity and Michael will provide the necessary leadership to foster and consolidate it.

Labels: CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 2:24 PM