Maravi

A promise is a debt

COMMENT - We need either the windfall tax or the nationalisation of the mines (preferrable).

A promise is a debt
By The Post
Sun 28 Oct. 2012, 13:50 CAT

In Kiswahili, they say ahadi ni deni, that is, a promise is a debt. Similarly, an election promise is a debt that must be honoured.

The Patriotic Front made many promises in the run-up to last year's elections. And as Prof Nkandu Luo, the chiefs and traditional affairs minister says, time has come for the Patriotic Front to implement its campaign promises.

And indeed, the Patriotic Front has an obligation to deliver development to the people of Zambia as it promised during the campaign period and to do so as quickly as possible.

Last year, the Patriotic Front highly publicised its election manifesto. Its candidates showed commitment to the manifesto of their party as well as to their personal vision for their constituencies. Candidates were therefore evaluated on their capacity to implement their party's manifesto and their personal vision.

In less than four years, we will again be going to the polls. Those in the Patriotic Front who will offer themselves for re-election will be evaluated against the record of what they have or have not achieved. Did they fulfil their promises? Did they offer quality service to all the people and not only to those who voted them into power? Were they available to listen to the concerns of the people and were they selfless in responding to the needs of all, especially the poor? Did they show courage to speak the truth?

Did they show concern for social justice? Did they show desire to work for the common good instead of self-enrichment? Did they show a disposition to use power for service, especially service for the poor and underprivileged? Were they open to dialogue? Did they show good moral standing? Were they transparent in their dealings and were they accountable to the electorate?

Many promises were made. And the Zambian people are waiting for these promises to be honoured. It is said that umuti wa nkongole kulipila. The only way this debt will cease is for it to be repaid.

But we know that sometimes conditions change adversely, unforeseen factors come to the fore, making it impossible for one to honour his debt. But the solution is not to keep quiet, to say nothing, or to pretend that all is well. The solution is also not to run away from the debt or to deny that the debt ever existed. The solution lies in facing the creditor and explaining the challenges and problems one is facing.

When you owe someone a debt and you have challenges meeting your obligations, don't run away or try to hide from them. Instead, try to meet them every day and discuss your limitations with them. Here a number of things can happen: the debt can be totally written off without you losing your standing with the creditor; the debt can be rescheduled, giving you more time to reorganise yourself and increase your capacity to meet your obligations. Similarly, it is not always possible for one to meet all the election campaign promises.

Circumstances change; new realities emerge along the way. It will not be possible for the Patriotic Front government to meet all the campaign election promises that the party made. And there is no need to mask difficulties or hide failures to the masses of our people. There is no need to hope for easy victories.

There were things the Patriotic Front promised the Zambian people to do within 90 days of being in power. Some of these things have been achieved, and others have not. There is need for the Patriotic Front to go back to the people and tell them what has been achieved within the 90 days promised and what has not been achieved within that promised period. There is need to explain the reasons for the failure. Keeping quiet about it and hoping the Zambian people will forget is playing ostrich-like politics. It won't do.

The Zambian people are understanding. They are not looking for miracles. Even they themselves in their own lives make promises to others which, for unseen reasons and other emergencies that crop up along the way, they fail to fulfil. As we have already pointed out, a promise is a debt. But who doesn't have debts? Who has never failed to fulfil a promise?

It's over a year now since the Patriotic Front came into power. There are things they promised to accomplish within the first year of being in office. Some have been accomplished; some have not been accomplished. Here also accountability is required. There is need to explain to the Zambian people why what was promised has not been accomplished.

It seems the Patriotic Front government is scared of talking about its failures. It won't be plain sailing. They will not achieve all that they had promised the Zambian people. It doesn't happen anywhere that way. Election promises are different from other promises. The debt that arises from an election promise is seldom an exact one. If there are shortfalls in delivery, and if an honest job has been done, there should be no difficulty in going to the people to explain the shortfall, the failure to achieve the promised target.

Moreover, the political debt that the Patriotic Front owes the Zambian electorate, in most cases, requires the Zambian people themselves to participate in the delivery process. So the failure to deliver, sometimes, may not necessarily be blamed squarely on the debtor.

The creditor, that is the Zambian people, also have a role to play and some responsibility to shoulder in all this. This is what participatory democracy entails. This is why we have consistently explained it as a growth in the confidence in the power of ordinary people to transform their country, and thus transform themselves.

This is why we have consistently stated that it is a growth in the appreciation of people organising, deciding, creating together. This is why democracy itself is said to guarantee nothing but simply offering the opportunity to succeed as well as the risk of failure. Democracy is said to be a promise and a challenge.

A promise in the sense that, free human beings, working together, can govern themselves in a manner that will serve their aspirations for personal freedom, economic opportunity and social justice. It is a challenge because the success of the democratic enterprise rests upon the shoulders of its citizens and no one else. In the end, we get the government we deserve.

Labels: NKANDU LUO, PF

posted by MrK @ 11:05 PM