ZAMBIA NEEDS TO BREAK AWAY FROM BAD POLITICS AND ECONOMICS OF 27 YEARS OF KENNETH KANUDA RULE

By Nalubinge Ngwende

Kenneth Kaunda

Zambia’s first president Kenneth Kaunda was, is and will forever remain a tyrant whose irreparable damage to the country’s political and economic culture will never have anyone take responsibility for, unless the country stops extoling this man and break away from his ways.  

The first step to severing our present and future from Kaunda’s bad examples of managing this country is to stop seeing him as an infallible hero and ask him to apologise.

A hero, he is, for being among the freedom fighters that fought for our independence. But a closer look at how he dispensed his power as the country’s first President, the heroism is lost. Kaunda becomes a villain that lost Zambia’s battles to safeguard democracy and ensure sustainable economic growth, leaving the country in an abyss of economic darkness and political intolerance. 

As first President of this Southern African Nation that had vibrant and intelligent opposition political leadership and seen as a very wealth newly Independent nation, Kaunda’s arrogance to monopolise/personalise ideas of running the country did extensive damage to democracy and economic activity of the independent Zambia.  

Kaunda authored and engraved the economic miseries the country grapples with today for the 27 years he remained President. Today at 50 years of Independence, the country still struggles to rewrite and offer solutions to the problems that KK created during his over two decades rule.

ZAMBIA YEARNS FOR KNOWLEDGE BASED, FRIENDLIER POLICE YET THAT SEEMS TOO FAR

By Nyalubinge Ngwende

Zambia Police needs a human face

Zambia looks forward to a time when the face of brutality will be stripped from the country’s police, making it an organization of law and order that is more of a service other than a force whose moment at any place of citizens activity exudes fear.

The police force in Zambia struggles with an identity problem. 

Looking back, since turning to multiparty democracy in 1991, with a spirit of growing and promoting human rights, officials in government and senior police officers have labored to convince members of the public that the Zambia Police is a service and not a force.

Through media and public pronouncement at both official and social gatherings police superiors repeat the tagline of being a service. Unfortunately there is completely close to nothing to show why they should wear that civil tag.

Not even Government has convincing reforms to point at in view of making the police a service.

CATHOLIC CHURCH: WHITHER SATA, THY HUMBLE SERVANT?

BY NYALUBINGE NGWENDE

How painful it is to the Catholic Church, whose nuns, priests and bishops threw their weight behind the Patriotic Front in the run to the 2011 elections, assuming Sata would govern Zambia in a much humane way after winning presidency. Nuns and some priests even went to the extent of telling congregants that any of them who would not vote PF was not a genuine Catholic.

The Catholic vote was vital; Sata won the election and made his promises known. Taking oath of office using the bible, the President-elect declared that he was going to govern by the 10 commandments.

Sata emerging from a Corolla

Vital among the promises was to give Zambians a people driven constitution. “It was all going to happen in 90 Days”, he assured the nation that was agog with a historic defeat of the MMD.

The first few Sundays he attended mass was like the long awaited ‘God-Send’ finally arrived to reign over Zambia.

On September 25, only two days after taking oath of office Sata was in church. Father Charles Chilinda, the parish priest, prayed that God would grant the president wisdom, knowledge and good judgment so he could effectively govern the people of Zambia.

His supporters, mostly Catholic Faithfull’s, went agog—posting on social media the President’s pictures arriving at church in a Toyota Corolla with only two vehicles as escort. Other pictures appeared with Sata sitting in the middle of the congregants and kneeling in the pew of the Church. The blubs on the pictures screamed: ‘humble servant of the people’ and ‘man of action’.

“He is really a simple president. Where do you find a Head of State who can just walk and sit right in the middle where ordinary people are? “We were looking for vehicles when he came, only to see one small car in front and another one behind,” said a congregant, Lisa Mubita.

“Sata was driven into the Church like an ordinary citizen and walked to a pew in the middle of the Church. When he arrived, he took time greeting his neighbours before he sat to follow the service.”

It will be good to see fresh and recent pictures of any Sunday this year showing Sata arriving in a Corolla and piously kneeling in the pews of the St Ignatius Cathedral, with hands of other church members stretched towards him and the wife, Christine, as they pray to God to bless the first couple.

If you are like me looking for that scene, you would bet and lose your index finger because this will not happen; President Sata has changed and he is not listening to anyone.

Sata has ruffled the feathers of the Catholic Church with impunity. He has dissented from almost all of the things that the clergy thought would come with a politician who sought the blessings of the church as his first assignment in the Presidential office.

It even baffles, not just the Catholic clergy, but the whole Zambian population that Sata who pleaded with the people that he would govern them differently—end the abuse by the police, deliver democracy other than tyranny, objectively deal with corruption and happily give the people of Zambia a constitution in record time—is doing the opposite.

When the news happens today that relates President Sata and the Catholic Church, it is in bad taste. It is about the catholic bishops chastising the President to behave and do right things or end up badly, or about Sata making calls to threaten bishops who are speaking against his mischievousness of consequences.

Eastern province Diocese Bishop George Lungu has been the latest target of Sata’s threats. The bishop received threats from Sata for allowing constitution advocates to converge at St Antanazio Parish to denounce government failures.

Sata is reported by online media of telling bishop Lungu to watch his steps and mark his boundaries by stirring clear of the constitution debate for if he did not, he’ll be sorted out.

President Sata is an absent head of state. He hardly drives on the road, as he uses a chopper to fly instead of driving in a Corolla. The chopper takes him straight to the airport on his foreign trips or to some place where he is pursuing many of his necessities that are proving costly to the economy.

If you are a journalist who needs to catch up with Sata and get a quick sound bite from the head of state as he lands on a pavilion, it is like looking for horns on the head of a dog. Sata does not talk to the media—he shakes a few hands of his cabinet members and security chiefs before disappearing; from a chopper onto a plane.

His absence is conspicuous. Three years into office he is yet to address a press conference. This absence sometimes turns out to be more disgraceful than baffling. He missed the wedding of one of his sons, choosing fly on a working holiday to London straight from Addis Ababa where he had gone for official engagements.

On return he only appeared at one meeting in Katuba constituency to campaign in a by-election where he called some of his MPs useless; exactly not a term one expects from a humble mouth to refer to colleagues. Even if Sata is elderly among his MPs, calling them useless shows arrogant disregard for others. The PF lost the Katuba seat to the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND)—at least Zambians decided not to add one more useless MP to parliament.

Shortly Sata was off to Congo DR on a SADC region meeting, but hardly had he touched down back home, Sata was jetting straight to Zimbabwe to attend a wedding for Robert Mugabe’s daughter. What was the snub about his own son’s wedding?

Today the civil society feels extremely pissed off by President Sata’s ‘animal driven constitution’ remark. “Those demanding for a people driven constitution must first show me an animal driven constitutions” is all the response Sata made when he was shaken out of his cocoon, feeling the mounting pressure over the constitution.

Sata did not stand at the Freedom Statue to grace the International Women’s Day on March 8 and yet the most significant Youth Day that followed four days later, he absconded.

On Labour Day he only issued an instruction, a quick one, to Labour minister to make employers to pay more money to their workers and refused anyone from delivering speeches and off he went back to State House where he is holed up most of the time, choosing to speak to the nation through his Face-book Page.

Just on Youth Day as Sata remained holed up in seclusion, police arrested 42 youths from Action Aid who joined the Youth Day march-past clad in T-shirts demanding for a clear road map on the constitution from government.

Despite this police action reflecting badly on the issues of how the government tolerates peaceful and silent symbols of freedom of expression, the really ‘humble’ Sata has remained mute.  

In Eastern province, from 16^th to 17^th March, police fought running battles with local people they tried to stop from attending meetings that were to be addressed by opposition UPND leader, Hakainde Hichilema. 

NN

BAD GOVERNMENT, BAD FOR BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

We Have A National Catastrophe On Our Hands Under The Patriotic Front Government Compounded By Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda's Patchwork Economics

PATCHWORK ECONOMICS: Zambian Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda

By Nyalubinge Ngwende

IF ZAMBIA does not hold together the spirit of good governance practices and moderation about government intrusiveness in private enterprise, it is going to cause rogue business practices and reverse the prospects of prosperity built over the period from 2001 to 2010.

Also huge spending in all fronts might appear admirable to the ignorant masses who think development is about three-storey universities in Muchinga and Chongwe, and roads that lead into the bush not too support production but to make the people who drink from sun rise to sun set have an opportunity to see what a tarmac road is so that at the end of the day they go and vote for those in government again.

But when a government is spending more money than the revenues it can raise, deficits sneak in quickly, interest rates are likely to go up (as already announced yesterday by the Bank of Zambia to increase its benchmark interest rate by 175 basis points to 12 percent on Friday following an all time low free fall in the strength of the Kwacha against the US Dollar) and low growth in the economy.

The 6.4 economic growth Zambia enjoys today is not riding on the policies of PF, this is a long rising curve as a result of what the previous fiscally disciplined people like Ng'andu Magande and his successor Situmbeko Musokotwane did to Zambia 10 years before the 2011 elections that ushered the Patriotic Front, Sata and Chikwanda into office.

The increase in interest rates might help strengthen the Kwacha in the interim, but that is not sustainable when the obvious and far reaching effects of increased interest rates is a drop in business activity that affects the production in the economy. Already the prices of commodities are up and businesses may access financing at a huge cost, further worsening the cost of living for the consumer.

The effects of overspending has already weighed down our Kwacha and the measures that are being taken like the offloading of US$178 million on to the market and the cancellation of intrusive Statutory Instruments 33 and 55 may have come too late and represent very little of the bigger damage that the PF has done to the economy in the last two and half years in office. 

The SI No. 33 of 2012 is one intrusive act by government that stopped transactions in foreign currency within the country while the SI No. 55 of 2013, gave Bank of Zambia (BOZ) to monitor cash in and out flows and forced multinational companies to keep their revenues for 15 days within the country before sending their monies to their mother companies abroad. This meant that the multinationals could not make efficient decisions about what to do with their money and everything else was delayed by a fortnight.  

World Bank Group Country Director for Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe acknowledges Zambia's economic misadventure saying: "Zambia's economy had recently gotten into a difficult situation with a large budget overrun in 2013 and increasing uncertainty about economic policies and direction, partly reflected in the rapid depreciation of the Kwacha and accompanying sense of panic in the markets".

We have a national catastrophe on our hands as far as the Patriotic Front government is concerned and we may need a bold decision in 2016 to change this misfortune.
NN

People Driven Constitution: A Revolution Govt May Delay But Not Stop. PF Cheating Game Makes Them Ridiculous

CHEATING GAME: Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba

Every day Sata must read it on the wall of State House that this movement for a people driven constitution is a revolution that PF policy may guide but cannot afford to stop. People will continue to find ways to peacefully raise awareness, express discontent and pressure government to enact the document in the very form the supreme law will inspire their aspirations

By Nyalubinge Ngwende

Where is Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba getting his courage of thinking sensible Zambians who, just after freeing themselves from two decades of abuse under the MMD leadership through a revolt vote, would meekly submit to the tyranny of the PF government?  

The extent of serious political and economic malaise emanating from abuses by people in power this country has continued to suffer in the last 50 years since Independence are as a result of having a bad constitution.

Zambia’s constitution has never been tailored to national aspirations but crafted to serve narrow interests of those in government. Therefore it lacks the character that represents the 50 years growth of the country, while appreciation of the modern meaning of human rights cannot be realised. Essential freedoms are like nourishing oil to the spirit of citizenship to make it function happily in contributing to nationhood building. But these freedoms are under threat now as they have always been because the constitution has holes for misinterpretation by those in power.

After Tribunal Probe, Zambia Tourism Minister Is Not Hurt Alone

Whether Tourism Minister Sylvia Masebo is cleared or not by the tribunal investigating her, at the end individuals morals and institutional confidence would have been shredded by hidden interests. Vice president Scott insulted State Intelligence officers as dull, enmity among MPs of the ruling party has reached irretrievable depths and The Post newspaper disheveled its own credibility

EMBATTLED: Tourism Minister, Sylvia Masebo (left) with Veep Guy Scott

By Nyalubinge Ngwende

The tribunal investigating Zambian Tourism Minister Sylvia Masebo for her illegal interference with concession hunting licenses awarded to six companies closed on Monday (March 10, 2014), after several witnesses, including an Intelligence Officer and the country’s attorney general, testified against her.  

But whatever the outcome, Masebo would not have been the only one battered by the probe.

Innocent individuals would have been harangued and maligned, enmity between some senior members of the ruling Patriotic Front might have forever been pushed to irretrievable extents and government’s investigative institutions would have been discredited—dragged into bog.  

It did not just end there as the case also exposes further how much The Post newspaper is compromised beyond redemption, never again to represent credible media we know— that must be suffered by those in authority in order to protect the right of people to know. Now The Post is part of the government and is shamelessly serving the interests of PF leaders. 

The scandal, before a tribunal investigating Masebo for illegal interfering with awarded hunting licenses, also worsens the Kabwata ruling PF MP Given Lubinda’s problems that have made his party accuse him of being disloyal and a snitch, testifying against his own and leaking inside damaging information to party opponents.

University Of Zambia Political Lecturer Ng'oma Peddling Civic Illiteracy

When democracy entails divergence in political views and respect for citizens’ choice to belong to different political parties, University of Zambia political science lecturer Alex Ng’oma’s support for President Sata’s govt blinds him to sound like a political illiterate asking everyone to support PF

 By Nyalubinge Ngwende

University of Zambia political science lecturer Alex Ng’oma is a known Patriotic Front supporter, but he must be careful when he uses his position as an academician to try and solicit support for his preferred political party from among citizens who hold different views from his.

This is because his support tends to be blind and reduces him to peddling political illiteracy.

Dr Ng’oma is quoted in an article saying Zambians must support President Michael Sata’s administration because he means well for the country.

“Citizens should learn to support a party in power until it departs from the good causes it was elected for” (Sata needs support—Ngoma, Post Newspaper of Saturday, February 22, 2014).

The political lecturer seems to be lost in his own field of specialization, particularly losing the meaning of what multiparty democracy and its principles entail. 

Dr Alex Ng'oma

The simplicity of thinking that every government that wins elections is entitled to every citizen’s support is wrong. It defeats the divergence essence of multiparty democracy—a scale that is never in balance and a spectrum that is never white no matter how fast the spin is. It is for this that different political parties are founded on the differences in ideology and preferences of leadership style, giving citizens choice over who and what they should agree and not agree with in issues of governance.

The fact that PF only won with 180,000 votes confirms that not all Zambians agree with its leadership. When PF members accept and tolerate a president who refuses to respect democratic principles and insults with cheap and boring sarcasm pertinent national issues raised by interest groups, does not mean well meaning Zambians do the same.

We the majority of citizens are not happy when various interest groups representing a big constituent are calling for a people driven constitution,  President Sata responds by asking them whether they have ever seen an animal driven constitution for them to demand for a people driven one. PF members applaud and find nothing wrong in President Sata’s answer. But we, who are seeking an assurance over the constitution from the President, in a respectable manner, feel insulted. That already separates those who support Sata and those who prefer other leadership and style of governance. 

Dr Ng’oma continues:

“President Sata has demonstrated political will in the fight against corruption and we have seen him take action where there is clear evidence and therefore, people of Zambia must be patient with him, it is because he doesn’t want to be doing things alone.” 

Political will in the fight against corruption? Oh my foot!

Hope Dr Ng’oma is not talking about the same Sata who told the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and other law enforcement agencies not to investigate any of his ministers unless with his consent. And we have seen what that means.