By Nyalubinge Ngwende
No one can be against the emblem of One Zambia,
One Nation. But the choice by President Edgar Lungu to issue instructions to
Zambia’s public media—ZNBC—to use the motto every time the station opens and at
the beginning of all news casts, both radio and television, raises
eyebrows—there is more to it than meets the eye.
Lungu says it is important that ZNBC uses the
motto as a reminder that there is only one country for all the 72 tribes—at
least in his conception he tries to mean that.
What is
the real intention of President Lungu? Had he won the election with a
landslide, was he going to think about One Zambia, One Nation? Has it got to do
with the respect of First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda, whom he has been
reminding us to respect?
If he thinks Zambia is divided on the political
front, he must know that a look at this country’s history reveals that the
people of this nation have lived with these deep crevices time immemorial.
Politics do not divide or agitate Zambians to rebel at a grand scale. Even if a
possibility may come, which is not yet there, the One Zambia, One Nation slogan
cannot be a magic wand to inspire them into restraint.
By the way, this country lived with this motto
under Kenneth Kaunda’s rule, but it did not add any value to the country’s
aspirations. The country continued to get from bad to worse in terms of the
economy. It might have been better or not, but fact is: the country has pulled
through over 20 years plus of the MMD rule without that slogan. What happened
everyday under Kaunda and UNIP in terms of patriotism or lack of it continued
under Chiluba and the MMD. In fact during the time of late President Mwanawasa
Zambia did not need to recall the One Zambia, One Nation to register economic
growth. Mwanawasa faced the worst resistance towards his government by the
people of Zambia, but he remains one of those Presidents people say Zambia
missed a leader who really had what it takes to move the country forward. He
did not need the slogan.
There is nothing unifying or of national
commission in the One Zambia, One Nation motto. It is empty lullaby that cannot
put off the cries of thousands of graduates for jobs. It has no historical and
empirical proof that it has had some subliminal effect, not even under Kaunda,
to unify the country.
What Kaunda did was to hold this country together
using force and fake democracy under one party state system. That was it. He
built a country that excluded potential leadership; there were so many Zambians
who did not flow with his rule. The return to multiparty politics in 1991 and
Kaunda’s loss of that year’s election to the Frederick Chiluba’s MMD confirmed
that.
If we have lived without the One Zambia, One
Nation for 23 years: What makes Edgar Lungu think it is worthwhile lifting it
up from the rummage of history? What is the real value and intention of
President Lungu’s decision? Had he won the election with a landslide, was he
going to think about One Zambia, One Nation? Has it got to do with the respect
of First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda, whom he has been reminding us to
respect?
Zambians will always be politically divided,
but they do not show that until the elections come. What divides this country
is more of economic inequality and that will not disappear with the chanting of
a slogan. This is a country that has the rich and the poor cast at two extreme
poles. It is a country where there is no drive to do things differently and change
the fortunes of over 11 million people who are struggling to put food on the
table. Further it is a country that has political leadership that resembles a
circus—just jockeys and clowns juggling balls and bottle-sticks, walking a
precarious tight rope tied up between two poles. Like spectators still holding
their breath to see the string walkers get to the end, Zambians are in suspense
not sure about where the country is heading till the next poll.
It is the duty of Edgar’s government to dispel
that fear, not with slogans but well seated policies. He must show us that
above that tight-line he is walking, he is well secured and will not lose his
balance and come crashing down with the whole economic act of the country. We
are not referring to the events that happened on the International Women’s’
Day. There is no doubt, the man was declared fit, or is it feat?—to walk
straight from an operation procedure at a South African Hospital and get
straight to work.
The Brutal Journal has particularly found it
very awkward for Lungu to try and use empty ideological slogans that revive
memories of an oppressive regime to inspire Zambians today, when there is a lot
of room for meaningful political engagement across the table.
What is especially worrying is that the
advancing of the slogan comes as key priority to President Edgar Lungu when on
the economic policy front the only big decision he has made is a reversal of
the well placed but ill-timed mining tax regime. The other policy statement being peddled by
his vice President Inonge Wina thus far shows how she got a job out of some emotional
militancy she staged, as party chairlady, during the selection of the Patriotic
Front successor to late Michael Sata. Had she not prevailed in support of
Lungu, the job was going to go to someone else.
But lucky she is… though it will be difficult
for her to convince anyone that her appointment was not mare tokenism. It is
laughable that her first policy articulation was a sound-bite ZNBC was so glad
to use proposing that: “government needs to establish some commission that will
be entrusted with looking after the health of the President”. Is that not
politics of self-preservation?
The next policy is that she will be visiting
the markets to see how they can be used for economic development of the
country. Economic what? How can a country start with markets when it is failing
to address the biggest problem that has continued to keep Zambia to be a
dumping place for foreign products?
What Inonge Wina must realise is that the
problem of the poor performing of the Kwacha, the poverty
ravaging the many
households and the increased number of girls who are breeding like rabbits does
not lie in the markets. The hapless market traders have not even a single idea
of what economic development is.
A lot of women with greater ideas to contribute
to Zambia’s development are still waiting for her to constitute a conference
committee that will look at the wider issues to liberate women out of poverty. She
must get down to the desk and consult and hammer out some policy thoughts that
are quite inspiring. For now, there is nothing booma Inonge has done.
NN
