Opinion: M’membe’s Culture Lacks Principles | #Zambia Reports: zambiareports/2013/07/05/opinion-mmembes-culture-lacks-principles/ We do admit that it is becoming increasingly difficult for some of us, especially those of us in politics, to survive and resist manipulation, especially if yours is selfishness at the expense of national service. This culture is permeating the entire society, that is why when we see opinions like the one Fred Mmembe has written in the Post today, we are not entirely surprised. Goal posts change in this country because some people, have no principles. The same public order act that PF and Mmembe condemned less than 2 years ago, has all of a sudden become a good law. The same fuel and mealie increases that others were condemned for, have become okey under the PF and Mmembe. Mmembe thinks we are in disarray, Fred thinks we are not patriotic and unattractive. We find that very shallow and lacking depth befitting a man who has been in media for 20 years. Mmembe forgets to ask the basic question; what is attracting people to PF? He is circumventing that question when all the signs are there that people are being manipulated. The Mmembe of old would have picked this, but due to lack of principle, which we thought he had, the man is choosing to run after fantasies and gloss over real issues. That Post newspaper’s hoe is blunt, it can no longer dig deeper. He calls some of the opposition political parties regional and tribal. We are thinking this is a direct reference to UPND. Granted we have a strong hold, which party can claim to have no strong hold? But does that make them tribal because a certain region supports them? We shall not answer that question. He calls the opposition full of corrupt individuals, let us be clear on this, the suggestion that someone cannot join a political party whose members are in court for corruption, is outrageous. Is Mmembe saying that people should leave the Post Newspaper if he is in court for getting money from DBZ. That is the kind of thinking that we despise, which does not separate individuals from institutions. Mmembe is not used to running institutions using corporate Governance standards, for him the Post is Fred and Fred is the Post, even PF is run along similar lines. We know it is convenient for Mmembe and his cohort to call the opposition unattractive based on this warped thinking because they have no understanding of institutional operations. He further accuses us of not being attractive because we support those that are corrupt? Who has been convicted of corruption that Mmembe accuses us of defending? Let him point at one of those people that we have supported that are corrupt. In his mind the moment a man is charged, he is convicted. This is the kind of people that we have as opinion leaders in this country, who know the outcome of a case even before the case is presented in court. Can you surely convict someone even before the handcuffs have landed on their hands! According to Mmembe, those people are guilty as long as his newspaper has reported on them. This is called extra judicial. We shall not speak on behalf of MMD but suffice to say that days before Levy Mwanawasa went to parliament to remove Chiluba’s immunity, this same newspaper produced the matrix of corruption that involved Chiluba, why didn’t they do the same for Rupiah who they accuse to have been worse than Chiluba. Chiluba died an innocent man, despite what we were made to believe by Mmembe’s personal hate for Chiluba. Let us address the issue of Rupiah’s immunity, so according to Mmembe taking a flimsy case to parliament and try to convince people on a case of removal of immunity and challenging it, is equivalent to being unpatriotic. This is a case where parliament changed its own rules to do this, yet according to him, this was an overwhelming victory. Parliament had 150 MPs, only 80 voted for this removal of immunity. Rumour has it that after that ‘victory’ there was celebrations at his house, so he cannot call us black, when he is blacker. This is the same precedent that will judge his benefactor after leaving state house, We are not myopic, we have a vision of a Zambia that will outlive us by many generations, we therefore can’t be drawn into arguments that can’t see beyond the nose. A precedent has been set that Parliament can change rules and remove someone’s immunity. We all know what is happening to the opposition. People are being exploited and carrots being dangled, the sensitive people Mmembe is defining must be called selfish. They are not sensitive, no one is making their lives difficult, they are selfish. The reasons they are giving in by-elections where they are being re-adopted are so flimsy that we are shocked that Mmembe can even call them sensitive. How come its only them that are leaving, what about the others. Some of them are so excited by their appointments and start acting like 6 month old babies when their mother extends their hands to pick them up. Those are the sensitive people that Mmembe is referring to in his editorial. Mmembe cannot disclose the invisible hand behind all these defections because he has chosen to look away from the rot that is taking place in this country. We shall not look away because it suits us. Mmembe has no evidence whatsoever with respect to how these people crossing have been mistreated. He is speculating and playing with words in the process convincing those that are shallow in thought like him. Mmembe and his fellow opportunists do not know that Mealie meal is 80 kwacha in Chelstone, 10 kilometers from where the Post Newspaper offices are, because he is now blind and he eats Pizza. Fuel has gone up, but does he care, he is not affected he is rich. You take a walk to UTH and people are sleeping on the floor in UTH but does he care? No, after all everyone believes that it is the MMDs fault. Well MMD is no longer in power, and Government is continuous, so it is Government’s responsibility to provide that service, so whoever is in power must take responsibility. Fred, for us it is simple, call us unpatriotic, unattractive, that will not bother us. We know and you know the truth regarding why some parties are ‘attractive’. Whether you close your eyes or not to reality, one day it will dawn on you and those you convince with such shallow analyses, that things are worse than you portray them. Governments are not supposed to be praised when they do something good, it is their responsibility, but we have made out people through such shallow analyses to think that everything that Government does is at Government’s pleasure. Let us wake up and call for accountability and not be swayed by few beneficiaries from those in power, do not lose your minds Zambians, dissect and analyse everything. Source: UPND Media
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 12:19:03 +0000
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