By Field Ruwe
Sebastian Zulu-when power of politics claimed another intellectual
Justice Minister Sebastian Saizi Zulu had hoped for a good day. It had taken this most distinguished State Counsel and advocate of the Supreme Court of Zambia months to compile the report. He was a stickler, he always had been. Even in real life he spiced his lingua with legal anecdotes. When the president gave him the assignment, he knew it was one for the national archives and an additional bragging right.
As he compiled the report, words like “contributory negligence,” “demurrer,” “escrow,” flickered at the base of his medulla oblongata.
“We’ve nailed it,” he told his team after months of rewrites.
April 10, 2012 was presentation day. Dressed in his best suit of dark gray, he picked up his report, bound in the national color of green, and left for State House on Independence Avenue. When he stepped into the room scores of politicians were already present. They saw in him a little swagger, of satisfaction, perhaps.
Moments later, the president stepped in. Silence fell in obeisance. He too was dressed in a gray suit and a tie the color of a fire engine. He surveyed the room as if taking roll call. When his eyes met those of his Justice Minister, there was a smile only from the latter.
After the president had taken care of other matters he called upon the honorable minister. It was his moment to shine. He gathered himself and walked over to the president in measured steps and handed over the report. Aficionados rolled their cameras, clicked and flashed.
“This report is very useless, very complicated,” the president suddenly said. “We wasted our money.”
“No!” the minister exclaimed.
The boisterous laughter from the crowd ripped through his ego and left him wounded. The crudeness of the president had reversed his gains. For a brief moment he was appalled by the turn of events. He stared at the president as if saying “how dare you! It is not my fault that you didn’t go to school.” Actually, he was going to tell him precisely that, but his sapience prevailed. With drooping shoulders, he recoiled to his spot, his swagger blasted as if by dynamite.[pullquote]
He stared at the president as if saying “how dare you! It is not my fault that you didn’t go to school.
[/pullquote]The power of politics had claimed an intellectual. This is a common motif. Zambian politics have always prevailed over the power of thought and turned intellectuals into ivory-towers. A politician with little or no education is mightier than an intellectual with roof-level degrees. He can humiliate him; frustrate him; turn him into a pauper; throw him into the gallows; drive him out of the country; or lead him to his demise.
Ivory -tower intellectuals in government
That’s the barrier to our advancement. It is not the lack of economic power, but too much political power invested in an individual called the president. Although, to his credit, president Sata has appointed learned people to cabinet positions—Professor Luo Nkandu, Professor Nevelyn Willombe, Dr. Effron Lungu, Dr. John T.N. Phiri, Dr. Joseph Kasonde, Dr. Patrick Chikusu, Dr. Joseph Katema—he has failed to turn them into an integral feature of the country’s political landscape. They are all ivory-tower intellectuals who have failed to have a decisive impact in reshaping conventional wisdom and setting a course of advancement for us.All the afore-mentioned have chosen to wear their political hat. They have assumed the idiosyncrasies of a politician, and sit in the back seat of a bus taking us to nowhere.
Let me pick on “high flyer” Micro-Biologist and Immunologist Professor Nkandu Luo. On September 1, 2011, University of Zambia students gave her a thunderous welcome of “don’t kubeba,” in the hope that if she became their Member of Parliament, she would improve standards of living and education on their campus. Professor Luo left them with the following words: “We need to restructure the university, we need to change the way it is run. Once elected I will work hand-in-hand with the university council to devise ways of making money for this institution.” The pledge, as we now know, falls in the “money in your pockets in 90-days” category.
[pullquote]That’s the barrier to our advancement. It is not the lack of economic power, but too much political power invested in an individual called the president.[/pullquote] How about Dr. John Phiri and his deputy Professor Nevelyn Willombe at the Ministry of Education? These two intellectuals have adopted the old rigid subject centered education system that churns out thousands of kaponyas and Grade 12s each year and dumps them on the street. They can’t seem to come up with a progressive system that builds on a student’s natural talents and interests. Yet they know how education reformers in successful economies have added various measures designed to ensure as many of their young people have at least a two-year college diploma.
Our education system lacks rigor because it does not reflect an upward social and economic mobility that meets 21st century standards. The non-vocational curriculum on Dr. Phiri’s desk is useless and he knows it. It is of no use to a generation faced with a fast changing world in which the common denominator in social and economic exchange is technology. As an intellectual Dr. Phiri ought to be fighting for a system that reduces the number of dropouts. Above all, he should be urging the president to invest massively in his ministry, perhaps in more than any other wing of government.
Maybe he is trying, who knows? We will never know because the Sata cabinet is not in the business of developing and promoting ideas. There is no minister who has presented a “visioning” coherent and excitable exercise to the public; one that should lead to the advancement of the Zambian people. Not one of these intellectuals has presented new and important ideas and brought them to public attention. Why? It is because they are not sure what to expect from their boss.
A country devoid of ideas can not succeed
The president treats intellectuals as people detached from the everyday concerns of the poor. He believes that he alone is the champion of the common folk. He therefore thinks he does not need an intellectual to tell him what to do. It is the same reason he ridicules and discredits his opponents rather than address their concerns. Like some of his predecessors, he has kept intellectuals in total subjection and rendered them inept and wasted. For years, they have been unable to participate successfully in the handling of complex and dynamic circumstances facing our nation. In failing to bring them to the fold, he has created a big gap between the academic and political worlds.
Our economy is still on life support; our rural dwellers are still “primitive;” and our ingenuity and talent remains untapped. Instead of addressing these teething issues, our intellectuals are hurtled in institutions of higher learning where they teach students what to think and not how to think. Students are often subjected to arcane theoretical and methodological assignments and not shown how to make stuff—kilns for brick-making in rural Zambia, radios, television sets; automobiles, food processors, or sewing machines.[pullquote]
our intellectuals are hurtled in institutions of higher learning where they teach students what to think and not how to think.
[/pullquote]Relying on his populism and demagoguery, the president thinks he can fix the country. He’s joking. He cannot succeed in a country devoid of ideas. He won’t succeed if he can’t provide clear roadmaps for action. He will lamentably fail if he can’t mobilize political and bureaucratic coalitions. At the end of his reign he will exit the same way, or perhaps worse than his predecessors. And for us as a people, it will be another era wasted.
The foremost role of a president is to think, think, and think. In the case of our president, he must apply out-of-the box thinking. He should be thinking about how to make a difference; how to improve the economy. He cannot fix the economy by depending on the Chinese and other foreign investors. He can’t build a unified and well informed country by spending much of his time inside State House and on trips abroad without getting immersed in the concrete day-to-day demands of the people.
Think Tank
Fine, the president may not be a deep thinker. He may lack intellectual curiosity. But if he is truly dedicated to taking us out of the doldrums, he has enough help around him. There is a good crop of Zambian intellectuals capable of shaping public opinion and generating a “new thinking” attitude that could change the way we live and conduct ourselves. I dare mention but a few; Professor Francis Tembo, Professor Dickson Mwansa, Professor Vernon Chinene, Professor Chifumbe Chintu, Professor Stephen Simukanga, Professor Enala Mwase, Professor Clive Chirwa, Professor Anne Sikwibele, Professor Michelo Hansungule, Professor Muna Ndulo, Professor Kelly Chibale, and many other Zambian professors and PhD holders. These people reached the highest level of academia for one reason—to provide intellectual leadership. Why can’t they be given a chance?
President Sata must embrace them. He must use them to bridge the gap between ideas and action. He must create out of such intellectual giants an unencumbered and most authoritative think tank that can propel Zambia to prosperity; one that will be in the business of buying and selling ideas around the country. The names of such people must be known to us. We must have access to them. They must be in the media often, presenting their findings and offering constructive ideas. They must announce launchings, exhibitions and discoveries and celebrate breakthroughs.
The think tank must be an autonomous, non-partisan and non-profit broad-range institution created to address urgent national issues. Supported by all wings of government, the organization must operate mainly in the areas of economics, health, and technology and offer research and analysis. Its location should be the University of Zambia where an innovation lab should be built as a symbol of change. It is here that various institutions of higher learning will translate theoretical concepts in the arts and sciences into novel applications; and it will be here that the country’s outstanding individuals, with no education, but with projects of direct benefit to our country, will be invited to showcase their talents.
[pullquote]Gone are the days when presidents shaped public policy and opinion. Think tanks are doing it for them[/pullquote]
The think tank should also serve as an umbrella for a compendium of other think tanks run by independent professionals and accomplished researchers and scientists who will conduct research in areas of political strategy, economics, technology, and others. Its organization should serve as a source of funding that encourages, promotes and agitates for the scientific research and technological innovation by talented individuals, companies, and other universities and higher education institutions around the country. It should offer repayable loans to support industrial research or experiment projects.
Gone are the days when presidents shaped public policy and opinion. Think tanks are doing it for them. That’s how they are succeeding. They are using think tanks as a stepping stone to their success. Ronald Reagan did just that. First World countries and those of South America have been successful because their leaders have created a constructive relationship with intellectuals. They use intellectuals as agents of change and harbingers of ideas.
[pullquote]In as far as he is concerned Zambia is doing pretty well.he does not know how bad things are for us. He sees a slight drop in inflation as tremendous progress.[/pullquote] You can take a horse to the river, but you can’t force it to drink, so the cliché goes. As is always the case, our president will lend a deaf ear. It is not within his interest to accord Zambian intellectuals a pivotal role in the transformation of our country. He will not entertain such ideas because his reign is as good as it gets. In as far as he is concerned Zambia is doing pretty well. He does not want intellectuals to claim credit. But the candid truth is that because he does not know how to apply the procedures and standards of economics and science to politics, he does not know how bad things are for us. He sees a slight drop in inflation as tremendous progress.
Countrymen, it is time to see our intellectuals not as ivory towers, but as pillars of advancement. We must make use of their knowledge and critical thinking while they are still alive. For decades, our politicians have mistreated and scared them away. These outstanding individuals who sit in small cubicles called offices with a zero balance in their bank account, due to poor pay, love what they do. They are visionaries in the real sense of the word. They are a treasure. If we are to change our country, we should allow them to influence the ranking of our priorities and shape the future of our country.
Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner, historian, and author. He is a PhD candidate at George Fox University and serves as an adjunct professor (lecturer) in Boston. ©Ruwe2012
How do you know that things are bad in Zambia when you are based in the USA?You have failed to point at those things which you think are “bad”. are u sure low inflation rate is not one of the indicators for good economic performance. For u the “bad” things you are talking abt is taking HH to court when he insults the president and removing RB immunity. For your information Mr Ruwe, Zambians don’t care who goes to court or even about this immunity thing.
This is one of the best articles published, I wish it can be put in all the Zambian news papers the whole month of April.
Indeed, Zambias think tanks are being destroyed by it’s politicians at the expense of national development. Zambia is dieying slowly and people cant see it. What a shame.
Politicians who want to truely transform this nation must take this advice seriously.
Field Ruwe I salute you
Intellectuals are not politicians, they are practically minded people who drive the economy thru, scientific inventions, establishment of companies, advising gvts etc. Politics worldwide are dominated by the less educated. South African politics are dominated by the less educated blacks while whites take care of the the economy by running companies. Our Zambian intellectuals (professors and doctors) just want to be employed in Universities as lecturers.
@ kwekwe I just came from Zambia and I saw much untapped potential going to waste, it’s not a matter of talk we need action now. Field is very right. Zambia is not developing because of people like you who can’t think beyond the cause of the problems. Let the intellectuals be give opportunities to contribute according to their speciallities. Lusaka, Kitwe and all towns have become so dirty that one wonders if councils ever existed. Why do are we in such a situation? The answer seems to be in what Field has just put in plain words- simple!
Excellent article Field. The point of the matter is that we cannot use common sense to overcome the challenges that we encounter in a deeply complex and interconnected world. If that was the case, then successful economies would be the rule rather than the exception…
Mr Ruwe
You have missed the point. The list of so called professors you have mentioned were in the forefront to elect a grade 7 train station sweeper as their president. Thats how highly they thought of him above themselves.
Hard to make head and tail of this article. Simplicity is the main feature of genius – it is clear this Field Ruwe has never heard of the word let alone its meaning
I always try as much as i can to avoid negative people , i avoid the like i avoid FLU and field ruwe is such a negative peron an egocentric sterile. Mr phd candidate how is your political movement going?i doubt if it has even started
I differ with Field! Being a proffessor does not guarantee leadership wisdom. Trying to make leaders from academia has not worked. Proffessors might have ideas but implementing those ideas is a complete different ball game. They need other skills among them people skills. Eduction is essential and a base, but other skills are essential going forward.
For exapmle, I work in a health institution managed by someone who is not a medical person and the institution is world class.
@Australia Engineer. You have conveniently forgotten to mention the fact that that Sata rose from being a sweeper at Victoria Railway station to become an engine driver (train driver), a top of the pile job. Blacks were restricted to menial jobs and in Zambia before independence the jobs of shunter, fireman and engine driver were the preserve of the whites. In fact Sir Roy Welesky a whiteman and engine driver based at Kabwe became the Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and in a way you can say Zambia has been ruled by two engine drivers. At independence Zambia had about a 100 graduates but it is not one of the graduates who became president but KK with a form II certificate. A degree should not be a presidential qualification. We have gone through this before.
let your professors earne leadership just as they earned their phds …. seating idle waiting to be handpicked just because you are a prof is not just laziness but foolishness, and we don’t need such. we have good ones and we are using them.
Say what you will about the PF pioneer LEADER(and there are plenty of both positive & negative things to say), the founder of the eponymous political organization is inimitable, both in his successes and some failings, and there is no obvious successor, field ruwe will never be anything like President SATA even if he lives a million years , the man will remain an abysmal radio dj and academic under-achiever a form 5 repeater pursuing a PhD at 58 when most smart people get their PhDs before 40, an adjunct professor who is not known where he teaches but boasts that he is tutor with no pride of mentioning where teaches.
We have very educated pipo in all learning institutions bt look at problems at these institutions and even as a country we have educated pipo everywhere bt look at our country. Its nt about how educated you are bt collective leadership that can resolve to change our status. Yes education is very essential bt our current education of just speaking english will nt take us anywhere.
once i observed that the article was written by field ruwe i just scrolled down to the comments. i know this chap is useless! to him education is everything. why cant the ‘educated’ form political parties and get elected and develop our country kansi if they are so smart as they clame?
No 10
Show me one country in the world which had a train driver as president and has developed.
The founding fathers of the USA were educated.
The British emperor was lead buy educated people
The French revolution was lead by lawyers
You can not be a great & and develop a country. Your expectations of UKwa are a pipe dream. He his worried about a grass at statehouse and thats all he has to say addressing a nation. Dream on
Field Ruwe, you have taken the mistaken position that intrllectuals are PhD holders and vice versa. A lot of these people you list are simply hardworkers when it comes to studying but cannot by any measure be considered intellectuals.
I suspect that is why you are a “PhD candidate” at some George Fox University. You might want to be considered an intellectual when in actual fact people who have never been to college can see through this reasoning. Yaba!
A political party is an organisation that wants to gain political power. It attracts members through the issuance of a manifesto which is a public declaration of intent, policy, aims, principles etc. During the preparation of the manifesto a party should invite men of substance to assist it to prepare the document. Some people are rewarded with political appointments once the party gains political power. The late Professor Shimba is one such example. Once in power people should judge the party on how well it executes its manifesto. Let Field Ruwe pick holes in the PF manifesto and its failure to execute it. I am a senior citizen. I have never seen so much infrastructure development taking place well before general elections. The MMD lost power because it had nothing to show! RSZ perhaps.
No. 15. I am not aware of Britain being led by emperors. Kings and Queens, Yes. The countries you have mentioned have been developed over centuries. Our train driver or engine driver has only been in power for 15 months!
No 18
He has been in government since 1964. He has no excuse
Go and look at countries in Africa who a progressing
Nigeria
Kenya
Rwanda
Ghana
Whats common about their leaders? EDUCATION
Can you imagine UKWA addressing the united nations or being interviewed at the World Economic Forum? You would wish you were not Zambian
Its true, why on earth would brainy people install someone from 1964, independence era as a contemprary leader—– Insane country
Just wait and see the transformation of our country by the so called uneducated president. Don’t have a complex, its nt about education bt wisdom,fearlessnes,leadership,action oriented. He mobilised and won election,proving tht he is a genius and don’t overlook tht strengh.
The trouble is even the grade 7 he claims to have, no one knows which school he went to and who is classmates were… the man is basically illiterate
My last comment. Let us agree to disagree. An example of an engine driver who has developed a country is Sir Roy Welesky. My heart bled when I first went to Harare to see how well it was developed at the expense of Zambia. Lusaka looked like a shanty compound in comparison. Sata was a governor in the 80’s. The buck stops at the President.
This guy field may have some points but he doesnt know how to excute them, how does he start by blamming our dear pressident SATA ,Ruwe is insane and he may have been sent by some oppositions. yes it is true we need to involve interllectuals especially during planning .my government is a listerning government and im sure they will consider that.
No 24
Zimbabwe would have never developed had it not been for stolen copper money from Zambia.
in fact you will never ever see Zimbabwe developed again. its no industrial advantage and we were long told it was the bread basket when 60% of the country is not arable.
Long before Zambia it benefits from massive grants from racist South Africa to support the white population.
it will take a miracle for Zimbabwe to gain what was built on stolen fortunes. Zimbabwe is one of the most rural countries in Southern Africa. Did you realise that it only has two towns? The rest are not worth to be called towns.
The master plan to develop Harare was worked out by the UK and was never Roy Welesky’s idea.
F Ruwe is based in Fresno, California. In a middle of no where. He is taking ‘Phd’ classes online. This dude has never being to Boston !
Still PhD candidate from 2010 i did not PhD programs took that long especially in the so called first world . I now understand why this chap writes like this,it is the only way h is going to be given doctrate degree in yapping(since we do not knowwhat field he is studying for his Poor Hair Distribution)i am sure he will get it in 2015 and he will be 60 by then .if i may ask,what significant contribution has Lubansa Ruwe made Zambia’s economy? The chap is a none entity even where he writing from espcially at GFU where he does his shibukeni lessons because i know for fact that he is not a resident,he stays in Boston and study long distance with GFU.Because if he had been a real student at GFU he would have developed into a well mannered character because GFU is a strict christian…
I concur with Peter, Chilamfwa, and James in as academics and ability to rule others is concerned.Democratic politics and academic achievements are two different different roads that meet at one point in time. In politics you work through by corporate engagement where as in academic you work through by yourself.Wisdom is accumulation of intelligence, and combined with proper people skills can be effective in influencing others to coordinate achievable activities and hence development in both material and human factors.Academic alone can not do it, otherwise why hasn’t all the Phds devised an option or a different route to doing things differently. Such as coming up with different ways of achieving sustainable governance.The entire world is still stuck on old philosophies of ruling.
continued – That guy Field Ruwe should come with first class ideas not just cut and paste the work of others to get his credentials. Governing a country is not as simple as cutting and paste for his PhD papers or assignment, it requires more clear-cut wisdom which i think he will never attain. In today’s technical savvy world, people with low IQ’s such as Ruwe can still get their Phds after 10 yrs in school, but at the end of it ain’t smart enough to be genius. Ruling a village let alone a country needs more than 100 of Ruwe’s calibre. He should just concentrate on cutting and pasting of other people,s work for his PhD.
A well written article i enjoyed every bit of it. i am impressed to say the least. Initially i thought that it was written by George Mpombo on account of its colorful language. Having said that i agree with the authors position that most public portfolios are sinecure(including that of head of state), however i disagree with the fact that he religiously believes that think tanks will save Zambia without taking other factors into consideration such as the human element which in them.
a country can only rise as high as its leaders so don’t expect miracles were there are none.
The ideas contained in the article are quite confusing. It would take time to get to the bottom of the matter. It is usually advisable to stick to one basic argument instead of making numerous sweeping statements. The idea of Think Tank is also mentioned. Interesting idea! In Zambia TT takes various forms. Take civil society or interest groups, for example. If you focus on Law Association of Zambia, then you will find that LAZ can also provide technical options and solutions, from which government can choose from. However, TT normally has ideological inclinations. That is the case in Germany with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Konrad Adeneur Stiftung standing as ideological representatives of Social Democrats and Christian democrats, respectively. Even in Zambia, party foundations are free.
No 20You speak as if Zambia has had only one President who apparently is to blame for everything, your thinking is the same field ruwe an abysmal professor who teaches kids in Boston and claims that he is a professor , field ruwe mwana we sukulu . Just a cantankerous student at George Fox , he speaks like this so he can be known otherwise where he is a nothing . It is his educated Bemba wife that looks after him
disputing the fact that an educated man is not needed for a leader would b wrong, equally disputing the fact that an uneducated man is not needed would also b wrong becoz not every educted man is born to lead nor is an uneducated man born not to lead but a leader ofcos needs to open his mind to latest or new discoveries, or new ideas that will lead to the development of a nation,,so practically these two are suposed to work hand in hand for better results,,