Minister Alexander Chikwanda (second from left), Local Government and
Housing Minister Emmanuel Chenda and Road Development Agency Director
General Bernard Chiwala on an inspection of one of the roads under
construction in Lusaka
Hjoe Moono
The past weeks we have seen a full attack by some sections of the media launched at the Minister of Finance, Hon. Alexander Bwalya Chikwanda, MP. A number of people, perhaps seeking media access and national attention, have been lined up and quoted in some sections of the media denouncing and calling for the resignation of Mr. Chikwanda, accusing him of some ‘sins’ he is purported to be committing in his private ‘businesses’.
The strange thing, however, is that this it is the same media houses that not so long ago sang and wrote long love articles in praise of Mr. Chikwanda, calling him a “revolutionary without qualification” and a “A revolutionary without ego, one who has always been ready to serve his people and his homeland in any way and in any capacity”. Alas, suddenly, the revolutionary is now the villain, and is being attached left right and centre. Decoys have been used in this attack, from spiritual leaders seeking media attention to opposition party leaders that need to ‘check-in’ with the media lest they become obsolete.
I had recently criticized Mr. Chikwanda’s handling of the economy, and must say that until now have not been keenly aware of him as a leader, only to the point of acknowledging that he did, in the past, and as praised by the now critical media, an exemplary job as district governor for Chavuma upon graduating with a degree in economics from Sweden when many not so qualified folks opted for jobs in the city. However, since his criticism in the media, his response, composure and mature handling of the whole hoo-hah has made me see the other side of the man: A mature well nurtured politician. Perhaps he remains one of the few surviving old folks that can handle national matters and sail our nation to political maturity.
Over the past days, the few people I have spoken to have referred to Hon. Chikwanda as a “mentor”, while many others saw him as more than that, and have often referred to him as an “advocate” in politics. These conversations got me thinking about leadership, and in particular, the need for maturity in the PF leadership during such a moment when mutiny seems to be taking a heavy toll in the absence of their supreme leader.
A mentor in politics would have taken their leadership to the next level and chosen to intentionally invest in the lives of others. They encourage, equip, envision, inspire and engage others to be the best they can be. They recognize their responsibility as a leader to help others be their best. Their leadership is not about them, but about those they lead. This is what some have referred Chikwanda as.
An Advocate, on the other hand, would have taken their mentorship to the highest level possible – they mentor others, but also advocate on their behalf to open up opportunities for advancement. This can be in the form of promotions, recommendations, referrals, or any other means by which the leader leverages their authority and influence to create opportunities for those they are mentoring. This I have seen Hon. Chikwanda do when as Minister of Finance he recommended the appointment of Dr. Caleb Fundanga as Executive Director for the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI). Without ministerial recommendation, such a position is not feasible.
An “advocate” is someone who pleads for or on behalf of another, who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, who promotes another – they are a proponent, a backer, a champion. An Advocate leader champions the cause of those they lead. That doesn’t mean an Advocate leader does the work for those they lead so people can follow along effortlessly in their wake. No, an Advocate leader champions others because he/she believes in a person, so they create opportunities for those they lead to prove their ability and move forward. Clearly, Mr. Chikwanda, aside his economic governance mishaps, has proven to be an effective advocate leader.
The disappearance of HE. Michael Sata from the active scene has created some form of mutiny in the PF, and this is affecting the nation at large. There is a dire need for mature leadership. Now, more than ever, we need forward thinking leadership.
With 50 years of self-governance in sight, part of growing up as a forward looking nation that is intent on building a sustainable democracy solely rests in our political leaders’ ability to exhibit political maturity; Maturity in how they conduct themselves in the administration of Zambia’s public affairs and maturity in how they deal with their colleagues and opponents, real or imaginary.
Clearly, time is long overdue for members of the PF, the party in power, to realise that they must show each other mutual respect. With mutual respect, only then will we, the electorate being represented by them respect them, and likewise, respect each other irrespective of who our favourite politicians are. The time for shadow boxing isn’t now.
There is need for the current leadership to put their country first. The Zambian electorate has for long clearly demanded that leaders be selfless in their dealings and heed the call to put national issues before personal and political agendas. Selflessness in governance and a genuine concern for the welfare of others results in less partisanship in governance. And this is what Zambia needs, besides, we only have one Zambia.
What is obvious, however, is that the current practice of partisan politics has left us a deeply divided nation, and strangely, even intra-party divisions are emerging. These intra-party divisions have potential to spill over outside the party and cause further nationwide divisions. If we wish for citizens to improve on their divided social interaction and bridge the communications gap, our political leaders have to set the example for us to follow. With less partisanship in governance comes the elimination of victimization in our society.
Most of our people are less impressed with how something is said or how it sounds or how well written it is on a newspaper headline. They are more concerned with what is done based on what has been said. The electorates ought not to be impressed with the eloquence of our politician’s speech, extensive vocabulary nor their unrestricted access to private and friendly media. We should be impressed with how well the affairs of the nation are being managed by those we have entrusted leadership with.
To truly achieve the goal of national building and dealing with the many challenges facing our country, all leaders, particularly those in the ruling party must work together. Maturity in politics entails that mutual cooperation is the order of the day, where the national Zambian agenda supersedes personal agendas being fought in the media.
To achieve a mature democracy we all so desire, we must learn to appreciate that it is acceptable to attack each other’s ideas, but it is not acceptable to verbally or physically, or through our alliance media houses, to attack the individual putting forth the idea. Clearly, the attacks on the Hon. Minister by those hiding behind their friendly media houses are a show of political immaturity that has not place in modern Zambian politics.
My respect and admiration for Hon. Chikwanda’s political maturity, even when discounted for his shortcomings in the managing the economy, has grown considerably over the past two weeks. Clearly, he has exhibited the character of a sober, mature and sane leader that the party and the country needs in times of high uncertainty-both economic and political. Such maturity brewed with mentorship and advocacy should be emulated by his peers, in both the PF and the opposition.
Indeed, Hon. Alexander Chikwanda is a revolutionary without qualification.
PF had an opportunity to change the Zambian economy, unfortunately they started on a bad note by in-fights within the party. A clear sign that they didn’t have a strategy to move Zambia forward. Makes we Zambians wonder if they were ready to run our country. There is attar childishness that is not to Zambian values. Easy to condemn others when in opposition but have now failed to deliver any of their Promises. With a sick Leader who does not want to let go ( like a Dictator). Dr Kaseba should stand to her values and let the husband step down. It’s not about SATA and Family or PF but Zambians. Let other capable people take over and show maturity. Sad that we have such immature Leadership.
Looking around among all opposition parties, there is none with with any semblance of national character in capacity, leadership etc, capable of undertaking the challenges involved in running govt.
we have a bunch of organized gangs masquerading as opposition political parties who are hell bent on massacring our meager resources if by by mistake were elected.
Currently, only PF can show and charter the national developmental direction and the rest will just watch and admire on the sidelines as they have no alternatives to offer to what PF is doing.
What PF has done in two years MMD failed to do in twenty years despite massive support locally and internationally.
long live King Cobra
PF is a directionless, immature party that will not change this image any time soon. It is extremely tiring now to point out the !diocy of this party and most of us critical ones would be well served to just sit back, watch them fcuk up as usual and only say ‘You see, what did we say?’. There is no redeeming the PF with the current crop of morons in it. I would have used the word ‘Leaders’ but that would have been in direct conflict with the word’s definition in the dictionary. There are no leaders in PF. That is a fact. A true leader commands respect from the citizenry by their actions. The only thing PF chaps command are insults by their actions. The quality of arguments from bloggers defending this excuse of a party also tells a lot in line with my sentiments. Sad.
Are you sure I am not matured mathafacker? It just that I have a big skeleton but am not fat yet pipo say Kabwili is immature!
Why are people sacred to say the “Post Newspaper?”…seems the trend is to say “sections of the media”….
Everyone is scared to call a spade a spade. Section of the media please just say post newspaper, some people are positioning to take over the presidence please just say Kabimba
Well done Joe, ABC has really impressed me in the last two weeks in the manner he’s handled his opponents. Maturity at its best !
What a leader Hon. Alexander Bwalya Chikwanda is!!!
You have handled yourself and the matter of the worst hatred ever of the past 2 weeks with maturity and humble. I am sure all those who called for your blood must now be cursing their deeds.
Surprise, surprise even Fr. Luonde who calls himself the man of God was compromised by selfish merchants of doom to insult you. He should be ashamed also. He should the bridge of peace not a cause of confusions.
Well done ABC. You have made all well meaning Zambians both at home and abroad proud. Keep on serving the nation with your usual diligent.
PMK – in the UK
Here is the Post editorial of March 2013 where Chikwanda was hailed as revolutionary
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Finance minister Alexander Chikwanda’s visit to Chavuma and Zambezi was very important.
Alex is not only a very important minister of this government but also an extremely important political figure with immense political experience and knowledge of this country and its people.
Alex has great influence. He has a voice that is respected and listened to. But we don’t think that that voice is as often heard as it should and as it is needed. Yes, Alex knows a lot about running and managing the finances of our country. But that is not the only reason he is in government for.
We don’t think Michael Sata appointed him to be finance minister simply because he knows how to keep and manage figures in his head. We would like to believe, and we think we are right in believing so, that Michael appointed Alex to be his finance minister because of Alex’s love for his country and his people and his understanding of the problems that stress them every day. Alex is a revolutionary without qualification. Any person who sacrifices himself, his life, his wellbeing, his future for the love of his people, for the love of the country in which he was born or a country he has chosen to be his homeland is a revolutionary. Of course, there are many types of revolutionaries, but Alex is a revolutionary without qualification.
His life has been shaped by his involvement in the everyday struggles of the Zambian people. Alex is a revolutionary without ego, one who has always been ready to serve his people and his homeland in any way and in any capacity. Alex has served as a party youth leader. And as a university graduate, he accepted to be deployed in a far-flung remote area of Zambia, hundreds or thousands of kilometres from the part of Zambia where he was born. He was sent to Zambezi to be district governor with his degree in economics from Sweden. He rose through the ranks to be minister of this and that, including being minister of finance.
Alex is today again, after so many years, Minister of Finance. We have heard other people say ‘I have been minister before, I’ve been this and that before, the only thing I can now be is president’. This is not the case with Alex. This revolutionary accepted even the job of being chief of staff of Frederick Chiluba. Others in Alex’s position, with Alex’s background, would have considered this a low job. But Alex believed this was service not to Chiluba but to his homeland and to the people of Zambia and he accepted that job. Alex helped Chiluba avoid a lot of excesses, mistakes and abuses in the interest of Zambia and the Zambian people. A man with such a spirit, with such love for the country and the people should never be kept away or keep himself far away from the people.
Alex has the ability to explain in the simplest form very complex economic, social and political problems. Alex is not doing much of this. Why?
There are many things, many projects, many programmes and other undertakings that this government is involved in which are not being adequately explained to the people. As finance minister and as one of the leading political figures in this government, people would like to hear Alex’s voice on this issue. People want to meet Alex, listen to him, talk to him and shake hands with him. Yes, there is a lot of work to be done in Lusaka, but there is also a lot of work to be done in places far away from Lusaka – in Chavuma, Zambezi, Namushakende, Sinazeze, Sindamisale, Kaputa, Chiengi and other poor and rural places of our country.
And Alex’s wisdom, experience, clarity needs to be shared with the people of these places. There is a tendency by Zambian finance ministers to detach themselves from the masses of our people and limit their contacts to meeting financiers of the country and business people only. But they are not agents of financiers and business people. They are representatives of the masses of our people. These are the people who really matter or who should really matter in their daily dealings.
We would, therefore, want to see Alex take his message to the masses of our people. We know he is a busy man who even hardly has time to travel abroad for meetings. But whatever time Alex has, it will be better spent if a part of it, a fraction of it, is spent with the masses of our people in the rural areas
Alex spoke about the stagnation and retrogression in the once vibrant and promising rural areas of Zambezi and Chavuma. Alex was shocked to see the stagnation and retrogression in these areas. Why? It is because he doesn’t go there; he is not visiting many rural areas. What he saw in Zambezi and Chavuma is exactly what will greet him in Sinazeze, Sindamisale, Sinjembela, Kaputa or Chiengi.
These experiences, these contacts should increase and influence Alex in his daily decisions as finance minister. This will help him allocate resources in a manner that answers more and more to the needs of the greater majority of our people. A Chinese proverb says “Better for one family to weep than a hundred clans (the needs of many outweigh the needs of a few)”.
Alex, as a revolutionary, an outstanding one for that matter, is in government for a reason. And we believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark, in the dark parts of our country.
Alex has the influence. And this influence should be put to good use and shouldn’t be stored away. It is said that the key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. Alex has both.
Alex can use his influence and authority to motivate large groups of individuals in our country to improve their lot, to improve the human condition.
Explanations of what is being done shouldn’t be left only to Michael, Patriotic Front secretary general Wynter Kabimba and a few others.
All key leaders of this government need to get to the people and be as close as possible to the people and explain what is being done.
It is said that the greatest delight of life is a feeling of being near and necessary to the people. Our country and our government will do much better if all our leaders, especially our key leaders like Alex, get closer and closer to the people so that they can feel the people’s pulse, the people’s mood, the people’s anxieties, the people’s sorrows, the people’s joys and hopes in their own breasts.
And the prestige of this government lies, and will always lie, in how many prestigious leaders it has. This government needs more and more Michaels, not one Michael. And Alex is among those leaders in this government that are better placed, better suited to make more Michaels a reality. And the only way this can be done is by getting closer and closer to the people.
This article was clearly authored or ghost written by Chikwanda. Only Chikwanda and Fundanga would know that Chikwanda recommended Fundanga for Mefmi!
Chikwanda has been an abject failure in managing the economy. He failed to reintroduce exchange controls and now this VAT debacle has shown him up for what he is. He is an incorrigible slow learner. He has buried Zambia deep into debt again (twice in his lifetime)!
He is also not a nationalist but a Bemba supremacist. He is part and parcel of the current nepotistic PF tribal cabal. He has not tried to mitigate the tribal divisions that PF have introduced and encouraged in Zambia. He is a disgrace.
It makes sad to read what other blogers write about Chikwanda.Chikwanda is close friend of VJ,iam sure they have something in common.However iam above politics of character assasination.The point I want to make is Zambia is divided in ethinic lines and these divisions will soon result in something the world has never witnessed.The solution to this is to put in place a very good constitution and strong institutions that have power that can not easily pushed by a sitting president.A system of governance that is going to encourage a more decetralised system of distribution of resources throught the country.This is going to help reduce corruption and nepotism.It will also impower local pipo to have a say in the way they want development to take shape.This will build a sence of positive compet
ition among pipo of different states(provinces) in Zambia.This positive competition will in a long run result in massive economic development.I repeat without these two things 1. A powerfull constitution and 2. A more decetralised governance system(feudralism),we should forget having a balanced Cabinet and equal share of the National cake regardless of who becames president of Zambia.Reseach on the UK,Russia,USA and South Africa all have a system that resambles a nation made of many states(Federation)
M2020
Am glad you are able to see through the dust.This is simply a case of Jackals fighting over the spoils.M’membe must have known Chikwanda’s links with Sigma a long time ago.And from what we hear it is not just Chikwanda among ministers with business contracts with the mines a fact which M’membe knows but can conveniently now ignore.
I will tell you that most of the people working with Mr. Sata are very intelligent. They may not be as hard working as Mr. Sata himself but they are very intelligent and sober.
When you see Mr. Chikwanda respond to his perceived enemies, you see intelligence soberness and maturity.
I wish he was a bit younger and most of us “youths” would advocate for him to run for the highest office in the land.
Well done Hon. ABC.
I know that we have the young that are trying to follow your footsteps such as Hon. Miles Sampa and we encourage them to continue on that path. The sky is the limit for them. And please help mentor them because soon, we shall need a young leader in our Highest office.
Mr. Andrew Ndhlovu, this is why you the Zambian youths are getting it wrong. Leadership is not all about age; it can be found among the old, middle aged, as well as the youths. To me what matters in matters of leadership is not one’s age but the very virtues you have extolled in Mr. Chikwanda: intelligence, sobriety, maturity, and of course, vision. If we ha two contenders for the Presidency of this country – one a youth and the other middle aged or old – I wouldn’t care less about age but about these attributes. If a youthful leader had these attributes I would definitely go for him as my choice for President. Conversely, if these attributes were in older man like ABC, he would be my choice. Case closed.
Are you sure I am not matured mathafacker? It just that I have a big skeleton but am not fat yet pipo say Kabwili is immature!!!
It was time for political maturity the moment the President demanded for an Animal driven constitution, Dr. VJ.
Power Struggle…..Is there a job Vacancy at the Highest Office?????? The in fighting or the teaming up of Team A and B in pF is a sheer waste of time, or just imaginations>>>.Some a nominated but making Noise, others are shadow monsters making Noises, We the people of Zambia are watching and we know who we can trust with Power not everyone who thinks they can stumble or stand on all others heads and claim being powerful…Natubuka Nomba……..Be Careful
Hjoe Moono, you reflect my thoughts past few days exactly. Zambia needs a stability period if PF leaders were to tear each other’s throats today. Seeing no other credible leadership, I would go for Alexander Chikwanda anytime for President until 2016, he would do a plus to appoint VJ to help him in the remaining two years to prepare a younger leadership for 2016. And more important, to save us from the jaws of the cartel, and while at it try to recover our K14 billion. I mean give them amnesty if you wish since you have a large heart, but the K14 billion must go back to where it belongs, the hour has come again!
Our politics in Zambia have reached an alarming level of rule or die… Everyone wants to be president at all costs, but there can only be one at a time. The mistake people in PF are making is that they think Zambians have stopped thinking. They have taken every citizen for a ride, inclusive of our so-called opposition leaders. And knowing who Zambians are, they will let things pass through their eyes without doing doing anything, they are only good at talking and without doing. It is high time we started emulating others on the continent. We need the youth to take over leadership from our tired parents/grandparents. Politics now is based on education as the world is being moved by fresh blood of young leaders. At the moment, we lack such leaders that can rise above tribe and region.