By Rev. Canon Dr. Kapya John Kaoma
The savagely beating United Party for National Development supporters, the imprisonment of a citizen for “insulting” President Sata, the killing of the Chinese National over minimum wage riots, and the deportation of Fr. Banyangandora create a sense of déjà vu in Zambian political history.
Of course, Zambia’s are frustrated over President Sata manner of governance. Aside from his constant reshuffles of cabinet ministers, the president seems to be taking us back to the years of colonial, UNIP and MMD administrations. Worse still, he seems to follow Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF tactics of intimidation and arrogance.
My friends, our frustration with PF should not blind us to the fact that we have been there before. As early as 1964, people held higher hopes of Kaunda led self-rule but their dreams were shattered when the UNIP government turned out to be worse than colonial masters. 27 years later, people’s hopes were rekindled when the “hour” came for MMD to rule.
Alas, our hopes were shattered by poverty, corruption and underdevelopment. In 2011, donchi kubeba promised more money in our pockets within 90 days. Eleven months later, our dreams are shattered.
Over the years, our presidents’ names have changed, but our economic conditions are unchanged. In most cases, they have even worsened. The results are self-evident: an ever growing gap between the rich and the poor, extreme poverty, the collapse of the health delivery sector and increased violence in our compounds.[pullquote]Over the years, our presidents’ names have changed, but our economic conditions are unchanged. In most cases, they have even worsened.[/pullquote]
Friends, I come from Mansa. When I was a child, we had running water. Today, Mansa has no sewer system, and running water is luxury. One wonders whether we dancing our traditional dance akalela- whereby going forward means retreating backwards in the country today!
My friends, our politicians know that hurdling on our hopes is a good way to win elections. The UNIP, MMD and PF did so when they were in opposition. It is ironical that the MMD government now wants us to believe that it would address the plight of masses should we develop dementia and vote it back into office.
Let me make this clear. Zambia’s biggest problem is not the PF government but the structures under which it is governing. The current government structures are founded on the oppressive configurations that once characterized colonial rule. Just as the colonial governor was central to colonial power, our presidents have too much power over every aspect of our lives.
It is the president who interprets our constitution, controls the courts and who speaks and who is heard. Democracy grants power to the people, but our current political organization is not democratic at all.
Currently, the president can legally create new districts, provinces, change names of international airport and appoints or fire judges. Unless such powers drastically reduced, our democracy will remain a sung slogan rather than a lived reality.[pullquote]The current government structures are founded on the oppressive configurations that once characterized colonial rule. Just as the colonial governor was central to colonial power, our presidents have too much power over every aspect of our lives.[/pullquote]
Currently, all organs of democratic accountability aid the president cult. For example, just before the 2011 elections, many stakeholders called on the police to investigate the then ruling MMD abuse of public resources during the campaigns. Since the police was unwilling to investigate, the PF sought court ruling on the matter but lost the case.
Likewise, the then MMD Lusaka province Chairman, Mr. William Banda orchestrated violence against PF cadres in Chongwe constituency. Many calls were made to arrest him, but the police turned a blind eye. However, when the MMD lost power to PF, the same organs arrested some senior MMD officers and Banda for violence and abuse of public resources.
This state of affairs shows that Zambia will never be democratized as long as the powers of the president are not reduced.[pullquote]This state of affairs shows that Zambia will never be democratized as long as the powers of the president are not reduced.[/pullquote]
In addition, the army, the police, the judiciary, the Auditor General, the Electoral Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission should be independent from political manipulation.
We need to realize that voting Elias Chipimo, Hakainde Hichilema, Nevers Mumba, Ng’andu Magande or even Edith Nawakwi into office under the current conditions is crafting another vicious dictator.
Let us reduce the powers of the presidency, or else, elections come and new governments will be born, but our experiences will be the same: raised hopes, shattered dreams.
But the de-politicization of these agencies depends on how far we will go to reduce the powers of the presidency. We should not expect our politicians to resolve this mess; we should do it.[pullquote]We need to realize that voting Elias Chipimo, Hakainde Hichilema, Nevers Mumba, Ng’andu Magande or even Edith Nawakwi into office under the current conditions is crafting another vicious dictator.[/pullquote]
Remember, politicians cry foul when they are in the opposition but once in power, they revert to the same systems they once faulted. This was the case with all Zambian presidents. Sata blamed the MMD for oppressing the masses, abuse of powers and, in some cases, the arresting of political opponents.
Today, he has turned out worse than the very system he fought. The same can be said about Kaunda, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda.
President Sata and his cabinet should understand that events in Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Libya among many other African countries during 2010-11 uprising demonstrated that people cannot be tamed forever.
Intimidation of political opponents through state sponsored violence, unequal access to government controlled media and politicization of the law enforcement agencies can hinder the realization of democracy for a while but we the people will always triumph.
I pray that the president is listening.
The donchi kubeba has back fired on us, more money in whose pockets ?? Foolish PF
True.
Under Sata and his PF, Zambia has all the characteristics of a failed State. Its really unfortunate for our country. Zambia is the only country i have heard of a President increasing his salary twice a year. And yet Zambia is among the countries with the lowest Human Development Index, with close to 80% of the people population wallowing in extreme poverty. Sata, what a President!
Under Sata and his PF, Zambia has all the characteristics of a failed State. Its really unfortunate for our country. Zambia is the only country i have heard of a President increasing his salary twice a year. And yet Zambia is among the countries with the lowest Human Development Index, with close to 80% of the population wallowing in extreme poverty. Sata, what a President!
Reply
We need revolution in zambia, let what happened in tunisia en lybia be applied here, it’s the only way out.
Iwe chi Gilbert, you are st…pid. who will rebuild your country if you do that or is that you are not zambian and has plans to run elsewhere?
Blago, even if you became president of this country, nothing can change, so shut it up!!!
More money in their (PF’s) pockets, not ours. We were so stupid in voting in a bunch of liars who are former UNIP, Rejects from the MMD. What Gilbert is saying is a real possibility now. I am tired of the same ****ers getting the cake and me nothing. REVOLUTION, REVOLUTION
We unflinchingly defended our nascent democracy and exposed these scumbag who came in their shades of counterfeit postures yet the voice of reason was ignored. Nevertheless, power belongs to the people. It is in our power and rights to govalnize ourselves in a critical mass to to throw the enemies of our future, democracy and peace theory into the Limpopo.
CNP is no option for a national in critical need.
“The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them” Einstein, Albert.
Zambia deserves a Generational change leadership to transform this country. CNP dragging the nation into problems too ponderous in magnitude.
#5, JUST BECAUSE LIVE ABROAD DOESN’T MEAN THAT EVERYONE ELSE MOVED ABROAD OR OVERSEAS. OR JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T GIVE A DAMN WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR RELATIVES DOESN’T MEAN EVERYONE ELSE DON’T LOVE THEIR RELATIVES AND FRIENDS BACK HOME. YOU THINK LIKE HH WHO CAN OR SAY ANYTHING AS LONG AS IT CAN PUSH SATA OUT OF STATE HOUSE FOR HIM TO OCCUPY IT. YOU ARE SUCH A D**KH**D. PLEASE, JUST ENJOY LIVING OVERSEAS/ABROAD WHERE THEY DEVELOPED AND YOU AS A FOOL THINKS DEVELOPMENT JUST CAME WITHOUT CITIZENS’ INPUT.
LT the title en content of the story do not match,what are u up to be clear ofcourse i agree with u on reducing powers of the president,but donot exagerate things…
Can you specify the ‘exaggerated things?
Viva revolution, number 5 is 100% rite. Viva revolution viva power to the people.
In South Africa the police have just killed 20 UPND suppotrers for rioting.
Article of the year.
A govt run by dull leaders and misfits,with their borrowed everything from MUGABE/ZANU\PF,the party name, clenched fist symbol, harassing the opposition,pompousness and uncultured leadership.
Thats a good one reverand. Keep it up
When our President won the elections. I said these words… “Am glad and proud that he has won democratically, but I never trust any man who uses promises of MONEY as a campaign strategy” and for that reason I remained sceptical of his government. Donchi Kubeba? Nah… Tufwile ukubeba!!!!! #letdown
#5 ~ GILBERT. That is NOT, nor will it ever be the Zambian way of resolving matter. We dont want any people with your attitude in our country. Stay where you are!!!!!!
Well put! Something has to CHANGE seriously. We have all witnessed that changing of Governments and Presidents has done nothing good for us and the country at large. Politicians talk sense when in opposition but once in power they become big headed and talk and defend ridiculous amount of nonsense. IT HAS GOT TO END!!!!!
The writer of this article is a hypocrit! One monment you say UNIP shattered your hopes, the other moment you say when you were growing up somewhere in Mansa, you had running water which I think symbolises development under UNIP!!! shame on you. Learn to appreciate. Every where there are poor pepople. That is why even in the bible, it look atfter poor and vulnerable. They will always be there. That is nature. Even in developed countries, you find poor pepole. So work hard and you will be ok.
VIVA PF!!!
provision of water and nothing else is shattering of hope because u cannot live on water alone. He is not a hypocrite as say unless you were born yesterday. Kaunda promised an egg a day by 1980 Zambians became among the poorest on the continent when he inherited a middle income country richer than most Asian countries including South Korea
Is the previous government better than the current one and in what way? Compare and contrast dont yup about?
…. I meant to write….. Even in the Bible, it says look after the poor in your community……
I will give the chapter…..”During the seventh year, let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.” Exodus 23:11
KK’s government, cant say much i was very young..Chiluba’s government, pipo thot it brot development but privatisation killed it all. He sold houses that we r supposed to be occupying now. so many companies collapsed and many pipo were left without jobs. Levy’s government, sold the country to the Indians and Chinese…pipo thot we were heading in the rite direction. MHSRIP…RB’s government did not do anything for the Zambians. What do u hav to say about SATA’s government..?
Jinto you are somewhat biased in your analysis.How are the roads that RB`s administration constructed and rehabilited. You cant ignore that can you?
Putya ….u ARE A FOOL
Putya U ARE A FFOOOOOL
People should learn to appreciate when someone writes a good article. Unfortunately pipo have blind loyalty. the other unfortunate thing is that to reduce the president’s powers we need to change the constitution and none of the changes under consideration currently go far enough to reduce the president’s powers. In fact the reduction of the power will also protect the holders from abuse. Currently the president can even select who should sleep the streets which leaves the town clerk with nothing to do.
It is you tinamulonga who is a big fooollll! you are busy waiting for PF to put money in your pocket when you lazying about…… You want to reap where you did not plant!!! Work hard my friend! I am a buziness man and Doing GOOD with my cantemba and able to send my chldren to good schools. by the way am a college graduate with diploma in Computer science mind you!!! Governemnt just makes the environment good as it is now to make business!!!! Wait there and rot!
what is it with qualifications, yesterday we had someone claiming to have PhDs CIMAs and a host of other qualifications and today it Putya with kama diploma
He is not listening because he is a dictator
Well written article. Thanks
Professional police have killed 20 miners in South Africa, back home we only use tear gas.!
You missed something about the protesting SA miners, they were heavily armed with guns, machetes and they killed at least 2 policemen forcing the officers to use maximum response in self defence.
Dear beloved souls, a revolution can either be smooth or violent and if it happens to be a violent one, any country which experiences such a change will suffer far reaching conquences. The choices are either to be a leader of a good cause and to retard the developments of the effects of bad irresponsible decisions or to negate the onus of being truly patriotic. If you critically evaluate the character of Mr.HH , then philosophically speaking Zambians of all walks of life are blessed to be audiences of a truly transformational leader of with unique personal traits. Always advocate peacefull approaches when faced with continuous frustrations in these difficult periods.
Wiseman, I like your analysis Rev Kaoma. I am sure people were hoping to change the system by voting for Sata, unfortunately Sata is not the right person to change a corrupt system that has benefited him for 48 yrs. Such changes can only be implemented by the new generations of politicians and HH is the leading contender in the pack of new generation leaders. Let us all set tribal preferences apart and support HH.
HH will never Zambia!!! maybe in the next life where he will incarnate into ……..b…..*
HH will never rule pa Zed unless he changes tacts. By the way, the UPND constitution says 2 five-year terms for a President and these have since passed. What are you doing about it? Is he given a third term?
Responding to those making mockery out of our hard working South African Police Force, our situation is a complicated one in that almost every suspect in S.Africa is heavily armed e.g some suspects carry heavy hardwares such as RPG rocket launchers, R4,R5, M26 handy grenades, Tokarov 9mm pistols or AK47s or sometimes extremely heavy armour penetrating weapons.Granted the above weapons how can any policeman/women use a tear gas cannister in our evironment especially when a suspect initiates gun fire. This is not to argue that the recent incident in the platinum rich city of Rustenburg had similar characteristics of the above weapons. S.Africa is a rich complex society unlike its small neighbours with much smaller economies and shoe string budgets.
Dear neighbours, this is not to belittle you, look around Lusaka,even across your homeland, our own companies(proudly South African) are beautifying the landscape of Zambia. All your shopping Malls were built by us even your roads.Thus I am saying we want a peaceful mineral rich Zambia so that we can expand and share the cake in a moral manner not in a prudent manner. Look at our tertiary system of education it is very advanced and it is comparable to trhe best on earth. A lot of Americans, Europeans, Australians, Asians and Africans all are being educated here in various disciplines such as engineering, Medicine, Law, advanced behavioural medicines etc.. Degrees are offered at both undergraduate levels and post grad. levels.
I have no through knowledge about your judicial system in your homeland(nation), the last time I did my research thesis in international law, my thesis was indicative that your national constitution is the supreme contitution not UPND’s and by the way a party’s constitution can be changed as and when current matters overide the prevailing matters, are deemed compelling. Keep me posted as the exchange of knowledge takes first priority in our education which is research driven.
Very well written and balance article. It is very true Dr. Kaoma. The constitution has given too much power to the president hence a need to change this. Right now we are writting our constitution but it sad that the people who should be in the forefront are busy spitting terrible lies and hatred. This means we be going round and round the policle circle while the politician will be always enjoying Zambia at our expense. See how the talkative UPND-MPs are aways quick to keep quiet on money issues as long as they benefit. They did it with the NCC and now they have also kept quiet over the increase of their wages by the PF. Really they are politicians of Sebane wikute. Thats why I have stop trusting these guys.
Listen, Zambians were fed up with MMD. SO Pf came at the right time even when we knew that Sata has shown dictortorial tendencies in the past.He is too old born in the 40s. Politician Nkote cannot think like a facebbok geneartion person.
Zambia is extremely strategic to us South Africans in that, to the north of Zambia, lies a sleeping giant DRC, a very rich country in minerals. The congrese need our engineering technology in mining the best there is the world. We are the best in deep mining i.e. S. Africans are carrying out most diamonds mining in Russia (Sibberian region,the entire Botswana, Angola etc.) In Zambia, Gwembe District is considered to be very rich region in Uranium which is the main raw material (element) in the production of thermal nuclear energy and it is estimated to be worthy about tens of billions of dollars if properly exploited it is likely to exceed copper. S. Africa is currently in the process of constructing ten nuclear power projects worthy billions of dollars and Z is set to be our future sourc
SATA IS A FAILURER,,,VIVA CHANGEE….
Puty @27,33 and 34, that is where you miss the point. It is not your responsibility to find a be able to afford a good school or hospital for yourself and your children. It is actually the responsibilty of every government to provide good schools and hospitals for every citizen. Just because you are doing well does not mean things are ok. Citizens must rise to the occasion and take the people they voted for to task. No where in the article does UPND appear and I wonder how HH comes in this debate. Clearly your dip. in computer science did not teach much of critical analysis.
If I was in opposition I will immediately get this man as an advisor. Kaoma is agreat objective analyst free of petiness
Rev. Canon Dr. Kapya John Kaoma : You are 100% correct.
PEOPLE CAN NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED,. who ever thought that Muama Gadafi or even Mubaraka would be taken out by the pople??Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Libya are a clear examples of what people can do…just a matter of time. As for the minerals llike Uranium…ver wondered why American president has made 2 visits in a sigle year, in the name of cancer support? Know why many South African farmers have bought huge chanks of lands in Mukushi in the name of farming yet are exploiting rich mineral rsources that are flown in helicopiters from the but to Ariport and even evade tax? why cant zambians wake up???
good article ……….shame to us 4 pitng our trust in the arm of flesh
Cry the beloved country. Tribal politics is the bedrock of our economic problems. Until such a time that Zambians and, in particular the Bembas and the Tongas, are weaned out of tribal politics, our democratic system will remain faulty and incapable of helping us find the best leaders who can lead the country to economic prosperity.
The Rev has made some errors in his observations, if Mansa has no running water it does not mean that it is because of PF. Discouraging people not to vote for their leaders is not good for democracy. The MMD took over the infrastructure from UNIP and never carried out any replacements of obsolete equipment for 20 years and how do you expect the water service to be perfect. Equipment depreciates and we should not cry if it’s useful has expired.
Comparing Kaunda to colonial rulers is a big LIE!! The infrastructure in Zambia was mainly initiated by Kaunda, how many universities and colleges did the colonial rulers leave in Zambia? The Rev. should blame the MMD economists for lying to the people about the economic growth. You cannot have economic growth of 7% annually, when the rate of unemployment is also increasing annually, then something is not right. But they lied to every simpleton that the economy was good, but they knew that it was a hoax. Ask Mutati or Musokotwane you can’t have positive growth with unemployment figures like we have in Zambia. They deliberately ignored unemployment and gave false economical data.
Be real CNP supporters! Wait and see the rule of nature take its course. The Man is too proud to think that as president he gets less money than the BOZ govenor. He is a politician of the old block who think that when they are elected even through cheating they deserve to reward themselves. He will deliver but not to zambians but himself and his clonies. Zambians will now learn a lesson.
this article is a failure…pf has never ruled this nation for long to replace water pipes in mansa or any town,zambians are not st..pid for voting in hope to better their lives and this nation at large…we have 5 years to prove our voting agenda,so we dont want to judge sata now nooo!! let rule,when he comes back for campaign time we will ask him what he promised us then,as at now my oppinion am better in pf than mmd
Countrymen, those of us who are Christians or prayerful, let us pray for our country and all its rulers. It is we ourselves who hero-worship our leaders (be they ruling or opposition) and they turn to be demi-gods and we need to change our mindset to view leaders as our servants not saviours
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Jinko ALASA!!!! 100% TRue………..
excessive presidential power used wisely could be a good thing. China is an example.It would be difficult to make difficult decisions if you have a to have a group of people giving direction to important things
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