If you tell a lie loud enough and long enough, the people will believe it—Adolf Hitler.
No one would have imagined that our leaders would gain inspiration and guidance from Adolf Hitler. Yet, prior to and after 2011, Zambia proved Hitler’s hypothesis about lies in politics beyond reasonable doubt, and we wonder whether our leaders have been students of Hitler or are his passionate followers.
You will all recall the famous slogans and chants: More Money in Your Pockets and People Driven Constitution in 90 days among many other carrots the PF dangled to get to power. More Money in Your Pockets had been replaced by More Money in Our Pocket (the PF’s pockets) as seen by the lavish lifestyles its leaders and followers can now afford. With regards the constitution, which is now a hot issue, the president has the following to say:
Zambia does not need a new constitution! Debates on the constitution should be ignored!
Yes, just like that, what a sharp U-turn! One would ask, wasn’t this the biggest campaign message of 2011? Isn’t it the constitution making process that has gulped billions of Kwacha? And now it’s not a big deal anymore?
With 2016 in sight, it seems we are in again for more deception, misdirection, fact-bending, half-truths, and downright lies-the challenge to win the hearts and minds of voters, again, as was in 2011.
It’s amusing how often politicians lie and then, of course, their unwillingness to admit that they lied. For example, the PF promised a constitution in 90 days. As soon as they got into power that changed.
First they claimed they meant that they will initiate a process in 90 days. Now we are told we no longer need a new constitution.
With the emergence of new forms of media, surely it should be able to make them accountable for their lies. The case of Vernon Mwaanga lying over his meeting with Moses Katumbi was well exposed by the Former independent Post News Paper leading to his resignation(seems MMD had credible leaders huh?). But post 2011, lies have become rampant and I am afraid it left unchecked will become the way of life.
So, why do our leaders believe they can lie when their falsehoods are so easily exposed?
There are a number of reasons, some general, others specific to Zambia.
- As Hitler said, if a lie is told enough times, people will assume it is true. It is not a difficult to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true. I can imagine, a lie consistently told from 2011 surely must have seemed like truth in 2011. In any case, most of the folks that voted in 2011 where in primary school when the lies started coming so to them this was the truth.
- Most of our leaders, especially the current ones are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, as liberators of Zambia from the then perceived evil MMD and require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement. The self-important attributes causes them to believe that they are right and, even if they are not, they think they’re too smart to be caught or suffer the consequences.
- In most cases, and particularly in Zambia, our leaders know and believe that their followers will believe them when they lie, even in the face of undisputable evidence to the contrary. It seems our Politicians and their supporters live in the same house in which everyone watches the same news channel(ZNBC), listens to the same talk radio(ZNBC Radio and Ifyabukaya), reads the same newspapers(Daily Mail, Times or the quasi-government former independent paper) and visit the same website (HE MCS’s Facebook page). This creates a waterproof membrane that prevents conflicting information from entering the ruling elite, and any conflicting information is deemed to be from ‘Bitter’ rivals. The word Bitter in PF politics seems to be the new sex; everyone is talking about the opposition as being bitter due to the loss of 2011 elections. Even in 2014, the Ministers of Information is still basking in the glory of the 2011 elections and calling others bitter.
- Could it be that people don’t want to hear the truth? Truth, as the saying goes, hurts and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Why should politicians be the tellers of bad news and risk losing the next elections when they can tell fairy tales with happy endings like More Money, More Jobs, No Load Shedding, No Shanty Compounds, New Constitution(which, of course, we all want) and come out the winner?
But hey, of course, once in power all governments must deal with reality – even if they have been elected on a systematic lie such as ours. In a perfect world politicians wouldn’t lie. But when the voters elect politicians who lie over those who tell the truth then the voters shouldn’t be surprised when they get caught in raw deals, the situation we are in now. But in order for politicians to tell the truth, the voters must stop punishing honesty. We must not accept mediocrity as the norm when we can emancipate ourselves from perpetual lies and dishonesty. We have seen the light and darkness since 2011. They say you cannot tell that a road a straight until you see a crooked one besides it. So when someone running for office tells you goody goodies next time, please, take time to think before you self-destruct. Watch out for the lies and make the right choices in the upcoming elections.
By Hjoe Moono
Is this all? Do your leaders include people who condemnd RB and company and now support him??? selective memory.. lets ditch all the politicians we need new ones. the crop we have leaves much to be desired…
sata n is the father of all lies. he’s been a liar from the beginning. he’s been chauffeur driven by lies. and he will go down in his lies come 2016.
He called late Mwanawasa cabbage and many funny names, no arrests were made. he called RB Nyamasoya and Kanitundila, No arrests were made. But why is it that when people talk about their rights which he promised to fulfill but many are taken to court for speaking the truth? Whether the 2016 will corrugated with cruelities, Kuya bebele. Imagine when people say we want this one as our Paramount chief why giving them someone they do not want, just because of personal differences? It is not good governance I also have observed.
Sata li tolefye to say the least. The guy has not shame at all for lying. Even if they say politicians lie, but with Sata he cant even be ashamed of himself. F00l of a president.
A list of those taken to court for speaking the truth will be very welcome. educate me proffesor. also include the truth spoken.
Thanks.
Your Student,
Lee Habaponta Bsc,Msc
It was a duty for each and every learned Zambian to help those who were brainwashed to come back to their senses. Vulnerable people were exploited and made to believe all this was possible. Putting the PF government into office was the biggest mistake we ever made as Zambians. I hope there have been lessons learned.
true boy..time is coming when they will want to come back to us..
PF is not going to survive this saga!
‘The harder they come, the harder they fall’ (jimmy Cliff)
We brought this upon ourselves, really one could see the lies in the 90 days slogan. But like you have rightly put it, the lie was told so many times people began to believe it.
the problem is with their supporters who cant wake up to reality and accept the fact that this guy is just using them and they will remain poor with their families until the next coming of Jesus Christ
You rip what you sow, That what happenes when you do things with emotions,Post are eating with the Devil so they can not say is Evil,
Why are you leavin out Fre.d Mm.em.be? He is the biggest crookedest liar. He is a Hutu genocide advocate. He with the likes of Luapula Premier and Gen are all candidates for ICC. Watch what is happening in UKraine.
The Post staff has been indoctrinated by owner m.me.mbe on these Hitler propaganda principles. They will always cast their enemies using fronts in disparaging light as thiefs, corrupt, envious, power hungry, tribal. And yet their main constituency is the most tribal of all. Remember Fr.ed trying a few years ago to promote B.emba as a national language usig Muba.nga Kashoki? The worst human being Zambia has is M.emb.e. He will set this country of fire if not stopped.
Democracy does not mean that you pick any junk to be president. We can only blame ourselves for this mess!
Democracy is a numbers game, unfortunately. As long as we have a large proportion of illiterate and gullible population, the mistake can be repeated. In my humble opinion, we need to sensitise and educate people. What PF are working on is create all these visible structures (clinics, roads, schools) even at a colossal debt because the “villager” will see those structures and feel progress has been made without understanding the billions of debt saddled on the country. Very few people will understand such economics. You have heard it even on this blog people countering that by saying “Even the USA borrows with total disregard to the fact that the two economies are incoparable. It should be Education, Education, Education…
@Mfumu: Benjamin Franklin once said: “He who is good at making excuses is good for nothing else.” What percentage of Zambia’s population votes or registers to vote? Slightly below 30%, I reckon. What does that tell you? It means that, the majority of Zambians don’t vote and don’t even bother to register themselves to vote.
Why is that? It’s because they are not sensitized on the issue. Yes, democracy is a numbers issue, but where are the numbers? Whose duty is it, to educate the rest of the Zambians on the importance of casting their votes? The non-voting community are the numbers you should be focusing on, not the illiterate per so. That’s just an excuse.
meant to say: “Yes, democracy is a numbers game.”
….I have read and heard these sentiments over a thousand times now……what I haven’t read and heard a couple of times over is the ‘action’ part. Its like someone challenges and tells me in my face that… ‘I lied to you in order to have your vote…..so what?’…meaning ….’what can you do about it …NOTHING’….its not like marriage were one would take the other to court for a divorce immediately they discover that the other spouse had lied on something very important before they got married. This PF marriage is with us till 2016 whether we like it or not…and there is no guarantee that we may divorce in 2016.
……. enough of crying over ‘spilt milk’…..action plan to guarantee the divorce in 2016 is the way forward
Having realised that the Zambian people are not as firey as the Egyptians nor like the Ukranians, and that the current political system wont allow opposition parties to hold rallies or meetings the alternatives are limited. This is why NGO’s are being harrased to sign a new MOU because this is where NGO’s can make a difference by going out there sensiting the masses on the diet of lies that the country keeps being fed on. It is high time the opposition parties started making a concerted effort to educate the people on their democatic rights and the issue of accountability by parties to their constituents and on holding political parties accountable to their contract with the people.
Ku bomba bale bomba-Nomba fye “BUFI NO LUFYENGO” bacila mo.Ba Nyunya na Shilubemba. Elyo lwanya
Bashilubemba nabo ngabasumina we are not going to be suprised because umubembafye pakulya awe mwandi ukubomba tabafwaya konofye ukulya,thats why bachilamo ubufi. Let us decesed from that my brothers lets stand on our principals. Sata nakota, by the way 2016 we do not need presidecial candidates who are over 60yrs old. Batupesha ba mumbwe.
This is just talk .. and thats what politics is about.. has Sata lied ? Yes! Has HH lied? Yes!. has Nevers lied? Yes! the problem with politics is that to the ordinary eye it seem all things are straight forward… be president and say i dont want this, i want this , abolish that implement that, stop borrowing, stop corruption e.t.c… the fact is , the governance system has been running longer than you… its been ther before you were born. Most opposition think just like the PF thot that they can just walk into power and do a..b..c…. because ther in power. its the same illusion we all had when we were young, put simply; ”dad earns a lot of money, why does he keep feeding us beans and porridge?” .. its only when you grow up when you realise that actually daddy was not that rich…
You have made my day; they dont listen these people!! 3 to 4 years ago, MMD and UPND were attending a constitution making conference where they got paid a lot of money. In the end it failed, and now they are busy claiming they need a “people driven constitution”; how ironic!!
Nomba apa finshi walanda?
He Guys, lets be realistic. The promise of more money in our pockets have been fulfilled. Those of us earning ZMW 300 and below we do not pay tax. Is that not more money in our pockets. The minimum wage has been implemented. This also translates into more money in our pockets. Stop hallucinating because we are full-filing our campaign promises. There is also massive development going on sauch as infrastructures, roads etc. Come 2016 in pa bwato. Aluta continuer Sata no Change.
Dear Concerned Citizen,
You may have more money in your pocket, but the economic mis-management and unbudgeted spending of this useless (Satas word) has made the Kwacha worthless.
Your money buys less than before!
I have no complaint too. I have enough money in my pocket.
Well written article. Kuya bebele
2016 PF will win like one blogger eluded the majority voters are illiterate and honestly if the heard how you so called educated ones argue or debate surely they will vote for Sata again…..pride kills all you with an insight but humility is what u luck…. war goes on
Sata will win stop waisting u tym with ur articles,more money is there.
Kolwe….!
Seems you participated in the animal driven consititution. you are even seen kolwe?? are they the ones in charge of the monkey driven constitution? or the cow driven consititution?
CAN hin .. Ukrainian have done it, Why can’t you? Barking.. baking won’t help. He asked for more time now refusing. What are you waiting .. force him to release it and Chitimukulu installed. Paramilitary to be sent into troubled areas like the borders NOT guiding the palace where they are irrelevant.
When you lie, you easily forget and this is what the president MCS and his clowns have persistently done. However, Zambians have mastered their lies and are rejecting them.
PF should be removed even before 2016 for they will have done more harm if allowed to go on until election time.
VIVA UPND VIVA HH
.Zambia forward .
If a man promises a woman that if she marries him, he will make her pregnant and within 90 days she will give birth to a bouncing baby boy, and the woman believes him and agrees to marry him. Is it the man or woman who is stupid?
Walya iwe, you have made my day! A long time since i heard such a crazy analogy.
from people driven to animal driven constitution, purely Zambian circus.
This devil should just exit !!! I don’t care how !!! Just leave plot one already !!!! You are useless !!!
The author should take note of a common saying – “as soon as somebody mentions Hitler, you know they have lost the argument”
Sata is only been himself! Next time a presidential candidate says something that sounds too good to be true, most likely it is!! 2016 is the time to take destiny in our own hands and vote right.no quick fixes or fairytale promises! I think all Government staff should also have a cap on their salary, how can the president of a developing country earn more than some of the leaders of developed western countries, it doesn’t make sense! Let these MP’s earn their wage and be accountable for their mistakes instead of pointing fingers