Kaseba (left) as Speaker of the National assembly Patrick Matibini
(right) looks on when he arrived at Parliament grounds
By Field Ruwe
While it is improper to begin a narrative with a question, circumstances at hand have forced me to flout the rule. The question is: Who won the battle between Devotees and Skeptics on 9/19? I read some of the comments by bloggers on President Michael Sata’s opening of parliament: “Sata silences death wishers,” “The president is as fit as a fiddle,” “HMCS is well and alive,” “Sata is seriously ill,” “Sata is deflated,” “Sata is as good as dead…”
Zambia’s greatest gift and greatest weakness
From such, it can be deduced that we Zambians have a knack for sticking to our views and beliefs. This is perhaps our greatest gift and sadly our greatest weakness. Our stubborn and strict adherence to our views and beliefs even when we are clearly wrong is partly the reason we have failed to advance as a people. Nations that have become great have been driven by a collective consciousness—the totality of sharing views and beliefs and letting go those views that are not shared by the majority or are evidently wrong. It is here we lamentably fail.
We stick to our views because of our self-interest and “the pleasures and pains of the moment.” It seems that is how our minds are programmed, to pursue only self-interest. In our minds, we think we are always right in what we say, do, or who we choose to support. Our pride and passionate support for something or someone prevents us from conceding when we are clearly wrong. As a result, we engage in unintelligent arguments and disputes and fail to strike mutually beneficial agreements. Our resolve is tenuous and as such our pertinent issues remain unresolved. It is this rotten attitude that has left us at the bottom of the totem pole, languishing in poverty.
The atmosphere in parliament
Let me now address the much anticipated question: Who won the battle between Devotees and Skeptics on 9/19? Answer: While 9/19 lived up to its expectation no one won. Both factions were consumed by emotion that left fear, sadness, sorrow, and tears in some. The president’s physical appearance, voice, and conduct were overpowering. The mood inside parliament was somber. It was melancholic, dismal, and gloomily dark. There was apprehension, burden, and disquiet on the faces of many. It was this same mood that engulfed both Devotees and Skeptics throughout Zambia. With this, it can be said that 9/19 will go down Zambian annals as the saddest parliament opening ceremony by a head of state.
Countrymen and women, we have a seriously ill president on our hands. Cruel, phlegmatic (heartless) and self-serving Zambians who see nothing wrong with president Sata and continue to shower him with their “fit as a fiddle” garbage can only be described as cold-blooded psychopaths and vampires driven by greed, glory, and self-preservation. Thank God for 9/19, the likes of Guy Scott, Joseph Katema, and Mwansa Kapeya will not continue to treat us like imbeciles with their fabrications. These uncouth politicians may not have a scintilla of shame or regret, but are surely liars of the worst kind. Scott in particular is a great let down indeed.
Sata’s fears
On 9/19, it became evidently clear that President Sata was not only sick, but also in a state of fear, confusion, and panic. Fear has been in him since he became president. His state of health has been its source. He has feared that once his opponents knew the extent of his illness they would declare him “enfeebled” and use it as ammunition to oust him. This was his greatest fear and it is what led him into the deceptive impression that there was nothing wrong with him. As expected, his wife, vice Guy Scott, spokesmen Joseph Katema and Mwansa Kapeya, other confidants, and members of the Sata family sanctioned this deception. Scott became the chief courier of lies and deluded gullible citizens, including chiefs.
But the fear in Sata on 9/19 was different. In the past three months his fear has shifted to his own inner circle. The very people he “created” have been shedding tears of joy by his bedside, hoping he remains forever incapacitated or expires. When they saw the condition he was in, they pushed him into a sea of his own making, and trapped him in a traitorous wave.
The lead pusher was Wynter Kabimba, but his approach was blunt, categorical, unprofessional, and therefore obvious. He instead fell in and drowned. Guy Scott followed. He wove his own fantasy about acting as president and tried to woo Zambians into believing he was illegible. The bedridden Sata got wind of it and blacklisted him. He is now hanging onto a thread. Others with similar motives started to show up—Given Lubinda, Geoffrey Mwamba, Chisimba Kambwili, causing the enervated Sata to panic. He scampered out of hibernation, got his red-buttoned communist suit on and dashed to parliament where in a manner short of confusion he allegorically cautioned them.
Notice I apply the word “confusion” in the last sentence. We saw in the president a clear deterioration of cognitive functions such as concentrating, and memory. We know Sata to often go off the tangent and say something outrageous. This time his poor mental acuity, stemming from his illness, was evident. His comments on Scott, Kambwili, and Fackson Shamenda were off color and irrelevant to the auspicious occasion. Many of the PF MPs present were left on the edge of their seats. When all was over, they breathed a deep sigh of relief.
What everyone agrees upon concerning President Sata
All this aside, it suffices to say that both Devotees and Skeptics agree that the president is not enjoying good health. The toll the illness has taken on him is a source of worry. He looks appalling. His entire body is inclined to skeletal. His facial features have drastically changed with heavy lines etching what is left of his cheeks. The iconic images of a shrunken Sata fighting parliament stairs, dwarfed by his seemingly grinning wife, shall ever remain etched in the minds of all Zambians. It is sad to see the energetic venomous King Cobra in such a fatal predicament. His once beaming frame is incomparable to the current molted one.
But as they say every cloud has a silver lining. His public appearance was perhaps good riddance. There are many who feel his illness is declining. They believe he has the potential to fully recover. Unfortunately, what is tragically remiss is his failure to disclose what he is suffering from. What if he is battling a terminal illness? It then means that his health is irreparably receding. Sadly, by sheer of his arrogance, self-interest, egotism, and conceit, Sata may be deceiving himself about his mortality. Before 9/19 he tried very hard to conceal his illness for the purpose of clinging to his presidency. Now that we all know he is unwell, he should tell us what the problem is. If indeed it is terminal, he should voluntarily step down.
What are useless headline. Whatever is that article must be full of idiocracy…
@Nostraamus
hahahahaha! this is the same Field Ruwe you used to drink with…. remember i once warned you not to drink with historians of today,,,,,,, our village traditional historians are more accurate
Even though a picture is worth a thousand words, some individuals are colour blind!
@Ndobo, yes the same man we drink with sometimes. I don’t know why he never showed up at the climate-match last Saturday in NY-City (300thousand) people. I met (not mate) with Emeline Kabanshi… looked good muli Jeans… had good time.
Anyway, why did you vote me down these days @Ndobo? Look I have no vote.
@nostradamus
I voted for you boi, please boi napapata ka bed rest ba yama uko Ku new York, there are many ticks in Zambia who are waiting to suck him to death
I didn’t know Sata’s physical status was a ” contest.” All I know is that I don’t want to see that profile picture again. It’s very traumatizing!
Mr Ruwe, I am sure you know deep down your heart that the devotees who you have correctly described as cold-blooded psychopaths and vampires driven by greed, glory, and self-preservation are the losers. I wonder why you are claiming that there are no winners in the battle between Devotees and Skeptics on 9/19.
Field Ruwe has just called a spade a spade about Sata’s health.
I still maintain, the real Sata I know, is gone walkies. He actually died in June.
Truth be told here, this Sata PF is parading now is just a resurrected shell of the real once vibrant and venomous Sata I knew all those years.
Shame on the Phlegmatic ,and cruel PF minions clinging on their lies and fake beliefs that Sata is fit as a fiddle for their self preservation, when it is evidently clear Sata is gone and never coming back what ever they do.
Mr Field Ruwe up on Jupiter. Not sure what the man will do when he hears that Sata collapsed and died.
Sad. Really, really sad. We could behave more humanly.
Ruwe you must accept when you have been beaten hands down. Are you some sponsored chap by the opposition or you just don’t like Sata.? Or are you possibly plain stupid.? Don’t answer my questions I know the answers – Your are all of the above.
The truth always hurts. The president is seriously ill.
“Cruel, phlegmatic (heartless) and self-serving Zambians who see nothing wrong with president Sata and continue to shower him with their “fit as a fiddle” garbage can only be described as cold-blooded psychopaths and vampires driven by greed, glory, and self-preservation”
The above accurately describes the characters we have right here on LT who have stubbornly, in true ‘Chumbu Munshololwa’ fashion, exactly like their selfish leader Sata, refused to accept the fact that Sata isn’t okay. I think Sata is his own greatest enemy together with his family and a host of other fanatical and inhuman cadres.
I feel sorry and sad. where to my zambia?
Field, I have always known you as a chancer, now you have shown your old stupid begging shabeen manners, youve even become more usless than those old dead prostitutes. You have no capacity to be called a monkey at the least. I dont,like PF but you must sleep with relations to have this heart. Sorry peolpe for my comment
Cat Power, get your foot out of your mouth!
What has he done that has incensed you so much? Are we Zambians so heartless that we cannot accept a fact that our president’s health is so bad? What are you talking about? Should we continue showering praises and hide the truth because our so called God given Great leader is infallible. What is the issue really that we cant critise our leaders when things are not Okay? We are so gullible as a people and very unpatriotic as a nation. A nation without a soul cant stand. Ours is headed for doom because it allows any charlatan to rule it. Even the Kambwilis believe they are leaders. What a country!
@Cat Power,
The mistake you have made is to show your image. You are like a murderer caught on camera. The comments you have made about Ruwe are very unfortunate. We know who you are and now know how dangerous you are. I hope some of your friends and relatives read what you have written about a man you is expressing his own opinion to which he is entitled. You may lose you cool, but what you have written is the saddest comment I have ever read by a blogger. I am sure had he been in your sight, you’d have slayed him.I hope and pray many see it the same way. I have from today severed my friendship with you.
@Cat Power
Does any one know the gentleman in the photo?
@Cat Power
I fail to see what you are incensed about. What the the writer has expounded is the stark reality. We have a bunch of unbelievably insane people who, notwithstanding the shrunken and shriveled person we were forced to watch and listen to, are convinced Sata is fit.
@Cat Power – you are even driving a dot.com and think you can insult Field Ruwe, If Field begged for beer, it was then. Now the man is better than you, most likely. What has he done wrong other than giving us his observations about the health of ba Mwine. Sata is not well, period. If he was my dad, I would ask him to forget this tiring job and take some rest. He has done his three years and qualify for all the benefits of a former head of state.
@Cat Power
Just be careful. You are dealing with a journalist/professional writer. You have left your photo begging. Don’t be surprised if he exposes you with a biting article. What you have written about him is very unfair given this forum. Spewing your hatred for him in such a manner is not only dangerous but self-destruction. Don’t forget, careless blogging can hurt you, actually completely destroy you. If I were you, I would remove the photo.
@Cat Power
Check what Field Ruwe has posted on the “Zambians in Western Australia” facebook.
Thanks People for your comments, I got really emotional about someone talking about an unwell person. Comments noted. Sorry Field I apoligise. Next time I will call you when unhappy about your post.
Regards
mmmmm… this is serious.
Sata is a huge liability on us poor Zambians and a deadwood. …this man needs to retire indefinitely from all work.
Articulate and concise piece of writing. I would like to write like this when I grow up. Sums up what dire situation we find ourselves in. Its unfortunate that there are people out there who think Sata will make a come back. Whatever he is doing now are kicks of a dying horse, like, literally. Kaseba’s smile is a PR exercise (keeping up appearances!), if not she is already celebrating the eminent departure of the ‘has been’ king cobra. For better or for worse? Ja right, more like kalilo. This says tones about the kind of people Sata has surrounded himself with. Pity, NOT!
Dead man walking reloaded!
This trash coming from heavily sedated demented character called Field Ruwe can only find space and earn accolades at the demonic online publication called Zambian Watchdog. Lusaka Times is doing a deservice to itself by entertaining such rubbish.
Field Ruwe
The President is in New York, USA.
Go pay him a visit, if you can afford the air fair
Thx
@ Inkonto @12….Heheheh whn something does not go according to your tune you call it trash BUT bena Zambia !!! Ruwe has given the BEST article……!!! Hands up to him !!!
Field Ruwe, as always a very splendid article indeed. I read it through to the very end in one sitting. Congrats.
In my view, however, PF are the worse off after 9/19. They had told the rest of us that the president was well and as fit as a fiddle. That turned out to be a lie. Had they believed it themselves, we probably could have afforded them the benefit of a doubt. On the contrary, they themselves were, behind the scenes, sharpening their knives and pruning their spears. But what spurred that struggle for power, which became so visible among them, if not the illness of the president? Now that the president is alive and not dead, contrary to speculation, is it not them who are the most disappointed, since they had looked forward to his death instead?