By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
At the height of the Patriotic Front (PF) sweep to power back in 2011, I found myself in the thriving Bulangililo township in the company of hardcore cadres desperately trying to ‘entice’ me to join PF so that I stopped “writing negative things about their beloved leader.” We were in the area to devour the mouth-watering goat meat the place is renowned for. A number of people were already milling around waiting to have their own fair share of the succulent dish.
“How come our order is taking long to be ready!” one of them snapped. “And you call yourselves investors…..”
“Sata is coming soon to sort out all this nonsense!” another one added, rather brusquely. “You can’t come all the way from West Africa to cook goat meat!”
I immediately took keen interest in the tall, gaunt bearded old man in the fading robes turning around generous portions of meat on the barbecue stand. Was it necessary to keep harassing or berating the man. I couldn’t stomach it any longer! I reminded the rascals that whereas we seem to be intent on pursuing white collar jobs and making fast money at the Black mountain or indeed as suppliers to the mines, our friends have no qualms getting dirty to generate income.
“Look at the goat he’s cooking for instance …..did he come with it from West Africa?” I challenged them. “What about the charcoal he’s using……did it come from outside the country? Negative! While you seem to be comfortable in white shirts and jeans while posing around in fancy cars; apparently, our friends have no problem making forays into the bush to secure materials to work with.”
This brings me to our so-called investors we have around. What do they possess that we don’t? Simply, tenacity and willingness to endure pain and suffering in the most severe environment!
Not so long ago, some of them came in laden with nothing but wheelbarrows, shovels and picks and settled amongst the villagers in the most of unlikely places. They wasted no time working the soil to either produce food, timber or unearthing the minerals God hid there. As we keep on languishing not sure where our next meal will come from; today, they are multi-millionaires laughing all the way to the Bank to remit money abroad!
Apart from this, we have another group that choose to stick around the city and rent or construct makeshift facilities. These are now stocking groceries from our very own Trade Kings or ZAMBEEF and we now have to queue-up and buy from them while we still have to frequent their restaurants to eat our own food at great cost for our pockets. As though this isn’t enough, the beds we sleep on and the chairs we use are crafted from our timber.
Africa is endowed with enormous natural resources and yet we still remain stuck in absolute poverty, not because our Almighty God created us inferior or less intelligent. The reason is simple! Most of those who have offered themselves as our leaders in the past be it as presidents, members of parliament or councilors have either been greedy or selfish, let alone devoid of vision and the inspiration to motivate our people to work their socks off!
Lately, some amongst have observed that there’s too much rhetoric coming from this president as opposed to action. They are dead wrong!
This country deserves a leader who is not only going to constantly remind us of our abundant resources, but equally motivate us and whip us out of our comfort zones so that for a change, we can start thinking of unlocking our wealth which is buried in the goldfields of Kasenseli, Mpika and Lundazi; begin populating the vast plains of Barotse and Lungevungu with cattle; embark on restocking our rivers with different species of fish; consider unearthing the rare Sugilite mineral in Luapula and of course, take keen interest in utilizing our fertile soils in different parts of country to produce enormous tons of maize so that we don’t have to dodge the police exporting the commodity to Congo DR under the cover of darkness!
