A GOAT DRAMA: WHEN USEFUL IDIOTS DRESSED AS GOATS IN SHEEP SKIN ‘CONGREGOAT’ IN A COMICAL GOAT-TOGETHER!

By Sunday Chilufya Chanda

A “useful idiot” is a colourful term for a person who is a propagandist for a cause of whose goals they are not fully aware and who are used cynically by the (mis)leaders of the cause.

The related term “Acting the Billy goat” is according to the urban dictionary, a term used to describe a person being an idiot or being incredibly inanely obstinate.

The “leaders” of political parties who recently met at a hotel in Lusaka fit the bill of both terms quite nicely.

Chishimba Kambwili, Elias Chipimo, Mike Mulongoti, Charles Milupi, Sean Tembo, and other tag-alongs, all have one thing in common; they are Hichilema’s useful “obliGOATary” idiots!

They represent the cast of a slapstick comedy that portrays a nearly extinct Billy Goat misleading other goats (that pretend to be sheep) away from green pastures to parched barren land.

These goats are useful for nothing except that which amounts to nothing; pawns in the hands of the Billy Goat grandmaster -winner of the wooden spoon five times in a row.

A ‘congreGOATion’ of Delinquent thinking!

Their ‘congreGOATion’ at the “instiGOATion” of the Billy Goat is founded on fallacy.

Whichever way they may choose to bury their heads in the sand, the fact remains that the law has guided; the Constitutional Court recently interpreted what constitutes a Presidential term.

The decision of the Constitutional Court is final and cannot, therefore, be appealed against.

Their attempts to cast aspersions on what constitutes a “Presidential Term” is to put it mildly-stinking thinking!
Their logic is as futile as their attempts to try to get a Billy Goat to Smile!

Look who’s talking! They all “Act the Giddy Goat” in their “Parties”!

All these people act the giddy goat in their respective political parties-they are intra party despots with poor records of good governance.

What moral ground do they have to talk about good governance when their respective political parties are personality cults built around their individual personalities rather than principle?

NeGOATive Hichilema-The UPND Life President

Take Mr Hakainde Hichilema for instance.

He has institutionalised dictatorship in his party having given himself an Indefinite “Term”.

1. What does Hichilema have to say about the farce of his party’s constitution which has left UPND in a stunted crisis since he usurped its leadership? What does he have to say of article 70 of the UPND constitution that says: _“A party President shall be eligible for election for an indefinite period subject to this Constitution provided that a Party President who is elected Republican President shall only serve two terms that shall run concurrently with the term of office as Republican President”._
2. Is Hichilema’s wamuyayaya indefinite “term” a mark of “good governance”?
3. How ethical or (im)moral Is it for one man to hold on to power for more than 12 years during which time no elections or convention is held and yet he miserably loses elections 5 times ?
4. Does he even have any moral ground to comment on democracy, tenures, governance and related matters?
5. What about their “structures”- when (if at all) did UPND last hold intra- party elections?

Chipimo and his Fellow forGOATen Sundry

By the same token-what about Elias Chipimo?

What morality does he even have to talk about Democracy? It is ridiculous!

It is nearly a decade since NAREP was established in March 2010 by Mr Chipimo and it has been a poorly performing de-facto one man show or “sole-solo- trader” ever since.

Since inception, Mr Chipimo has been the “party’s” Presidential Candidate in the 2011 and 2015 General Elections in which he spectacularly failed to garner even half a percent of the Presidential vote.

It is bad enough that he did not even manage 1% of the vote. But surely; less than half a percent!?

Mr Elias Chipimo’s unflattering record of playing the goat just goes to show not only how seriously the people of Zambia take him, but how seriously he takes himself. He is his own electoral college.

Phrases like “Convention” “Intra-Party Elections” “Intra-party Democracy” are alien to NAREP.

What morality does Elias have to even talk about Democracy or Good Governance?

The same can be said of the rest of the motley cast of this bleating goat comedy.

The sole trader nature of Mulongoti and Milupi’s one man parties as well as the comical bellyaching for attention of, Tembo and Kambwili are well documented. They are individually and collectively not worth the paper or the ink so we will leave it at that. Suffice to say they do not have any moral ground to stand on; they are goats with ulterior motives pretending to be sheep.

Priorities & PreroGOATives -Is this what Zambia really needs?

While Vision 2030 some years ago appeared to be an obscure target on the distant horizon, its attainment is becoming more reachable with every giant stride the Patriotic Front Government of His Excellency President Edgar Chagwa Lungu takes.

From 2011 when the PF formed Government under the late President Michael Chilufya Sata (MHSRIP) and now under his successor President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, the PF has continued to make substantial progress in all sectors across the country.

We need an opposition that will compete with us on policy and principle; not personality attacks.

We repeat what we have said before:

• “For our democracy to thrive, the ruling party needs worthy competition in the form of a credible opposition party worth its salt; one that knows where it stands ,where it wants to go and how it plans to get there.
• In the interest of the development of our country, the Patriotic Front covets a contest of ideas; not the challenge of regional allegiance practised by some.
• The PF development agenda is premised on a mission with a clear vision seen through the clear lenses of the PF Manifesto, 7NDP and vision 2030.
• We have so far been deprived of an opposition of excellence.
• We yearn for a contest of policy, from those who are supposed to represent an alternative government (such as the UPND).
• We echo our challenge to them to play the role of a proposition party.
• Therein lies the dilemma; how possible is it to have such discourse when the UPND don’t have a manifesto? How can they offer what they don’t have?
• Even their Ten Point “Plan” has been rendered irrelevant and it is as practical as delivering sand to the Sahara or ice to Alaska; because everything UPND promises to deliver has already been swallowed up by the exploits of the Patriotic Front”.

Conclusion

Jealous, insecure and envious people only try eclipsing our sun because they’re jealous of our daylight and tired of their dark, starless nights.

The recent congreGOATion only provided a fast fading entertainment value. Zambians have watched this Billy goat comedy (with his scapegoating) five times before and its appeal has become hackneyed, worn out and threadbare like a worn out garment spat out of a goats mouth.

If the Billy goat were twice as smart as he is, he would be half as smart as he thinks he is. Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; it appears he only gargled.

The Zambian people always separate the sheep from the goats.

The Author is Patriotic Front Media Director At the Patriotic Front Secretariat Lusaka

By Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D.

Professor of Sociology

Once again another Christmas season is here. It has always occurred to me that parents create lasting warm memories through the wonderful things they do for their families and especially children during the Christmas holidays season. When these children grow to be adults, they will often return home during the holidays to re-experience that magic. I do not know whether I can ever re-experience my special childhood Christmas magic living in a modern city or urban environment.

We were a family of nine (6 girls and 3 boys) in  rural villages in Chipata in my native Zambia in Southern Africa. My father was a primary school teacher who earned a modest K20.00 or twenty-dollars per month in the 1960s. How did he and my mother make us all happy at Christmas? Of course, some of the foods like corn or maize, beans, sweet potatoes and peanuts we grew on land just behind our house. How did my father manage to buy one gift for each one of us at Christmas? He saved and planned ingenious layaways for the whole year with the local Indian or Mwenye shopkeeper at Mugubudu Stores.

Each of the six girls and mother got an inexpensive dress sewn by local tailor. Designer clothes were out of the question. The boys usually got either a pair of shorts or a shirt. One Christmas at the old age of eight, my father bought me my first pair of shoes. When I opened the box and saw the beautiful shoes that Christmas morning, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I was grinning from ear to ear. I put them to my nose to smell them. They smelt new. Everybody had a big laugh because I did not know which shoe went on the right or left foot. Like a good mom, my mother teased me about my scrubbing my feet really good so that my razor sharp calluses did not put holes in the new shoes. She had a point because there were no socks with the shoes. A pair of socks would have been too expensive.

The most exciting and memorable part of Christmas day in our family was the food. The day before Christmas, my dad would buy a loaf of bread, rice, onion and Madras Curry Powder and a special spice called chikasu. Early in the morning on Christmas day, my mother told us to catch the big rooster we had saved all year. We kids ran so fast that we could have won the hundred-meter dash in the Olympics. The chicken was slaughtered. My mother diced the onions and sautéed them in oil with the curry powder spice. The aroma wafted from the kitchen. The smell was so good that it could have killed several starving and emaciated men. We kids would all hang around the kitchen our nostrils sniffing the air around us.  Mother would tease us asking what we were hanging around the kitchen for!! Why didn’t we go and play outside, say about a kilometer away? She needed elbow room she would say. She would have this special beam and smirk on her face that said a thousand words that this was a special happy day.

After church at noon, we would have a large family feast; rice with chikasu spice that turned the white rice bright yellow and chicken cooked with the special curry spice, mango cake my sisters baked  with recipes from their domestic science classes at the Kanyanga Catholic Boarding School. In the afternoon, dressed in whatever best new piece of clothing each of us had, we went to Christmas festivities including a variety of African or Zambia traditional dances like vinyau, chitelele, and cimtali in the nearby villages.

One memorable Christmas incident surrounds the African or Zambian precious village tradition of not wasting any food. When a chicken is slaughtered, for example, everything is used except for the feathers. Children clean and roast the intestines and the head and eat them as a snack ahead of the main meal. This was often seen as a preliminary reward for us children for performing the hard and exhausting task of chasing the chicken through the village before it was apprehended.

My brothers and I always looked forward to amusing ourselves by using the chicken’s stomach as a football ball. We would clean the inside, inflate it and tie it.  We would usually get a good game of football going. One Christmas day, my  brother and I had just inflated the chicken stomach and kicked the “ball” about fifty meters ahead  of us in the village square. We sprinted after it. Six to ten chickens began to also chase the thing. This was not unusual. But from nowhere, our family dog furiously charged the “ball” amidst our screams to “stop!!!”. The African village dog knows a good meal when he sees one. He disappeared into the bush with the  “ball”. He reappeared later licking his chops.

*****

These Christmas memories are dedicated to my late mother Enelesi Kabinda Tembo (88yrs) who passed in January this year 2018 and my older sister Mrs Bridget Zimba Tembo(69yrs) who passed away just recently on December 14, 2018. 

“Present!! We are very present, Your Excellency.

Our dear President, your singling out of the Engineers and to be more specific The Engineering Institution of  Zambia (herein after “the EIZ”) is a good thing. Infact it’s a wonderful opportunity you have given to not only the engineering profession but to all professionals abound.

I believe that when the Chief Executive calls you to action, it means that he feels you truly have something to offer and that he is open to your contributions that are presently not forthcoming (or just not visible).

I also believe that your call, Your Excellency is  not a case of putting Engineers on the spot to become all defensive but Engineers need to show and demonstrate value as they should. Professionals together with their professional bodies have an irrefutable role (almost “fiduciary duty”) to play in national advisory and development agenda.

Let me hasten to mention here that i know that it is not only the EIZ being called to duty but all such other professional bodies such as the EAZ (that recently paid the President a courtesy call at state house and had the pleasure of taking that prestigious front stairs portrait with the President), the LAZ, the PAZ, the medical /Doctors association, and many others who have the duty to their Government of providing Professional guidance, relevance, oversight and opinions on matters they are qualified to comment on .

Now, getting back to the Engineering profession where I belong and whose association/ institution has being singled out.  it is worth noting that the EIZ represents all engineering disciplines / professions that include among others, civil, automotive. computer, chemical, environmental, electrical, mechanical engineers, etc at various levels of qualification ( engineers, technologists, technicians and even crafts personnel). This trivia is shared merely so that people don’t just associate engineering with construction and not just see Engineers and leave out others such as technologists, technicians and even crafts personnel who together as a collective get the full scope of the job done!

So now, what have the Engineers (herein after refers to all engineering qualifications) done or not done in as far as playing an active role in advising and feeding into government decision making processes?

I will leave the EIZ as an institution with an elected mouthpiece to respond in greater detail to the President’s call that was echoed by his Minister at a recent EIZ event. But what I know my President is that the EIZ has given and presented position papers and reports such as the report on Zesco loadshedding (Sept 2015) and many others and continues to exist and influence through various representations. Ofcourse the EIZ can do more in creating visibility, relevance, currency and impactful existence. Let it also be known that We the Engineers by nature are quite reclusive albeit “monk-ish” (not like our “learned friends”!!) as such we need nudging and possibly reassurance that you need us too.

However, let me endeavor to list down the following;

BOARDS – Engineers sit or if not there already should be sitting on various State owned agencies & enterprises’ boards such as IDC, ZESCO, ERB, Indeni, RDA, NRFA, NAC, ZDA, etc, to provide a specific Technical oversight and direction. Being at the decision-making table from the onset helps a lot in getting the right deliverables on the ground.

TASKFORCES – task-specific teams are constituted (you guessed right) to handle, resolve specific issues. Govt has now and again constituted task force teams to look into certain issues and report back to govt with a list of possible scenarios and solutions. Often professionals such as Engineers have been part of these teams when invited to. We however need to localise these taskforce teams (case in point, taskforce team set up for government by donor agencies with minority local professional representation don’t quite have local knowledge and least of all local interest!).

EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS – the rains or lack thereof are almost upon us ( oh this climate change stuff is real and again as an environmental sustainability practitioner am responsible for!). So with the onset of rains comes the almost inevitable (floods, disease outbreaks etc) and for this we need a multidisciplinary team to anticipate such and mitigate as well as redesign to permanently eliminate.

THINKTANKS – I like what the PMRC (Policy Monitoring Research Centre)  has been doing especially with regards to the energy policy advisory. I just wonder how involved and participatory we could be as Engineers in providing input into such processes/ good outputs. Without duplicating effort, Engineers ought to be involved in thought leadership and problem solving through these ThinkTanks.

ADVISORY BOARDS – advising Government should be a national service and patriotic imperative (I missed out on going to National Service after Form 5, I always wished I did go). And no, we don’t need to be paid for every advice we give as professionals to government. Remember ” to ask not what government can do for you but what you can do for government”.

Speaking for myself as an Energy Engineer of over 24years Engineering existence, I have taken it upon myself to engage with all the last 4 including the current Zambian Government’s Ministers of Energy to share with them my personal opinion on energy issues as well as offer my hand to help; truth is advice just seems to be the one thing you can not impose on anyone; they either take it or leave it!

As an Energy Engineer, I personally feel responsible for Zambia attaining a 100% electrification rate and becoming a net exporter of power. I also feel responsible for loadshedding and poor economic performance indicators due to insufficient power for productive usage (Economic – ENERGY – sociopolitical nexus). So this remains my guilt as a professional in this sector as such I shall continue to do my part and remain relevant wherever I am allowed and invited to become.

PROPOSITION:

Professional desk at state house similar to the marketeers’ desk (is it even still there?). Granted, some input directed at Government and specifically the President never ever gets to reach him as it sometimes gets lost either in translation or choice by messenger (case in point, I once commented and gave advice on the Presidential Milling initiative but doubt it even reached the President’s desk). A professional desk or depository at state house where the President takes personal interest may just provide the govt and country with some amazing ideas and solutions.

Apolitical Multidisciplinary advisory team to Government should be constituted with a revolving set of team members taken from across all professional and economic sectors and should not only be of the names we think we know or have heard off; strive to find that reclusive deep thinker and be open to divergent views.

Having said all this , now a message to all my fellow Engineers! 

We have a patriotic duty and a responsibility to our profession to help our government deliver on it’s 7th NDP and Vision 2030 among others. Our contribution should both be small and grand at every level of society (whether appointed to a Board or merely helping our community during the weekly “keep our community clean” activities). We must not just want to participate where we will be recognized and awarded but also where there is no recognition or reward.  We should not be shy to volunteer ourselves to service and raise our hands up for appointment and we should definitely not be our own enemies and inhibitors of fellow engineers!

By Eng.Chisakula Kaputu

The author of this article, Chisakula Kaputu is an Energy Expert and Sustainability Practitioner of over 20 years experience. He may be contacted by email at chisakula.kaputu AT see DOTco.zm