An attack on the rulers family

They say all good things come to an end. And there can also be an “au revoir” between the best of friends. Vice-President Dr. Guy Scott may well be thinking about that.After a nebulous and self-defeating reference to the President’s son, Mulenga Joel Sata—automatic heir to the throne if Zambia was a monarchy—Dr. Scott may have stuck his finger out in President Sata’s face!

Nothing beyond the understandable. Go into any memory bank of rulers (kings and presidents); they never take kindly to aspersions on their spouse and children. They perceive an attack on any member of their family as an attack on themselves. That’s just the way it is.

In a way, Shakespeare meant such a menu when he declared; “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Whether it is American President Barak Obama or South African President Jacob Zuma, they all look an unattractive sight when their families are disparaged by anyone.Rulers know that any perceived sleight of hand against their household is a volatility that goes viral. It sends a huge statement out. Sometimes, it re-opens old wounds. In the case of Mulenga Sata, attention shifts to his mother, the distinguished former headmistress of the Kamwala Secondary School, sister of Zambia’s first international film actor, late Edwin Manda of the Touch of the Sun fame.

It will be significant to indicate that the movie; Touch of the Sun, a 1979 British-American comedy film was directed by Peter Curran and starring such names as Oliver Reed, Sylvaine Charlet, Peter Cushing and Wilfrid Hyde-White. Also released as No Secrets!, it was the story of an American space capsule which crash-landed into an African dictator’s territory. The ruler, Emperor Sumumba (acted by Manda), refuses to return it and demands a massive ransom. An American secret agent is assigned to recover it.

It explains why the Lusaka mayor’s response to Dr. Scott was fast and furious. He must have been badly hurt by his father’s friend, a man whom he probably endears as an “Uncle.” Two weeks in politics can be such a long time. A long time indeed, where, already, verbiage is changing!

Scott and Sata -inseparable until now

Perhaps until now, political communicators saw Dr. Scott as one you can liken to President Sata’s Siamese twin brother albeit in a different skin colour. The two were inseparable whether as smokers then, as MMD MPs and Ministers and as lone wolves at the formation of the Patriotic Front (PF).
Jocularly, some people even say PF for too long comprised only two people—Sata and Scott. Now Dr. Scott must meet the challenge of offending a King in ways that threaten what is among the greatest achievements of his Vice-Presidency—the glue that holds PF together. Until now.

A Biblical example of the sort of wrath Dr. Scott should expect from Mr. Sata is found in Esther 7 verses 6-10:
And Queen Esther (wife of the King) said, “the enemy is this very Haman (the King’s number two). So Haman was terrified before the king and queen. Then the king arose from his seat and went into the garden (not Israel), he was very angry. On his return, he found Haman had fallen across the couch where the queen was. Then the king said, “will he also molest the queen while I am in the house?” As the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face (he was taken away to hang on gallows he had prepared for someone else).

In these matters of a ruler’s family, it is either their way or the Highway! Examples should abound in Zambia and questions asked on whether anyone who crossed successive First Families from Dr.Kaunda, Dr.Chiluba, Dr.Mwanawasa or President Banda’s era, was ever invited to a fete at Plot One.

Unfortunately for Dr. Scott, perceptions in politics are reality. Political communications’ tradition will judge his statement on Mulenga Sata as a roll-call of de-christening the Lusaka Mayor from a possible PF succession race.

Only Dr. Scott knows why as an experienced politician he put his job on the chopping block and roused controversy by inadvertently ensuring the PF does not have wider horizons in the event of a succession contest. Maybe he has the bit between his teeth. Why mention a Lusaka mayor and a Kabwata MP who are not even cabinet ministers?
Whether Dr. Scott likes or loathes this discourse, his statement on Mulenga Sata possesses the asset of unmatched timing. He mentions names outside whatever Cabinet inner circle and fingers the President’s son.

Could it be that in PF circles Mulenga Sata and Given Lubinda are the names being bandied about in the event of a PF succession race? Curious succession elimination, then—Or else let someone prove that it’s reasonably possibly true no such malice was intended.

Whatever Dr. Scott’s political reasoning, he may not escape the judgment—albeit misinterpretation—of a king for his rails against his son without looking in the mirror and understanding the potentially devastating effects of bounded rationality.
On his return from a far-off land, the king who may have thought “surely, they will respect my son,” will most likely look up at Dr. Scott’s statement on Mulenga Sata, with a scowl.
And yet all credit to Dr. Scott, he has served us well as Zambia’s first Caucasian Vice-President since Independence: he gave us a light complexion that amazed the world, he has run his race but maybe this too is fast coming to an abrupt end.

By Samuel Ngoma
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The Author is a veteran Zambian Journalist and former diplomat to Belgium
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President Michael Chilufya Sata (MSC) has been known to be a hardworking, Man of Action, blatant speaker, a jovial person, a man of the people and a committed Catholic.

No doubt MCS is one of the astute politicians of our times. Very few politicians can stand toll to toll with him. It is because of these attributes that he was voted as President in 2011.

Unfortunately today MCS is a subject of discussion, not for the attributes mentioned above, but speculations and lies. It is a fact the Sata’s government has tried to change the face of Zambia by their ambitious infrastructure development, agriculture and fight against corruption.

However, all this positivity is being over shadowed by the hullabaloo of his health status and capacity to rule the Country.

For the past two weeks the public has discussing his absence in the Country. It is now reported that he is back but without an official confirmation from Government.

Anyone might want to justify this change in Sata’s activism using whatever reasons, but certainly this is not the way we know the man. He love people and he love to interact. Something has been preventing him from being with the people.

On a number of occasions the President has been seen frail and weak in public which has made people to speculate as to why he wants the public functions to run quickly to finish.

This year’s labour Day was one case in point. The epitome of such trends was on African Freedom Day. People were gathered at the New Heroes stadium waiting for the President only to realize that he had gone back to State House soon after laying wreaths at the Freedom statue.

The investiture took place at State House and the President was off the public eye.

Later that night, rumors emerged of President Sata having collapsed and evacuated out of the Country for medical attention. Government could not issue any statement in time, to dispel the rumor or confirm otherwise.

The rumors grew deeper and wide until he reappeared to swear in veteran lawyer Mumba Kapumpa as Ambassador to South Korea and Salome Mwananshiku as High Commissioner to Malawi.

The public was later feed with a rumor, which later turned out to be true, that the President has left the Country quietly. In a speculative way it was confirmed that he was in Israel on a working holiday.

The Vice President mamboed around to explain the reports that the President was in Hospital in Tel Aviv but it could not add up to put the speculations to rest.

The speculations have continued even now that the President is back in the Country with no Government official confirming this.

Yesterday, the President should have been celebrating 77th Birthday but nothing tangible from Government to commemorate the day. No news of him even on public media.

This is a very strange for any Nation. The situation creates apprehension and wonder in the citizens.

President Sata is loved by many and they would want to know about him and of him. The way Government is handling the issue dents the image of the President. If the president is sick, there is no harm in telling the Nation so that people can sympathize with him and as a Christian Nation pray for him as well.

Unfortunately other Government official has even gone to an extent of wanting to criminalize the debate on the President’s health. It is not that people have evil intent in discuss his health, it is because they are concerned.

The situation also does not give confidence to investors and the economy as a whole because it poses a risk of uncertainty.

It is very sad that Government has mismanaged the flow of information concerning the President and it is working against his publicity.

Zambian Voice Exec Director Chilufya Tayali

An image of President Sata in Israel

Not once did I picture the president in the presence of Shimon Peres seeping kosher wine and laughing in chivalry. Nor did I envision him and his wife enjoying the serenity and basking in the ambience of Tel Aviv by the Mediterranean. I tried to visualize him touring Jerusalem, but not in the state he was before he left. The only thoughts that made a closer approach to truth were thoughts dumped on the base of my mind by speculators. They showed a critical president, intubated to a ventilator, with his doctor and family by his bedside. Yes, I had believed in them because I had not heard from him.

So, each time I retired to bed I feared for the worst. As soon as I awoke, I dashed to the stand to buy a newspaper or nervously accessed my computer for any hint of his condition. I didn’t believe a word Guy Scott and Mwansa Kapeya said. These two men were the reason a plague of speculation blanketed the entire nation. Incredibly, they swore by the Holy Bible to tell the truth “nothing but the truth, so help me God” and yet they turned out to be straight-faced fabricators and virulent propagandists who had made it impossible for the nation to send him roses and get well cards. They made it difficult for the clergy to conduct national prayers for him as he received treatment at Sheba Medical Center. Given a grain of power, I would charge them with the worst type of perjury in the land.

President Sata does not care

But of course the fault falls squarely on the president. It should mortify him greatly for not coming to our rescue; for not correcting the wrong impression created by his own cronies. For the two weeks he was gone, he left us gloomy and emotionally spent. Not once did he bother to taper our emotions, anxieties, fears, suspicions, and distress. He showed not an iota of love—not a word, not a picture. Like a heartless, insensible, selfish, and unloving father he forsook his subjects and cared less how we felt. This is his deadly weakness—lack of love. Another is lack of honesty. It is possible he is the one who ordered his confidants to give the impression all was well and his vacation was well deserved.
How can the president conceal his life from us? This is the same man who more than once rose from the ashes of defeat, persevered to the bitter end and won. He so badly wanted to become president he took the oath of office and vowed to rule with honor and dignity. The words “honor” and “dignity” are synonymous with love. It is on the pedestal of love and not power that presidents thrive. A president who loves his people will keep them well informed at every stage. When his health fails, he will release a press statement and let his people know the cause even if it is cancer or a heart defect. When he takes a vacation he will inform his people as to the exact location and when he would be returning.

Treating Zambians like kids

Not surprising, Sata has lived up to his PF slogan “Donchi Kubeba (Don’t tell them),” instituted by his vice president Guy Scott. The slogan is built on the principle similar to that of a pitiless father who does not tell his children what is going on around him. Sata treats us like kids who are yet to come of age and who cannot distinguish between right and wrong, truth and lie. He camouflages in the PF slogan to torture us mentally. Without our knowledge he can leave us with men skilled in lies, cover-ups, manipulation, and the machinations of power.

When we indulge in gossip and rumor mongering due to lack of credible information, he and his men employ threats and intimidation to suppress our right to speculate. He and his men punish us for their diabolical talk, dirty tactics, and blatant lies.

It is close to three years and this is how Sata has ruled us, with foul play and little honor. He has deteriorated in character and gained only contempt on account of his lack of love and respect for us. With stubbornness and concealment incomparable, he has impaired the veneration which is necessary to preserve our love for him, and instead, driven our country to where it is now—in a precarious state of uncertainty. It is his recklessness that in the past two weeks has made people become fearful of possible divisions and bloody battles within his PF party. Some have feared a revolution. And many others have, during this period, visualized a very dark future for Zambia ruled by unruly men.

Sata’s return has done nothing to beset rumours

Even when he has returned, he has not showed us love. Why? It is because insensate power has got the best of him. He does not care. He has mellowed in imprudence and dropped the little love left in him. It has become imperative for him to acquire as much power as will satisfy his life-time ambition. It is this unlimited power and not love that gives him prestige. That’s why he got into politics in the first place. It is in the presence of power that he breaks the laws of the land with no regard to the feelings of his people. He can capitulate on his responsibilities and sacred oath, abuse the instruments of power, and entrust our souls unreservedly to the demerits of other people. In as far as he is concerned, we are obligated to follow his orders, ask no questions, and love him even when he does not.

But President Sata must know that in the state he is, power is not, now, so important; love is. He needs our love more than before. The past two weeks of his absence have been a litmus test; a clear indication of where he is as a leader. He must now know that the power he is brandishing cannot open the gates to our hearts. During the period of his absence, millions of people, including some members of his family and close friends, showed little remorse. Some diverted their attention to succession while others didn’t care whether he lived or not. Now the underbelly of his party PF has been exposed and a possible rift is in the offing. Some of his own members fear he is preparing his son to succeed him and revile him for that. As I write, numerous ripples of negativity are floating through the heads of too-many-a-soul.

Zambians ready to love Sata if he reveals the truth

Now that he is back, the fiend Sata should sit on the balcony of State House and seriously reflect on his life. He must understand that the power from which he draws weakens with each passing day. It is therefore not the time to reflect on how to siphon as much money out of our poor souls. What will this matter when he is old and gone? He must instead reflect on the worst of the worst of himself; his most vulnerable self and ask himself several questions, among them: Am I being fair to the Zambia people? Do they really deserve this? What is wrong with telling them the truth? What is wrong with loving and respecting them? How do I serve as a role model for future leaders? What legacy do I want to leave?
Just like the King Cobra sheds its skin, he too must shed his unethicality. He must publicly proclaim his love for us. If he does, he will see how we shall open our hearts and love him with our inner-selves.

That’s who we are as a people. We are naturally meek, loving, and peaceful. Our ancestors ran away from the jingoistic rulers and found solace on the land that is our beloved country. Our parents taught us love. We love easily. If president Sata confronts his demons, goes on television and addresses us his people truthfully and with love, we will love him back, as simple as that. If, on the other hand, he fails to lift himself up and continues to bring us down—to lie, and keep us in perpetual distress, we shall not send him best wishes, but shall leave him to molder in solitude. It is with these words I pay homage to a president who has robbed our love for him. The past two weeks have been a tumultuous horrible ordeal, a deliberate one caused by one man. For that he gains no honor.

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner, historian, author, and a doctoral candidate. Learn more about him on his website www.aruwebooks.com. On it you shall access his autobiography, articles, and books. Contact him, blog, or join in the debate. ©Ruwe2012