By Charles Ngoma
Adlai Stevenson is quoted as saying, ‘I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends…that if they stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.’
From Dr Chiluba’s latest press conference one can see how Zambian politicians seem to be sitting between the truth and lies by failing to reveal one, while concealing the other.
It is like the more secret scandals they know about each other, the closer their precarious friendships and associations. Kind of insurance policies ready to be cashed in on the death of that friendship.
There has been feverish interest in this press conference and yet in as far as politics is concerned, there was very little of it.
The main political point Dr.Chiluba made was to defend his freedom of association and tell us why he supports a particular person as Presidential candidate.
Other than that, the rest was a shameful and embarrassing ‘undressing’ of an older man in the eyes of the people. Once upon a time all these men were pals.
It seems that at that time, they concealed all the truths about each other but now they want everyone to know what they know.
On the other hand, Mr Sata once asked Mr Hichilema to ‘reveal how he got rich so quickly as a young man’ but now that, is expediently a non-issue in the pact.
Could it be that he has reserved that weapon for future use? How true, that ‘in politics, your enemies can’t hurt you, but your friends will kill you.’ (Ann Richards, 45th Governor of Texas) There is no doubt that Dr Chiluba was provoked by the numerous aspersions that had been cast on his character by the older man. Whether he was right or wrong to respond in that manner, I will leave for others to judge.
But the question that should be asked is: how have we come to this petty pass in our politics? May I suggest that all sectors of our society are to blame for this.
First, it is us, us the public who have an insatiable appetite for ‘juicy gossip’ and voyeurism on the people in power and those we admire.
Because of this, we have blurred the distinction between what is of public interest and interesting to the public.
What came out of the former President’s mouth was not news to many people because Zambia is a small country and we all know someone who knows someone, who knows someone we know.
Second, the blame is on the media, the media whose life line depends on circulation.
Newspapers do not make money from selling individual papers as such, but if they show that they have a wide circulation, advertisers are more likely to buy space and thus finance the paper.
It has been said that sex sells newspapers and what a harvest it yields when this is combined with politics! The media personalities are part and parcel of the society, and so what interests the society, interests them and vice versa.
But, there is journalistic training that should help distinguish between a reporter and a common gossiper, between a professional and a charlatan.
The journalist must be incisive, and must consider diligently the effect the information he is to disseminate will have on people. Information is power.
The pen is mightier than the sword. Nowadays, we have visual cues as well and this is a potent force that can be used to shape our destiny for good or for ill.
Lack of information is ignorance, and ignorance is vice. But too much information without restraint is dangerous.A sail that takes in too much of the wind will capsize the boat.
There are certain things that are not necessary to report, unless one has malice in aforethought.
Thirdly: the politicians themselves. There is nothing super human about a politician. Indeed, all of them have flaws.
All of them have done and will do many unsavoury things in their lives for which they will be ashamed. We do not elect them because they are ensamples of superior morality.
We elect them to do a job. But, if they have any idea as to why they are in politics, then they will know what to say and when to say what they say.
It seems to me that Mr Sata has a penchant for pointing moral flaws in political opponents. Dr Nevas Mumba was once a victim of this while he led the NCC.
How can talking about someone ‘stealing another man’s wife’ bring food to a hungry and malnourished child in Madzimoyo, medicine to a leper in Liteta, fertilizer to a farmer in Mazabuka or money in the pockets of a retired miner in Mwansabombwe?
How do all these personal attacks explain encourage people to go to a polling station to vote? By these personality issues, how does the man in the street understand what is wrong with the national budget? How does all this really develop our country?
As President Obama said about America, I would say of Zambia that there is nothing which is wrong in Zambia, which what is right with Zambia cannot correct.
As our own Dr Kenneth Kaunda says about HIV/AIDS, we fought colonialism, we can overcome our ills as well.
Let the people seek first the really important things for us and our children and elect officers who can bring about those things.
Let the media ask the right questions and so hold the elected officers to account for their mandate and promises.
Let the politicians concentrate on the weightier matters of development, life and death, rather than petty issues of who is sleeping with whom.
