My Political views

I write this blog as self-medication (and also, hoping it makes some people feel comfortable that they are not alone) for the disaster I see my country going through and all because of what these “leaders” claim to be doing the hard work when a lot more can be done. 2008 was a very bad year for Zambia. We lost our president and a lot of things were brought out about the “successes” that the MMD has achieved. On the other side, a lot of failures were highlighted. What I liked about the two was the evidence and alternatives which were offered on how this country can be moved forward. I thought the elections would bring a better way of dealing with our country's problems, but we merely wasted money in holding the elections as what was being said was just lip-service and the Mwanawasa legacy preached about was actually two sides and only one in being implemented.

"Mwanawasa Legacy"
Mwanawasa did two things for the country (as far as I'm concerned): 
a) Fight Against Corruption: He proved that he was a strong man of values and took on corruption of former leaders and made them feel the law. 
b) Ignored Poverty: He did not bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and had over 70% of the people living in poverty.

The rest of the stories are things he worked on, which were started by either Kaunda or Chiluba so I can't dwell on them. So the legacy he left can only be one of the two. Poverty or fighting corruption. Presidential candidates were all promising to continue his legacy and I was not happy as they did not highlight which legacy they would follow. RB took over poor and I'm a sad man, as I expected, he took the legacy I wanted to get rid of. So we have poverty levels being unaffected and the fight against corruption will soon slowly head towards a stop. A disaster at any level for me!

My wish was to have a leader to tackle the poverty situation of the people and not enrich the rich few few at the expense of national development. All hope I had disappeared with RB coming into office. The man has no vision, no fight, no stance and a mere figure in state house. What has he got to offer the people? What has done for the country? He can't claim or boast about reduction in fuel pump prices. We are still the most expensive in the region. The drop in prices is but a global issue not his works! Has done nothing that he would claim he reduced the prices? There is a mine disaster right now, and he saw it fit to then take his clan for a holiday on government money? Is this the type of leadership we wanted? Will this solve our problems? Will this move the national? Will anyone apart from his clan benefit from his holiday?

My hope keeps being killed even with a simple change in daylight, I realize I'm still in a nightmare. It's like we have a government which aims at making sure people are not happy, can't celebrate anything and to live miserably!

Until I run out of words or something good comes out of my dear country, I will have to self-medicate through the internet whenever I can. I hope my busy life will have to fit in some-how.

This is the year that saw the birth of my dying hope. I hope to have a chance to bring back that hope that I have lost.

Infrastructure Disaster

Infrastructure Disaster

Zambia has a problem with maintenance for a very long time. We have in many cases failed to maintain what we have. I know it is hard to acquire new infrastruture for a young economy like ours, but maintaining what we have saves a lot of resources from wasteful use and can make us look at other things we currently don't have.

So what is it that we can not do right in our infrastructural maintenance? We let the strutures wear out to such an extent it is impossible to repair or maintain but easier and cheaper to replace them. This has put a strain our little resources and has mad us lag so much behind.

We need to develop a culture of maintenance. Its not only economical but total common sense. Our land needs all the resources it can get to achieve any meaningful develop. The cost of maintenance compared to the cost of getting brand new structures is very low. Well, this is not an economics blog, much as I believe the polity and economics are the same, I want to take a different stance on here.

Politically the infrastructural disaster is lack of foresight. You can't let resources go to waste just because you have not put up structures that will safe guard against any form of waste. Ministry of works and supply and any such that is related to maintenance of structures should take it up and deal with this problem.

Zambia is poor, and getting poorer by the day just because not so much effort has been put into looking after the structures that we have. Compared to many countries in the region, we have been at peace the longest and yet have nothing to show for it. Countries which have been at war have better roads, better schools and better buildings that us. What have we done wrong? We have an ever worsening system which can not take care of itself. We can't even put up roads to last 5years. And after that 5 years, we still have to go out and try to rebuild the roads and not maintain them before they reach that state.

After so many years of KK's rule was ended in our beloved country, we have the worst looking compounds than before. Kabwata, Kamwala and Chilenje all had good roads. Now these places look like they have just started constructing houses and have not yet addressed the road network. What happened to the tar that covered them? When was there a system to look after the roads? What Chiluba spent in getting the small size shoes could have been used on the roads. I have not sympathy for all those friends of Chiluba but this man has cost us more than we can imagine. We have rivers running through cairo road after even 1mm of rain. The call-boys have even taken up strategic places which have pools of water so they can put stones on and only allow people to pass through if they pay them K1000.00. This is in the CBD!!! No road is immune to floods no matter how light the rain is.

Is it that hard to maintain a drainage system so we ca wait for 10 years to be able to start afresh? What kind of people are we that fail to look after the things that we use? Who will look after these things for us? I can't even talk about litter, that will mean I spend a night blogging about it! We have to find means to correct out thinking processes to make this country far better than it is now. Most of these things cost very little and in most cases just our time. We can do better

Continuity... What continuity??

I read a letter to the editor by C. Banda (Rupiah's Holiday), The Post dated: 26 th December 2008 with interest. He's one of the few who voted for Rupiah Banda for the sake of “continuity”. Much as I agree with him on a lot of points, I have my reaction to the issue.

We have to be careful as a country not to be fooled by politicians all the time. It is common sense that politicians will use anything they see as a weakness to get your interest in a person. RB cannot have a continuity of any one in mind both living or dead. Hes an individual on his own. It should be spelled out clearly that even one's twin will never replace the other as they exist on their own. So when the issue of continuity came up, I laughed as people took it, one can continue what the other did. Unless one used to the other's thinking, that is, the other person's brain, it is impossible. So on a physical level, I'm very sorry, that cannot happen.

Mwanawasa was in his own right, a person wit his own values, beliefs, approach and responsibility that no one dead or alive can take over from him. They can either build or destroy or take a whole new path far from his. It is human nature. I feel his pain to realize what some of us were saying as being true of what RB will do, and he didn't believe, only to be hit by reality after voting for him. The mere idea of voting for him on the issue of continuity has put a lot of us in misery and the country has been sent decades into primitivity. Who on this planet can believe a sensible person will side and be promoted by the likes of Mulongoti, VJ and Teta? These are the worst things to happen to Zambia at this time. I'm ashamed to be from the same country as the three. Now imagine what a person will do if hes backed by the three. Simple logic told us that RB was not a choice at any time. He neither has the qualities that we require nor the logic of what needs to be done.


So “your” continuity only looked at one thing, continuity in poverty (were more than 70% of the people live in abject poverty), continuity in delays in bringing plunderers to justice, continuity in leaders enriching themselves, and nothing to do with this country's development or positive progress. We were given a chance by God to change the course of this country by looking and valuing the developmental aspects and put leaders who will work on issues that will benefit the ordinary citizens and we failed. We failed the country, the people of Zambia and most importantly, we failed our children, grand children and great grand children. Continuity is meaningless if it means heading in the wrong direction. And thats where we are heading. His inauguration speech had all that people expected. He had nothing to offer during campaigns. I knew that and saw it, but thought everyone one else saw it. I was shocked to talk to some people some of whom are my dear friends on the issue and they told me they were behind RB. I laugh at them now looking at what continuity they thought they were getting. The joke is not on them only, its on me, my children, my family, my neighbours and the whole country. We have made this country be the worst place on earth to live in by wrong choices. We have totally messed everything up.


Positive outcomes come from someone with positive things wherever he works, lives or found. No other way. What did RB do? Who was he found with? Has he ever contributed to positivity of the country? I doubt if there is a yes to any of that. No wonder I have no hope for this country with just the mere fact that he is leading it. It is such things that make other countries better. Our security wings (intelligence) should make it a point to bring out all the issues that a person like him have. They should not be a tool for a leader but a tool for the country. Obama was being protected when he was still a mere democrat candidate long before he won the nomination. Here, it serves the president and not the f**king country. What the hell are you trying to do. It is the country that you should work on. Chiluba was using the intelligence to steal the country's monies. Maybe I have a different meaning for intelligence but I expect the intelligence to even expose a head of state when he is doing wrong. But here it seems the intelligence is used actually to do wrong. Thats why all those who work for the intelligence hide the issue. It is because we know anything with “shu-shu-shu” is bad ending no matter how straight one is. Maybe we should even called it lack-of-intelligence and not intelligence.


The Post spent a lot of time bringing out these issues and I'm sure the intelligence was at them trying to find ways they can close it down. Close down the truth??? Only in Zambia!


Now we have people going on holidays claiming they have done a lot and need to rest. They carry everything maybe just leave chickens in the yard for the holiday on tax-payers' money. What work have they done? Reduce fuel pump price – which are expected because it is a global issue. And anyway, we are still the most expensive in the region! So what has been done there? Did he go to drill more oil so the pump price can reduce globally? Look at our roads – it is a disaster! I will be taking pictures for people to see what a country has become. I would never rest or even sleep if I was ruling a country in such a state. Kaunda should be ashamed to even greet his hand after what the country he left has become today.


I have seen him do three (3) things since he became president and none of which I can boast about it I was him.
1. Salary increment
2. Reduction of Visa fees
3. Holiday for his clan
is that worth celebrating over? We are a primitive country which have little or no values to look at that as development.

We have to put a lot of things to put in order to have any chance of making this country better than what it is today. It should never take a useless holiday to bring us to senses. We are not in any way going to progress with such leadership. Our priorities as a country are misplaced and totally messed up. Even our institutions don't know what they should do in making this country a better place to live in. we have lost a lot of ground with MMD in power than countries that were at war like Angola and Mozambique. They even have better structures than we dream about. You wonder what we were doing while they were fighting! They not only caught up with us, but they have even pasted us in development. Should Zambia be a mediocre country all my life? There has to be a better way to live than this surely.

Government Vs PF and Games

Two things have been on my mind this week. And not one of them has anything to do with Christmas.
One involves our childish fights in government and of course with the opposition, the other is our stupid ideas about money. All shocking for ordinary people.

I.Mayoral elections:
II.All Africa Games Hosting.

Mayoral Elections
Please note that no matter how I hate Teta's approach, lack of wisdom and arrogance to issues I'm taking him as my a Zambia minister with respect he deserves.
No time have we had an opportunity to see an opposition take local government like PF has done. I must say, I expected them to be on silly road but have been been impressive in most of what they have done. I'm proud that at least there's an area which MMD could not control and fruits have been seen in that.

Tetamashimba postponed mayoral elections with the excuse of “lack of money” to hold these elections and issued a statutory instrument to that effect. All seem to be in order as far as MMD is concerned. But PF leader Micheal Sata said this was illegal and councils should hold elections as was expected. Ordinary people then are left to wonder as to what is happening.
Well, we have to look at the law for us to do anything about this including judging who is right and who is wrong.

I'm afraid Sata is right. The law on the issue if clear. Council first sitting has to have, as its first agenda, the election of the mayor. And a statutory instrument does not break the law nor does it amend it. It provides (for lack of better words and limited legal reading), safe guards to the law.

So if elections are held, government says they are illegal, but the law also says, if the elections are not held, whatever council does is illegal! Sata is right as our only guide in this issue is the law. Teta's actions will only bring people to be breaking the law. Now I believe he is supposed to uphold the law, not break it or contribute to its breaking. I have no problem with issues of such a nature, as I believe doing the right thing is the way out, regardless of the cost. We should at all times, do the right thing and forget about the cost involved. Its as simple as borrowing money to save your life or be with shame and die poorly because you couldn't borrow.

I'm not a lawyer, fortunately, but I'm sure there is a way to sort out this matter legally and not just the illegal method that Teta seems to love so much. Uphold the law at all costs and forget your petty differences.

I am also a bit lost on the issue of money to hold these elections. After all, they are being postponed for six months. Where will the money come from then? Has government got a source of money then which it does not have now? How is funding for this same mayoral election done? I believe there's a system which ensures there is money for such an event long before it happens. Or is our government so backwards that such things are put in ad-hoc arrangement? Let us know how this issue is budgeted for please so we know how that money is not there. I'm certainly tired of funeral excuse when it comes to money.

But the simplest logic a man on the street has is: with the postponement of the elections, will there be a council sitting? If yes, what cost will the election add to the sitting? Don't they get the same allowances regardless of what they are sitting for? Is there such a thing as election allowances? If so why can't they work out how they will pay them for that. The cost of installing the mayor is not so great. Unless of course we are not in the system and there is a way that these guys make more money out of the system.

Whatever case, I believe the election wont have such a cost that it will take six months to organise funds for the elections. After all, I believe councils should have the money ready as they know about this. Lets work and make things right all the time. No wonder we keep getting poorer and poorer as a country – no direction even on simple and straight forward things.

All Africa Games
Sad story that the simplest tournament that Zambia was supposed to host has already received a no go from government. Not that I am surprised, I expected this long time. Leaders are too greedy to allow such a tournament to spoil their slice of the money the country is generating. Why else would a country fail to raise the needed money? The benefits are so great that they will keep coming from the infrastructure that will be set and the mere pride of hosting such an event. Do these guys know how much such an event brings into the country? Do you maths right and see what we stand to benefit from this. Even world cup 2010 benefits are all coming because of hosting the games.

Immediately we pull out, we pull out of the hosting of any such tournament, we even stand to lose from 2010 world cup. Why would any country think of coming to prepare in this country which fails to host a tournament? What will they find of value?

I know the president's funeral seems like a good excuse to most people, but not me. I have an idea how companies came up to help with logistics and finances. MMD was too concerned with campaigning they were ready to do what they can to get the sympathy vote from people because of the funeral. If it was not this vote, they would have reduced their budget a lot.

Anyway, couldn't this be a better way to honor the late president? We could host them to respect him. How many business houses can contribute to footing the games' bill? How many will benefit? All these need to be put on board and work things out. It is this idea of government tryiong to do things in its own way that has been costing us a lot of money. It is high time they realize people want to move on with issue and make amends to mis-dealings and substandard work. We want to have the games so we can celebrate and feel proud as Zambians. We have been denied that chance with almost anything that government has a hand in, please not the games also! Don't make it a habit to rig people's happiness.

Presidential Priorities

I'm a firm believer that anyone can do what they want. The limits to that lays strictly in them. I believe human capacity is determined by individual capacity which is affect by what they are. And to add to this, people are the products of their genes and environment. All these sum-up what one can do or can not do. I'm a little uncomfortable about the genes but have, with time, realized they could really contribute to what one can do. For example if your genes come from a family prone to certain genetic diseases, you can not avoid being affected by that disease. Quick to add, i'm a social scientist so i'm could be limited in my understanding of the genetics.

Having said that, I judge people on what they can offer, not what they promise to offer. The difference being that, the offer may be a result of people around them and not themselves taking that thing seriously. So if presidential candidates stand and say one thing when I know they mean something else, my better judgement should be to follow what I know they will provide.

My understanding of what one is worth is evident in what one unknowingly throws out as something he understands. Anything with links to being written for them or told about will carry the label of “I don't know this” no matter how convincing they try to be.

RB knew one thing about his priority when he assumes power, and he has implemented it. The rest are a mere suprise and shock to him that they should be addressed. My wife laughed at me when I said RB had no vision for his presidency as his scope was narrow and limited to just one thing – visa fees. He spoke with confidence and vigor about that than anything else. His entire being was focused on reducing the visa-fees. Even after being sworn in, thats the first thing he talked about. Don't believe me? http://appablog.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/zambia-inauguration-speech-by-president-rupiah-banda-november-2-2008/ And to that effect, visa charges have been reduced. How does that affect the Zambian in chibolya? Well, I will need to show you with basic tools of economics, and believe me, it does affect them and makes their life better off.

But surely, of all things that a president can take as priority, he chose visa charges!!?? why not looking at the poverty in the country that MMD seems to have ignored.

“there are game parks and warm hospitality to enjoy.
i want tourism centres all over Zambia.
i want the world to see how diverse and unique our country is.
i have already promised to reduce visa fees; this should welcome more visitors to our country.
i also want visitors to enjoy the fruits of our land.
our farmers play an important role in feeding us all. we will continue to support them in producing food surpluses.
the price of fertilizer and fuel has already come down.
these lower input costs provide a valuable window of opportunity.”

I wished I could look at the inauguration speech with a smile at how many good things he will do, but alas, nothing worth my pen! Tourism is more important than getting people put of poverty? Is it more important to show case Zambia to the world at reduced visa fees than making Zambians benefit from the fruits of their country? This is clearly a lack of substance on things to do when one is a president. No wonder we always rush to inauguration because in most if not all cases, elections have a rig stamp on them.

We had a discussion on the promises that the candidates had before the elections. RB and HH were lacking in substance or had ideas of what to do but lacked the simplest idea of what to do. Two points were taken from Sata which had substance and could have had a great impact in the country. Regardless of who is ruling, if Sata's ideas are taken up, a lot more could be achieved in this country. So sad that the one person with ideas is also old to take the presidency and maybe bring something worth talking about. I know a lot of people have nicely been brain washed by MMD to think Sata has everything bad about him. Yet none of them have achieve or even come closer to what he has done for this country. Even Kaunda could not cite one thing that is bad about Sata except that he is good as a minister but not as a president. RB is not even good as a mayor if we go by what he has done. I judge people by their works not by which chap disgraces them in public! How many blogs have been written about Sata and what they fear he can do. Not one of them talks about what he has done for the country – because all has been for the benefit of Zambians. During the last campaign the two important points I took from what he was saying were:
1.Setting up of hydro-power station in northern part of Zambia to supplement current supply of power
2.Establishment of another oil refinery for oil originating from Angola.

Hydro-Power Station
Current supply of power from ZESCO is insufficient hence the constant blackouts that are a daily routine in the capital city. I was shocked to land in a country in total darkness and yet we have enormous sources of hydro power. We live like rats or primitive villagers chasing for caddles every single day. MMD then proudly tells us, we are moving forward in development. It would be something worth talking about if the power shortage was as a result of major industries consuming all the power. But it is due to lack of planning and fore-sight. One more power station in the northern part would do wonders regardless of how many tourists come as a result of reduced visa fees!! Wake up, we need to move forward not deal on making this country any more primitive than it is today. Aren't we ashamed to visit other countries and you wonder how they have been moving and we have been going backwards?
Angola has better infrastructure than we dream about. Yet, it has been at war longer than we have been independent!
We need more and more energy for our industries and for sure, Sata has substance in his vision for a hydro power station in the north. What is that land doing if left neglected all this time?

Oil Refinery
INDENI is always down the greater part of the year. Thats not a secret. We have a refinery, but people in Livingstone find it cheaper to buy fuel from Botswana and even Zimbabwe (when it has). We are very expensive. There is a lot of oil being ferried from Botswana to Zambia on dug-out canoes. I have used this fuel, and for sure it is cheap regardless of what profit the people bring it in add on top and despite the risks! What has gone wrong with our country???
we are now backwards, primitive and shameless under MMD. We need to change our focus and see a future with the good priorities and brighter future for our children.

We need to judge these people based on what they can do. With RB, the efforts to rid this country of corruption will be reversed. A lot of current court cases with start being thrown out and slowly make way for kleptocracy to take over democracy that we have. He was the second mistake to this country. The first being Chiluba's second term.

RB will expertly mislead us to doom in a shortest time that we can imagine.

copper boom is over

An Email circulating in lusaka...

The copper boom is over, what are you going to do? The recent copper boom has been short lived. From about 2005 when there was massive reinvestment in the mines and speculation of more, the Copperbelt and Lusaka saw a proliferation of all manner of mine suppliers- Robin Hood copper recyclers (stealing from the mines dump to sell to 'venture capitalists').There was a boom in trade with Dubai, China, Dar es Salaam.We saw an increase in property investment, transport and prostitution (Solwezi notably). And boy did it boom! A check on the social spots of the Copperbelt town of Kitwe and one was likely to meet all manner or businessmen and a few businesswomen. There were excursions across the border into Congo and into the new wild west of Zambia, North Western Province to get villagers to dig for copper using crude tools and haul 50kg bags of ore on the backs. Stories of copper truck hijacks became the norm. The Chinese where the villains of the show. While a not too close look revealed that other country nationals were the villains also, namely Australians, South Africans and Zambians too! Pot-bellied Zambians and Afrikaners with attractive mistresses to swing around the town with sleek 4 by 4's.They lounged around the popular night spots with very attractive mistresses, who if times had really been good, might have been walking the cat walk. Well that is all coming to an end!

My advice to all local mine suppliers, transporters, copper labour exploiters, start farming now. The good times are coming to an end. A global economic depression is inevitable. Forget about joining an NGO and stealing aid money for a 'poverty' project, there will be no money for Africa from the West.Not with increasing poverty levels in America and Europe; they will look to their own first. Forget migration, it will only get harder for you to get in, you won't get past the British Embassy.

Local businessman, with the loot you have left from copper 'gains' invest in a low energy consuming tractor to help you cultivate the land, not the new set of shiny wheels you have been contemplating. Do not grow maize, fertilizer subsidies only come during election period. Grow sweet potatoes,groundnuts and soybeans. Practice plant rotation, yes you remember it from secondary school production unit.Plant indigenous trees, keep hardy chickens. Avoid goats and large herds of cattle, they overgraze, but you might want to keep a few pigs, they are not picky about what they eat. To avoid energy problems, go solar, forget about that diesel generator you were planning to buy in Dubai

. And lastly, if you are going to have multiple partners, marry them under traditional polygamous arrangements, and stick to those that you do marry. Be open about it, sly sneakiness won't do you any good when things are falling apart. Besides, honesty is the best way to get the co-operation of your wives for that extra labour. By being open and sticking to your partner or partners you also minimise the risk of contracting HIV, drugs may get very expensive when things fall even further apart.

If the above is all too much, I recommend an honourable death, volunteer your services to the SADC peace-keeping mission for the DR Congo, Laurent Nkunda is guaranteed to kill you, but at least you would have done one good service, to possibly enter heaven. Isn't that what most Zambians want judging from the proliferation of pastors in every conceivable social setting, even public transport.

Lies and Holding a High Office

Lies and Holding a High Office

I'm not a man who respects liars or lies in any order. I believe every success is totally rooted in a man's ability to carry out things and duties without resorting to lies. I respect he who tells the truth even if that truth will hurt them or the people involved. After all, only the truth shall set you free. I believe every respectable office in the land is about truth and what it has to offer.

Headlines of “Rupiah is running a govt of conmen” really touches me. Not because who said it or because it was printed by a paper which is controversial, but because of the content it has. Its not long ago that we had people promising to deliver one thing or the other and I must confess, we cannot talk about the losing candidates on what they promised, because, they have not been given a chance to deliver what they promised. So by virtual of losing, they are immune to any attack. But what is of greater concern, is what they answered when the winner issued such statements of what they will deliver. We were told fuel, mealie meal and other goods' prices will be reduced when RB takes office. Assuming he was not in govt when the prices were being increased as if the government of the day only knew two ways of doing things – increase and increase prices. I would forgive anyone who makes a statement on what they will do when they get into power and fail to do so when they do due to complexity of government. But one who is a vice president and acting president should not make statements just to buy votes. It not only becomes wrong, it is betraying people in the country. It is an insult to assume you can say what you want and when they give you a mandate you simply run away from it. It is failure to stand by your word, failure to show what they voted you for. Failure of being anyone of standard. It is merely failure in all areas as lack of truth leads to lack of trust. And without trust, it is a journey died before it even starts off.

I knew the reduction in prices was a lie. I told people to mark my words when those things where being said. I can safely say, I have more truth than a leader of a country. I should be trusted more than the president – afterall, I said mealie meal will reach K100, 000.00 mark before the next budget. Prove me wrong!

We as a country have taken on a very bad angle to the way we do things. We have lost the thing that matters the most – truth!! I remember during the run up to the elections how The Post Newspaper was hit left right and centre by people who even claimed to be intellectuals. But one thing only mattered then and does today – was the paper lying? If it was the truth and they attacked the MMD candidate, they served us very well. If they lied about anything, I'm sure MMD has enough steam in them to do what they do best, silence the paper in any means necessary tactic. Look, no matter how much it hurts with what the Post did, if it is the truth, it justifies the attacks! And now, its the people who are feeling and being hit by the character that was being attacked. Can someone say they lied? Who is lying now? Have we seen what they promised as a party? Has there been any change in the lives of the people? Would the people change their voting pattern based on what has happened?

We have to take a lot of things to heart when we dealing with politics in a country totally covered with poverty and hunger. Yes, I know most of you think the roses and ice creams topped ideas which were being delivered by the MMD about the performance of the country are real, but if I post pictures of how Chibolya looks, which is a few metres from Cairo road, you would be shocked! But poverty is real. MMD inner circle will not tell you that. If NEC executive committee member Judith Kampijimpanga would say MMD has lost grip with grassroots, signals a very bad situation in the country. All roads which had tar in the townships when UNIP lost power are total gravel. Even Kabulonga considered to be a very high residentail area or suburb has totally dilapidated roads and drainage systems. 4mm rain is not good for the city as it will produce floods. We are the “most peaceful” country in the region and the most useless. We have the worst infrastructure, the worst working conditions, the most pathetic living conditions and yet we could be a bread basket of the region and Africa as a whole.

We shouldn't look at the issues of improving the country as an impossibility. We should put our house in order. Stop the lies and work for the people. Lets put as priority the needs of the people and not the salaries of political office bearers. I think we should teach ourselves that political office is a service to the people, the country and humanity not an employed for people who have failed in business and marriages. I feel disgusted to hear political office holders working so much to improve their living conditions at the expense of the people. We are not fools to say these things. We are educated and have taken personal interest in matters that affect the future of our mother Zambia. We actually serve the country more than the political office bearers do. The whole system is so wrong and disappointing I wonder how someone in government can even claim to know anything about running a country. Take for instance this situation:

Government is a non-profit making institution, and in simpler economics terms, it is a drain of resources of the country as it contributes very little if an revenue but consumes a lot. So public institutions are considered the same, be it ministry of Finance, Bank of Zambia, etc. Private institutions on the other hand exist merely to make a profit. This profit is what gets them involved in the business in the first place and will keep them their for as long as profits are being made.

So Economics 101: if a Bank of Zambia manager's salary is compared to a private bank like Barclays, who would be earning more? Let me simplify it, based on the fact that, a private institution, all things equal, will aim for the best brains and skills in achieving the most profits out of any market they are involved in, and will use the salary to encourage all the best brains to its ranks, unlike a public institution. I can forgive any Zambian, by saying who can earn more than one for Bank of Zambia? Its this wrong economics that is driving the economy deeper and deeper in a hole of poverty and economic mis-management. BOZ is known as the Banker's paradise and not the biggest private bank. A Minister of a third world country earns more than a CEO of a big company. But thats the economics of Zambia. A country led by an “economist”.

The simple logic: A non-profit making institution will never have resources to pay its staff better than a profit making institution. It simply wont have the resources. The Zambian economics simply take us under and with no way out.

You can't have people fighting to get jobs in government and not the private sector. What are they looking for in the public sector? Who will be making money for the country? Who will be providing the country with needed taxes and revenue for the country to mint gold? So when someone said I have taken these changes to parliament because it was too high, we expected a logical reduction, not a justified reduction. Workers are earning K250,000.00 per month and live in houses they are expected to pay K650,000.00 per month, when political office bearers are having in excess of K60,000,000.00, and live in a government house and have plenty of services and tax free allowances. It not only is unfair, but, its criminal for people to be led like this. They truly deserve far better than what they have for a government. This country has resources which can make living standards of the people far greater than things are today. We must start generating a culture of truthfulness and give people what they deserve. And as leaders we must not only say the truth and lead by example but cherish the truth so that it guides our everyday activities.

No country should have leaders who will lie out of anything. Some leaders were fired for lies that they told under Mwanawasa government, but now are back signing and dancing in money which Zambians are dying to work for. They are taxed more and more to sponsor the posh lifestyle of these same leaders. Very sad and shameful. We have to get rid of this lying government for a better Zambia.

On Zambian Politics by Elaston

An Email from Elaston

Hi guys, please share with friends, family, Zambians, Africans and whoever you think should hear this messege:
love and regards
Elaston

In 1991, after 27 years in power, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda decided to do the unthinkable. He called for multiparty elections.


At a time when many on the continent were used to leaders being removed through coups, revolutions and assassinations, the move shocked many.
The nation had been agitating for some time for the country to drop the one-party democracy model. Reeling from an economic crisis they blamed on the ruling United National Independence Party, the people wanted a chance to choose their leaders like people in other democracies.
Against the advice of his ministers and counsellors, Kaunda went ahead — with three years of his term still left.
When he was advised not to stand because he may suffer humiliation, he insisted he had unfinished business and was confident the people would allow him to complete it.
The opposite happened.
On the day the votes were counted, Kaunda quickly sensed that the trend was going against him. He decided not to wait for the final tally and phoned his rival, Frederick Chiluba, to congratulate him. He invited Chiluba over to State House and introduced him to the staff.
This is your president, he told them.

As the results were streaming in, the military chiefs rushed to State House, seeking an audience with Kaunda. They wanted to know what it was they should do about this state of affairs. Clearly, Chiluba could not be allowed to take power, they argued.

Kaunda proceeded to give them a lecture in democracy. He told them that he had sought the opinion of the Zambian people about who should run their country, and the people had clearly indicated that they would rather be ruled by Chiluba than him. Who are we to think we are wiser than the people, he asked them. The soldiers left State House dejected and unconvinced. His ministers and aides tried to prevail on him to declare a state of emergency and annul the election. He stood firm. “This is not the outcome I wanted but it is the outcome I must respect,” Kaunda said.
Later that night he conceded defeat in a television and radio address. And he made sure the military were in attendance so that they, too, would be bound by his concession.

It is said that upon hearing the news of Chiluba’s concession, an aide of Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko ran into a cabinet meeting with a note informing the dictator of developments next door.
A shocked Mobutu nearly jumped out of his chair and exclaimed: “I thought KK was smart. How can he lose an election that he himself was running?”
Democracy had arrived in Zambia. But it turned out that, in exercising their democratic rights, the Zambians had made a big mistake.

Upon taking power, Chiluba went on a gluttonous rampage through the fiscus. He ferreted money to foreign accounts and pampered himself and his extended family at the state’s expense.
Chiluba even sought to run for a third term. He used youthful goons to force his party to help him change the constitution to enable him to run. He failed and Zambian democracy triumphed.
His successor, Levy Mwanawasa, turned out to be a better bet than Chiluba. Although he was no inspirational visionary, he consolidated democracy. By the time he died a few months ago, he had become one of the few heads of state on the continent prepared to break the leadership brotherhood’s code of silence on human rights abuses.

Last month, Zambia’s voters went to the polls to elect a new leader again. During the election campaign, the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy’s candidate, Rupiah Banda, and his opposition rival, Michael Sata, traversed the country, urging Zambians to back them.
Not a single rally was disrupted. Not a single leader was beaten up. Not a single chair was thrown.After the election there were cries of foul play from Sata and his supporters, who are challenging the results in court.

But that was about it.

The significance of this story is that there is a lot to be learnt from our brethren on the continent. Very often you hear the nonsense that democracy does not, and cannot, work in Africa. These views come from both condescending racists as well as apologists for African dictatorship.
You hear it from many in our ruling party — it is used to justify a one-party-dominant democracy and why we cannot afford to have strong opposition.
We need to develop our own brand of African democracy, some scholars and politicians say, which is a rather racist notion that the people of this continent dare not be trusted with making choices.
This piece is not about praising Kaunda and painting him as an angel and model of modern statesmanship. He was, after all, in power for 27 years, during which he wrecked that country’s economy.
It is also not to paint Zambia as the ultimate model of a working democracy. Zambia is by no means perfect.
Kaunda and the Zambian experience should show us roads we should not walk and mistakes we need not make.
But we can emulate their relatively successful efforts at building a stable democracy.
Our leaders should also take note of the fact that even an iconic leader like Kaunda could accept that the wisdom of the people could be superior to his.

Kitwe Riots 2008

When All Else Fails

I hate to think of what I was telling people will happen has started happening. We in Zambia are used to use an old and outdated statement of Zambians are peaceful by nature. Disgusting!
Is it that Zambians are the only people with a DNA coding which includes peace? Are they made in such a way that the nature of violence cannot come into them?? Hell no!! The peace value peace and will do anything to prevent violence – fun thing is, every human nature has that. We are not special, just have the time to live and let go.

Let no one think otherwise, the elections were rigged and the MMD has been doing this for a long time now. They are a government interested in getting the benefits for themselves and not the people. They have done all they can to hold on to power. They have made themselves and their families rich while the people they are supposed to take care of are starving. They simply don't care. They have no time for the people. The people have tried and failed many times to get rid of MMD but MMD has done all it can to hold on to power and continue enjoying the fruits of control.

Peace is a fun thing and in most cases, it is taken for granted. Every person has a limit and if you push them against the wall, they will react in desperate and dangerous manner. It doesn't matter who. Zambians easily forget that Kaunda had riots that forced him out of power. The country had the worst possible failure in peace that curfew was imposed in almost every possible place. I remember the times and some have deliberately forgotten because they have been in MMD or benefit from MMD's rule which the majority don't. So it all boils down to, when all else fails, we hit back hard. When a peaceful person reacts and becomes violent, it really is bad.

Kitwe riots are but a beginning of what could take the whole country into a dead zone. I knew and expected this to happen. I even went as far as preparing to cancel my trip next December so that I don't get caught up in the silly violence that MMD is fueling with higher mealie meal prices and high fuel price. Seriously, we grow our own maize, mill it, package it but the economics involved make it impossible for people to buy the stample food. We know for sure how the same economics has been taken to fuel and the price of it has arisen so high it is shocking!

Take one thing for sure. When people went to vote on 30th October, they did that with hope that MMD and its useless policies and economics will be a thing of the past. It never was. Someone in MMD decided to correct their choices of leadership and the outcome was Banda. They had all the trust in the system that will be full of good willing for the people and they can get what they want. Who ever thought they didn't know know what they wanted? Democracy has to take into account the fact that even if the choice people make does not go with yours, they made the choice and not anyone else. Thats why institutions like secret service exist to ensure they protect whoever the people want. Unlike our OP which will do anything to get rid of anyone not agreeing with the president. Thats a bad situation and which we must correct at all costs.

I don't like Sata as an individual, I have come to live with the fact that hes one of the few people no matter how you hate him, he works far better for Zambian political standards. Even Chiluba as president reported him to ACC but they found nothing. So I believe most of his supporters have a point to put across. If they want him, they have disagreed with MMD in many things and consider him better than anyone they put him against. HH has lost to him countless times and if he had a heart of the people, he would have come togethere with Sata to take MMD out, but he was too greedy for power and thought he could beat Sata. Today even chances for him to win in 2011 have been compromised as people take it, he cost them the victory by being greedy. I agree with them and hope he will find a deal better than what people promised him.

HH has been taken as a tonga tribalist. I wish I had a way to disagree with them. But fact is, unlike Mazoka whose victory was stolen from him, HH has surround himself with tribalists. He may not actually be tribal in his activities but the people around him are – FACT! You see the first statements of these bemba tribalist are blah blah from tongas. And you wonder what they are talking about. Sata is bemba but does not disagree or support the people in MMD from the same region. Now when Magande started his campign, every UPND support supported him as the engineer of the economy. I even saw a situation were HH would have not stood had he won. Magande lost and they all went back to UPND. Now thats not a political stand but tribal. These are things we see and know will happen given that chance. Mazoka on the other hand was a true leader with all people on his mind – may his sole rest in peace. He didn't use the tonga vote to reach were he was, he used the people. HH has a lot to do for us to trust him with the country. We don't trust his people. We know were he worked, what he did and how the place is. Unfortunately, no matter how much you say hes tribal, the first people to disagree are tongas. Anyone else it will be shocking unless they don't know him. Ask yourselves if you think he is not tribal, are you tonga or not? If you are, don't get involved in that argument as it will make it true. Let other tribes support him. Thats how not being tribal starts.

I hope MMD and the entire government has seen that when you push people against the wall, they get violent. And all that is your fault not theirs. Lets make sure not any other riot come to our country by making sure, we make an electoral process that will bring out what the people want not what government wants no matter the cost. Government is not a god that should decide for the people as they have that right themselves. We need to respect what we disagree with and learn to move on.

People disagreed with the constitution making process but that was hijacked. Now will people respect the constitution that comes out of NCC. Mwanawasa promoted NCC and hes dead now and left us with what we didn't want. Thats bad legacy. We would have been happier if he gave us what we wanted because the people will always cherish what they wanted.

Lets work on an electoral process that will make us celebrate won wins and ensures we see a smooth transfer of power to a president elect. We shouldn't put a president with verification of votes and court cases going on. They should be a time after a win to do all that. Its shameful, we hold elections and everyone is bitter and only happy to celebrate victory of Obama from USA!!! Let government itself be patriotic to the country.

Where We Went Wrong

Where We Went Wrong

We had 1991 peaceful, transparent, free and fair elections. We had a great leader in charge of those elections, Kenneth Kaunda! I have heard people insult the man for many things, but please let us praise him for the great many things that he did for our beloved Zambia. He alone showed us that greatness in a leader must stand the taste of time. He is the great leader we had. I know he messed some things, but he had a heart for the country. I only feel disappointed that he stood and cheered for a leader the people did not want. Whatever happened to him supporting HH like he did before. Why of all people should he support RB, one person he fired for corruption. Is it the question of putting relatives first and not the country? I believe he not only commanded enough resources and people to rig the elections, but had the humanity to let the people choose what they want. How can he now be like that? He gave people the democracy they wanted with a stroke of a pen. We still cry for a good constitution, not better, but that can not be granted up to now. Chiluba came and brought all the worst possible things that can come from a leader, and we still pay for that. He brought in rigging in this country, he brought plundering of resources, he arrested and imprisoned anyone who stood in his way. But the worst thing he ever brought to this nation are the people around him who up to now are still working as part of government. The great dream of a great nation in Africa died with him in control.

Mwanawasa tried his best, but could not run away from the people Chiluba put in place. Actually Mwanawasa was never wanted by people in urban areas. It is said, they used the rural areas to rig that election. We mourned his death with great interest and respect for him, but we must put down things he did which make it impossible for us to move on as a country. He kept constitution assembly from us and gave us “his” version of what we wanted through NCC. That was his wish and not the people's wish. It is totally his own thing and not what we want. He also killed the young democracy that we had. He alone got MPs from other parties and made it impossible for opposition to rule. He killed any hope of a united opposition to counter check the government activities. My greatest complaint with him was hes fighting corruption but, at the same time promoting nepotism. Government was full of his relatives and in-laws. How can a leader have such double standards?

So where we went wrong? Simple. We messed up when we had a good leader under Kaunda. We were more interested in getting rid of him and not create a situation which will ensure we have a good leader to follow. We were supposed to create a way that we guard against thieves, plunderers and all that are enemies of good leadership. We are paying for that right now. We can't even hold elections that Kaunda gave us in 1991. We are going back in time and bringing back what we fought for. Even independent media organizations are facing closure because of MMD. How sad that we have come a long way, but actually moved only a step forward. We are doomed before we even start moving. I wonder whatever cursed my beloved country to reach such levels of problems, to have such levels of so called leaders, such disaster in elections.

We need to mend our leakages. The only one I think is critical is the constitution and one made by the people and not MMD. We know how much we should not trust MMD. MMD was a pillar in the region, but is the worst curse to SADC region, only second to Mugabe's group.

SADC observer mission

SADC observer mission Failing the People of SADC

While the SADC observer mission in Zimbabwe has called Saturday’s elections a “peaceful and credible expression of the will of the people,” one observer with the group strongly rejects that assessment.

Dianne Kohler Barnard is a South African member of parliament belonging to the opposition Democratic Alliance Party. From Harare, she spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about her views on the presidential and parliamentary elections.

“My mandate here as a member of SADC was not to declare which party won the election, but whether the process was free and fair. And frankly it was neither. Of the 13 tenants contained in the SADC guidelines only two seem to be in compliance and the rest were being blatantly flouted. So, I failed to understand how the SADC report says the elections were ‘a credible expression of the will of the people.’
http://danielmolokele.blogspot.com/2008/03/some-sadc-observers-reject-official.html

I feel this group of people are more interested in legitimizing illegal governments and enjoy the allowances that they are offered for traveling to election countries. We have been robbed of credible observers who are not interested in benefits but in ensuring the will of the people, no matter how small the person is, is taken into consideration. We are not interested in hearing stories like babies. I remember this group failing the people of Zimbabwe and now Zambia. Do we need such nonsense to continue? Honestly you issue that elections where free and fair, even before some results are announced as people where voting 2 days later than everyone else and that was kept as a secret from all? When the number of voters are different from those who registered and you don't question how that can be? Is it the mandate of the observers to leave troubles to escalate and turn into civil war for them to see that things are not worth while?

Is SADC so toothless that it can't setup certain guidelines on all governance issues to ensure governments in the whole of SADC behave and produce desirable results? Is it impossible to setup real yard sticks that governments should reach as a region for free and fair elections? Does the SADC serve the people of SADC or the governments that rule them? We seriously have to measure the value that the bring if they can't scrutinize the simplest election activities and get their allowances. I feel an election with toothless observers is as good as one without, or one with primary school children playing on the swings.

Africa is doomed forever with the type of activities that we see in our regional groupings

Dying Hope Of A Zambian

Hope is the only thing good that my country has. We hope for a good future for ourselves, we hope for a good future for our children, we hope for good leadership, we hope for hope ... that we hope to have.
Shameless, even the little choice we have in our own desire, is slowly taken away. Hope... is taken away slowly. These are my dying hope pages which reflect the little ideas of a dying hope for my beloved country. I never left the country to get money or to find a better job, I left to find hope. Hope that died in my country. Died with all that I at one time owned.
I love my Zambia. I have everything that can be Zambian from my simplest accent, to the silly ideas about my country and the peacefulness that has been taken for granted. But I have failed to live in a country which has been robbed of everything including a choice to choose what one wants. Everything is abuse about my country. Abuse of peace, abuse of electoral system, abuse of people, abuse of national wealth for personal gains, abuse of human rights, abuse of constitution and its making process, abuse of citizens, abuse of the system, and abuse all that I can think of.
My president, I'm one of the few citizens of any country that would say that and not feel proud that you are the leader. Why? No one of us feel you deserve to be our leader. Not because you don't qualify, or worth the praise, but because we feel you were imposed upon us by your system. Its this sad truth about Zambia and its leadership. We probably are one of the few people in the world that never celebrate a president taking office because, he probably would be rushed through to avoid any one questioning and proving you are not worth being one because the system was forced upon us. We feel proud to greet opposition leadership as they have been accept by us. They are not one of the imposed people. Even a simple man would be respected by people, but my president will not earn the respect but be forced to respect, which, of course means respect is not there. So maybe it is not your doing that puts you in that situation, but thats me trying very hard to think you are worth every power that you command. Its sad that actually, it may be just a sad story.
Sata has all that we want from him, he is not imposed upon us. We have learnt to deal with his short-comings, and he will have all that a leader, a king can have. He will be mourned by his greatest by being with the people. He will be praised whole heartedly and not for political capital, I'm sorry, but his a greater man for being for the people. And thats the difference with him and any of the leaders we see in your government.
We know and saw how people with corrupt tendencies were celebrating your victory. And we mourned. We mourned how their pending cases will soon start to be thrown out of court. We hoped the justice system would save mother Zambia, but we know how many judges dance to the government tune at many occasions. We have none to save us. The late president did his best, much as it was not enough for some of us because of the way it was done and how he himself got his family in the system, he had no base to stand on, because partly we felt he too was imposed upon us. We mourned his death because we realized that no matter how tough things were for him, he stood for something and died for his country. We were more saddened by the way the party fought to take his position. How many people were bribed to get ones way. Even the opposition behaved much more honorably by leaving politics aside till the man was buried, his friends didn't think of that. The same people that he tried to get out of the system, came to celebrate your victory as they will now have a greater share of the cake. They will soon be ready to serve you so you can celebrate your victory for many more years to come.
We will continue to suffer toil the land and hope.... hope when we vote again, no one will speak for us by choosing what they want from what we want. Mum gave me best leasons in life. The few that I can talk about here are:
what goes around, comes around.
If one wants something, don't deny them, only they know the true value of it.
We know what we want and wanted, we were denied by those who think are masters over the other people.
I know that mourning saves me no purpose, but it makes like bearable to realize the pain I go through for what I believe is worth much more. I have never been in government for reasons that it never seems to serve anyone but the people in it. If it were close to what I think is an ideal government, I would be one of the few people staying away from campaigns to get people elected. But now, I can only encourage people to vote in the hope... hope that one day, our vote will truly matter.
Our government has such short comings, we should be praised for being cheated that it can server us, praised for even paying tax to finance other people's desires and dreams.

POLICE:
Unappreciated, lowly paid and corrupt profession that it has come to be. And yet in most cases, only used to defend a leader's desires and not to keep all citizens protected. It is equated to king's guards and tax collectors of history. Maybe we should take time to see what these great men and women exist for:

ARMY:
Only your time have I see an army cheapened to the level of keeping protestors in check. Were on earth can an army be put on alert to counter protesting people- ZAMBIA. Such an insult to the an arm which was so respected by all people, but has come to stand and defend only selected few. God forbid what they would do if there was an attack by enemies of the country. They probably would want to beat them and throw tear-gas on them!

INTELLIGENCE SERVICE:
Its an ironical that such a name exists for this group of people. I prefer OP as it clearly shows they can serve one person and injury whoever wants to stand in the way of that person. If really intelligence was the order of the day, this group would be the most useful in the country setup to sort out anything that seems to be distractor to the country. But they are for witch-hunting on the citizens. I pray, my blog wont be my death sentence as I can't even express these thoughts without looking over my shoulder. And we are called a democratic country. I think we need to redefine the word.
But these are mere thoughts of mine, on my blog. Intended to bring peace to my mind for expressing what I feel.