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.