GIVING IT UP FOR THE GREATER GOOD
by Sakwiba Sikota
Donald Trump said of Kamala Harris, “I don’t know when she turned black!”. Trump made this comment because he did not have any cogent argument to counter what Kamala was saying. So he resorted to name calling.
It always surprises me how when people have no sensible or rational intelligent argument against what someone has said, they will not address what the other person has said. Instead they start trolling people and calling them names. Some of the popular mindless third grade troll lines are, ‘(s)he is just bitter’, ‘(s)he is disappointed they did not get a job’, ‘(s)he is a failure’, ‘(s)he is just seeking attention’ and there are many more.
You have people like Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa who was a very effective and strong supporter of HH and the UPND. Immediately UPND won the 2021 election Sishuwa did not, like some, go and camp at Community House lobbying for a job. His support for UPND was not in the hope that he would be given some post or put on some commission.
Sishuwa is an internationally acclaimed academician and receiving academic qualifications which are not honorary but earned. This is what allows him to stick to his desire to always stand for what he sees as being right.
Musamba Barbra Chama, a social and political commentator, once posted, “Nowadays, people don’t defend what is right; They defend whom they like and benefit from.”
This is a very true statement.
She has been exposing a lot of wrong doing made by the UPND government. She is using the same measure by which she was evaluating the PF government. Those who were cheering her on regarding exposés of the PF government are now calling her ‘bitter’ for using the exact same measure on the UPND.
You have Musa Mwenye S.C., who was a staunch UPND supporter and promoter. Some with Donald Trump’s thought processes will ask, “When did Musa become bitter?”
Musa has been Law Association of Zambia President, Solicitor General and Attorney General. He has therefore held positions which are much higher than that of Anti Corruption Chairman. Certainly positions remunerating him more than the ACC position.
Before Musa took up the ACC Chairmanship he was already a high price lawyer. Another high price lawyer unfairly accused of being bitter is John Sangwa S.C.,.
Sangwa, like Musa, was a strong supporter of HH and the UPND but started to change his view of them and even begun pointing out some deficiencies. Immediately he did this he was accused of being ‘bitter’ and ‘frustrated that he was not given a job.”
These high priced lawyers do not need a government job to survive.
I have not always agreed with positions that the four above have taken but I have appreciated that they took those positions because they truly believed in them. As a result, they were able to advance arguments that required anyone with an opposing view to stop and consider the issue raised; sometimes leading to a change of viewpoint.
They have made sacrifice. They could have been loners but they put up a good fight and gave up everything. They each have a clear conscious and defend what is right and not whom they like or can personally benefit from. Inspite of this you will see in the comments that follow trolls coming out and exposing themselves. Zambia will only advance if we go beyond the trolling culture.
We should all be giving it up for the greater good.