When, I wrote a response to my dear Colleague Fred M’membe’s write up about the Investiture Ceremony that took place at State House on the 14th of July 2022, I knew that it was just a matter of time, I would soon become the target of a propaganda onslaught.
However, I still hoped that the media machinery of the Socialist Party would rise above the usual petty, personal and frivolous politics and put up an issue based justification for their position in attacking the President’s choice of recipients of the honours. Alas, I have been greatly disappointed again.
Let Mr. M’membe and his team simply answer the simple questions that we raised:
- Did HH break the law in choosing the said recipients?
- Where the recipients deserving of the awards? Have they done anything in the past in the preservation and defence of Zambia as a functional democracy?
So, before we get derailed by the personal attacks forged by those who have swallowed and internalised the socialist pro-east propaganda hook, line and sinker, let us remind ourselves a few things.
When Zambia was sliding into near civil strife when HH was incarcerated, it took the bravery of some of these very gentlemen to appeal to President Lungu to consider HH as his brother. This is in line with our belief: “One land and our nation is our cry, dignity and peace neath Zambia’s sky”. Lest we forget.
However, I’d like to point out the fact that the genuine progress of any nation is never anchored on leaders teaching their followers to be intolerant and full of hate for other groups of people.
In fact, real progress is dependent on the new generation of leaders and citizens rising above our torn historical enmity and forging new ties based on mutual respect.
This is the only way you get the Mandelas of this world and the only way you produce the Obamas of this world. It is the only way you can even begin to conceive of a path of progress beyond slavery, beyond racism, beyond apartheid and beyond the scars of colonialism.
Creating fresh wounds through cheap ideological propaganda, especially in a developing nation with economic challenges like Zambia, is very easy. It is exactly the same as the attempts to incite hatred on decendants of slave owners or apartheid masters by the new leaders which will not, and does not heal nations and people. The only way to fix our past is to stretch our hands and map out solutions that are mutually respectful and mutually beneficial.
So before you call people names like imperialists, puppets or sellouts, consider these facts. Try and walk in their shoes. It could be that perhaps they have an understanding where we went wrong in the past and they could just have a role to play in our collective resolve as a people.
It is sad that you mention names like Nakachinda and suggest that money was exchanged and that Nakachinda stopped it. This is both careless and reckless. The writer risks being sued for defamation. Please let Socialist Party argue on the basis of facts and ideas which don’t get threatened by other more powerful ideas.