UPND LEADERS SHOULD LEARN LESSONS FROM DAVIS CHAMA JAILING
It will be folly for leaders in the United Party for National Development (UPND) to believe that Davis Chama being jailed for eight years provides lessons only about the past. It is actually more of a cautionary tale for individuals serving in the current government.
Cast in the context of the immediate past Patriotic Front (PF) regime, the conduct ascribed to Davis Chama, former Minister of Defence, gives Zambians a peek into the extent of lawlessness that pervaded the government.
Minister of Defence is a very senior position in government and, being the supervisor of the country’s armed forces, one would have expected the office holder to be someone who understood the exercise of the utmost restraint in use of power and firearms. According to this court outcome, Davis Chama apparently did not. It is now clear why he may have broken rank to sound like the voice of reason when Edgar Lungu came back to active politics.
If leaders at the level of Defence Minister would engage in that kind of behaviour, it is hardly surprising that PF cadres on the streets, in markets and bus stations unleashed the wanton violence Zambians witnessed.
But that is now largely in the past, though not entirely banished. Some UPND leaders and cadres have sporadically shown signs of resorting to use of violence, during some of the by-elections conducted in the last four years.
There are a few names of UPND leaders being mentioned in this regard.
But this is not the whole story. There are also some government ministers and senior civil servants who seem to be abusing their powers in order to advance the interests of the current ruling party.
The is now a long tally of abuses against, say, parliamentary presiding officers, some judges and magistrates, and offices such as the Registrar of Societies.
Special mention should also be made of such officers as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet Oliver Kalabo, who appended his signature to the denial of permission for late Sixth Presisent Edgar Lungu to travel for medical treatment. He should be subject of an inquiry at the appropriate time. This is not in a vindictive sense. But Zambian society will not get any better if senior civil servants can go scotfree after making decision that potentially lead to loss of life.
The lesson from the imprisonment of Davis Chama, for such people like Oliver Kalabo, is that there will be a reckoning, even after 10 years.
As for you UPND cadres, there is an obvious warning. Violence against others will be punished, no matter how long it takes. There is already a record of some of you from the violent confrontations in past by-elections.
John 8:32 “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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