WE URGE THE PATRIOTIC FRONT TO CALM DOWN
By Dr Nevers Mumba
We all understand how difficult and frustrating it is to go through what the PF is currently going through. However, we wish to advise our colleagues to calm down, think and reflect before taking any step. We offer this support to our colleagues from a wealth of similar experience. Anything you do in haste and anger usually ends up injuring the very prospects you seek to achieve.
To day, we noticed that the leadership of PF trooped to the American Embassy to seek the support of the US in their “fight’ for democracy. Yesterday, they had the honor of presenting their grievances to the visiting German President. Under normal circumstances, there is nothing wrong with such efforts.
However, not too long ago, the PF stalwarts are on record to have called the West as imperialists who are using President Hakainde Hichilema to advance the imperialist agenda in the region of bringing regime change to Zimbabwe. It is this inconsistency that will disempower our colleagues. You cannot abuse the West on one hand and when you need their help, you troop to them without apologizing for your previous behavior. The moral thing for our colleagues would have been to go to the Zimbabwean Embassy, the country whose democracy they glorified. This is called consistency and morality.
Our position is that our colleagues the PF probably have a good case of what they call “limited democratic space,” but we advise them to take responsibility of their own actions and statements first.
For the PF to be taken seriously by anyone, they need to calm down and think through their actions before creating more bad precedents for future generations.
When you offend a neighbor, first go to them and say sorry before asking them for any favors. Our colleagues should have released a statement ahead of their visit to the American Embassy in which they state that, they regret the unpalatable statements they made against the West and that they were just politicking.
We have insisted on reminding the PF about their previous misdeeds so that they can find it in their hearts to accept for once by saying sorry before they cry foul. We are not saying this to belittle the problems they currently face but we are of the view that their future lies in acknowledging their past and publicly seek for forgiveness.
MMD is committed to equitable justice for all. Both the ruling and opposition parties must be allowed to enjoy their full liberties. We don’t support any contraction of democracy in the nation and we urge all institutions of government to treat all Zambians the same. It was for democracy that MMD was founded and it will be for democracy that MMD will be sustained.