What was the purpose of HH’s press conference?- Dr. Fred M’membe

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What was the purpose of that press conference?

By Dr. Fred M’membe

It’s difficult to discern the purpose of that highly publicised press conference. It is said that if one has nothing serious or important to say it’s better to shut up. As Pythagoras once observed, we should strive to have something important to say before we open our mouths. Abraham Lincoln said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

I’m not suggesting we remain silent all the time. But it’s all too easy to speak thoughtlessly. That can make you look less intelligent than you are, and you will minimise the chances of it happening if you think carefully before you open your mouth. The virtues of silence have long been recognised. The popular saying “speech is silver but silence is golden” may date back to ancient Egypt. It probably means that in some circumstances the less you say the better it is. Ecclesiastes teaches that there is “a time to be silent and a time to speak.” However, “Ecclesiastes doesn’t give guidance as to which situations merit which response. Each situation becomes a judgment call.

All what that press conference revealed is that there’s too much rivalry and anger in our politics – the disease of rivalry and vainglory. When that dominates our thoughts, we forget our fundamental duty as political leaders – to “do nothing from selfishness or conceit but in humility count others better than ourselves.” As political leaders, we must look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party

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