By Pamela Bwembya
WHY DOES PF WANT TO BOUNCE BACK?
“D’ you see that thing over there? That is where our NAMBOARD depot used to be,” grandpa said.
I followed his crooked finger to a tall lattice of rusted iron bars that towered over abandoned dirty brown wagons on the rail line. Apart from the metal frame, there was nothing there to shed more light on what the same NAMBOARD was about.
“When I was a young boy, the colonial government had two different prices for maize,” he said.
“The white farmers, for some strange reason, were offered a higher price than the indigenous farmers. In fact, locals were forced out of land that was considered fertile and replaced by white farmers.”
“Fortunately, the discriminatory prices ended after independence. Before your mother was born, only farmers in Southern, Central and Eastern Provinces had access to maize marketing services, but this changed after NAMBOARD was formed in the 1968/1969 crop marketing season,” he explained, obviously reminiscing over systems that sound to have been based on real national interest and not the “National Interest” the tribal PF government exposed us to.
“So what was NAMBOARD really about?” I asked.
“NAMBOARD had the exclusive power to buy maize from farmers and sell it to millers. It introduced a regional pricing system for maize my dear. The producer prices for maize in areas of deficit were higher than the prices in surplus areas,” he explained.
“But, wasn’t that discriminatory too?” I asked.
“Sort of, but in a positive way. This had the effect of reducing the movement of maize across regions. I remember how this culminated in a guaranteed floor price of K3.20 for a 90Kg bag of maize in the 1970/1971 crop marketing season. A uniform price was readopted in 1973 after some complaints here and there” he explained.
“The price sounds very little money grandpa,” I said.
“I don’t blame you dear, the money of those days had batata ba Kaunda on it. It was very strong! I know you will be shocked to hear that your father only paid 5 ngwee as dowry for your mother; that was good money then, and marriage was not a poverty alleviating venture back then,” he said with a chuckle.
Grandpa is a staunch UNIP supporter. He usually goes on and on how the UNIP government was led by men and women of integrity. Men who were worshipped by their communities yet materially poor. A far cry compared to the ‘from rugs to riches’ stories of current politicians.
“These governments you are used to have been led by a lot of scoundrels bent on enriching their pockets,” he hissed as his temper began to flare.
“UNIP cared for the people, and that care extended to people of the region and the continent of Africa,” he said emphatically.
“Of course people eventually got tired of seeing one man stand against frogs and hyenas on the ballot…”
The last words were swallowed, leaving me to wonder what they would have revealed.
Listening to grandpa reminisce shows why he still remains a UNIP supporter.
“Governments are expected to look into the wellbeing of their people. This is what makes me wonder why the Patriotic Front would love to bounce back into power some day. To do what exactly?” he asked.
He made lots of sense. PF developments were all motivated by greed. That is how quality of finished products or services offered was never part of the agenda. Hospitals were built in their numbers yet the connected were allowed to supply them with either expired drugs or “air”.
“Unlike UNIP that left indelible marks all around our country such as the many structures you see along Cairo road, PF left structures of inferior quality that are unlikely to pass the test of time,” he said.
I missed whatever the old man said from this point on as I went through earlier discussions such as the one on how wrong comedian Trevor Noah was about the escalator at Manda Hill. Grandpa claims Zambia’s first escalator was in a Mwaiseni Store somewhere along Cairo road.
“…it is amazing how clueless manipulators are using sweet words to paint the current president black over seemingly unfulfilled promises. These people claim to be Christians yet they are dishonest enough to ignore the fact that Zambian presidents have a fixed mandate of not more than ten years if they are lucky.”
At least I got this part. Why would we want to judge the performance of a party in power in less than a year when even examinations at various levels of education come in not less than two year intervals?
“There is something sinister about the PF’s drive to bounce back to power. This is a party that was actually hoping for a third term for their president. Why were they fighting for an additional term if performance can be judged in less than half a year? “ grandpa asked.
“Exactly! Shouldn’t the comparisons of fuel prices, wages, inflation, exchange rates, value addition, revenues from the mines, be best judged at the end of at least one five-year term? “ I chipped in.
“From the utterances being made by PF spin doctors, one can tell this about trying to persuade the masses to rise against a legitimately elected government, KK would not have tolerated this kind of behavior” he said.
“But grandpa, don’t people have the right not to be given fake promises?” I asked.
“No dear, our constitution allows for no such thing! It only applies to citizens giving false information to a public officer, not the other way round. Had that been the case PF would have been kicked out when they lied about oil from Saudi Arabia that was to bring fuel prices down to K5 per litre,” he said.
This was purely a stroke of genius. It reminded me of the goat market in the Middle East, the 500,000 jobs for the youths, and the thousands of vacancies for teachers somewhere in the Indian ocean.
“The thing is, people love to hear what they want to hear…”
“And what do you exactly mean by that,” I interjected.
He planted his free hand onto the other that was on the knob of his cane, and shifted his weight gently onto the cane that was now planted firmly between his feet.
“Our constitution allows people to take sides freely. The process of stealing money from the treasury involves many citizens. Some of them benefit directly while others benefit from secondary rewards such as unmerited appointments, and for others all they need is preferential treatment as they break the law at every turn. The beautiful ones may even be allowed to keep millions in their homes for the thieves in exchange for sexual favors. That is why I love UNIP, SITET would not have allowed that!” he said as he lifted one hand off the cane.
“Sit what?” I asked.
“That is a story for another day my granddaughter. The nonsense you hear in parliament about MPs admitting to acts of corruption can only happen under current governments,” he said.
What was grandpa talking about?
PB ….always in national interest.