[By Melvin Chisanga]
Seeing that weather entails the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, among others, how would you as an individual describe the Zambian political weather?
Have you not wondered how, on a freezing cold winter day when you feel like wearing all your warm clothes, you will meet someone dressed as if they are on the opposite hemisphere where it is summer? The opposite is also very true. Just when you feel it is too hot to put on warm clothes, do not be shocked when you meet someone dressed in winter style.
No matter how extreme it may be at a given time and place, one interesting thing I have come to know about weather is its relativity. This reminds me of the adage which says a gentleman knows no weather. Whether by design or by default, there is abundant evidence that people will always hold opposing opinions about some aspects of weather.
Borrowing from the scientific definition, politicians have adopted the usage of the various aspects of weather to help them describe different political conditions in their own weldi (world). One such aspect, which makes today’s subject matter on Vantage Point, is wind.
In political circles, wind is used to describe the inclination or general desire of the people that cannot be resisted: the wind of change.
In one section of our society, there is a general feeling that the wind of change is blowing across the width and breadth of this country and yet in another, you will hear people say the purported wind of change is wishful thinking, as it is only blowing in the minds of those that think they would benefit from it. Typical of even other aspects of weather, isn’t it? Very relative.
Fair enough! But just like scientists have tools they use to come up with accurate weather readings, politicians too can use certain tools to determine political atmospheric variable readings such as the wind of change itself.
Before we take an in depth analysis of this wind of change itself, it is important to establish its existence and confirm it as such, to ensure that it is not just a hoax created by one opposition leader to put the government in bad light. This can be done by not only determining whether the conditions that would necessitate it do exist, but also ensuring the authenticity of its origin.
Whilst most dangerous winds trace their origins in water bodies, most winds of change do trace their origins in bad governance, and without an iota of malice, I would say Zambia is ripe for a wind of change because it meets all the necessary conditions. But what are these conditions?
Well, though even this could be subject to relativity too, I want to believe we can build consensus on a few vices that have become endemic in this country under the PF regime that we citizens feel we can no longer put up with, hence the wind.
Zambia’s rating on the Global Corruption Perceptions Index attests to the extent of the vice in this country. With the procurement of ancient fire tenders marred with such irregularities that no one can justify no matter how much time they are given, the inflated price for ambulances, a toll plaza constructed at the cost of a shopping mall, the germination of the infamous 48 houses, to mention but a few, corruption under the PF regime has become a religion and we are watching.
As if corruption was not causing enough damage to our economy, the PF augmented its effects with their incompetence and poor decision making, much to the escalation of our economic problem. With the interest and exchange rates so high, all businesses are wallowing in the economic quagmire which the PF would have avoided if only they had the interest of the people at heart.
Imagine how inconsiderate and insensitive to people’s suffering they can be to even have the guts to open their corrupt mouths in public to tell Zambians that K2,000,000 is nothing more than shopping money, when retirees are dying without getting their benefits? We have also seen them flaunting wealth that cannot be accounted for without any sense of fear or shame.
How about the many stage managed arrests which mostly end up in nolles and/or acquittals that are clearly only meant to shield thieves from future arrests should the wind blow them out of office, as it looks set to do?
Where are the proceeds of the mukula trees harvested to the point of almost causing a desert in Luapula and other places? How did the Zambian mukula logs find themselves in Singapore when there was a ban on the exportation of the same?
When electricity load-shading got to its apex last year, the PF blamed it on climate change, almost to the point of blasphemy. Seeing that even the Victoria Falls had dried up, we cut them some slack and exercised maximum patience though we knew they as a government should have exploited other alternatives sources of energy if only they were not corrupt.
As if to expose their lies, God gave us abundant rains as can be seen from the restoration of the waterfall curtain at the Victoria Falls, signaling the pregnancy of the Zambezi River with water. Whether this has ended the load-shading or not is a direct indictment on the lies and incompetence of the PF. Today we are told to brace ourselves for longer countrywide blackouts, much to the shame of the PF praise singers, if they have any at all.
Almost humble to a fault, we Zambians are also peaceful people who are not used to seeing blood, maybe even of animals. The amount of blood that we have seen being shed over the past few years by PF cadres is unprecedented, to say the least. In today’s Zambia, political hooliganism has become a career with violence occasioning bodily harm as an accepted norm. Our societies are no longer the heaven of safety and rest they used to be.
Our leaders from the party in power have also become so arrogant that they seem to no longer care how we feel about the things they say. For example, in an intended-rigging self-confession style, both our Republican President and his number one bootlicker, on two separate occasions could not contain their inner desire to remain in power forever by saying they would continue to rule even if we did not vote for them, and through the chicken soup analogy respectively. What can be more daring to the people who put you in power than that?
From where I stand, these, among others, are the issues that constitute the origin of the wind of change that those in power are refusing to acknowledge, though at their own peril. In any case, how can they even feel the wind even as it is gaining momentum, when they are living in opulence at the expense of the suffering masses?
However, even if peradventure the PF owns up to acknowledge the political wind of change which they themselves created, they have already been caught up in a catch 22 kind of situation, as there is nothing much they can do to change the course of this wind on account of time.
In the same manner that the PF did not do all the wrongs in one year, but over a period of time, so can’t they undo them in, in fact, less than a year of their remaining in government? Tricky on their part, isn’t it? Like someone who has taken poison to commit suicide but rescinds their decision when it is too late, they are merely waiting for the wind to take them home to be with their political ancestors.
Going to vote with all these things in our minds, we Zambians are ready to sponsor their trip through the ballot and pay for their accommodation at their political morgue, as this is the only thing that will liberate us from this multifaceted knee of oppression that has weighed so heavy on our necks for a long time. Blow wind blow… The countdown to 12.08.21 is on!
chisangamelvin@ yahoo.com