Zambians Are Going To Have To Reconcile Themselves With The Fact That The PF Was An Administration From Hell- Laura Miti

Laura Miti writes…

ZAMBIANS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO RECONCILE THEMSELVES WITH THE FACT THAT THE PF WAS AN ADMINISTRATION FROM HELL

The party sunk the country to lows previously unimagined. Lawlessness, violence, corruption, reckless debt, abuse of the police, low caliber leaders, abuse of judicial processes, accumulation of unexplained wealth by the connected, hate, tensions, fear – gosh, the list is long!

I can almost swear that the PF, in it’s current formation, if given the chance to rule again, would be exactly insufferable. The leaders do not seem to have learnt too many lessons. They come across as uncouth as ever, and disrespectful of the national ability to think.

That riotous behaviour PF MPs put on display in Parliament was totally unacceptable but very much in the party’s DNA. That’s not to say MPs do not have the right to express unhappiness. But shouting, pointing fingers and flaying arms !

Having accepted that the PF, past or present, is not who we want to be, we are going to have understand that, that very fact means the opposition party cannot be the measure of how we manage ourselves, going forward.

I say this because it is becoming evident that the UPND, in the last while, has been pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in a democratic country.

There are the rather fishy goings on around Miles Sampa. (Yes, totally impossible to prove, but the nose smells what it does, even if the eyes cannot see it.)

Then, there are the endless arrests of opposition members who are denied bond which should be straight forward, given the charge.

As for the police – . Too many of them arresting people that are not resisting.

An arrogant tone is entering the way leaders speak to us.What was that about coincidence, from the Minister of Home Affairs? A PS also disrespected a caller, live on radio.

In short, stuff that President Hichilema and the UPND promised us, is not being fulfilled. As for the President, he has gone quiet on us. He is not explaining why – the suspects should be given bond declaration – is being totally disobeyed.

This is how I see it. The UPND made 2 critical mistakes:

1. They (candidate HH) over promised on the economic front, while campaigning. A combination of our mountain of debt, and world downturn of the economy, has subsequently made many of the promises sound like pie in the sky. Life is hard for Zambians.

Now, I will say, again, that I believe that, economically, we are lucky to have UPND in power. They are economically astute. Give the current world economy and debt conditions to any other current political party, and we would be much worse off – to understate it.

That, however, does not assuage the critical hunger in poor homes and the bigger hole in pockets of the middle classes.

Faced with that situation, the UPND has incredibly failed to have the necessary conversation with citizens that says – yes, we thought we could make things easier quickly, but this is where we are.

2. This next idea is one I picked from a UNZA lecturer, in a recent meeting. I thought it made lots of sense, so I will repeat it.

Having to deal with an increasingly restless citizenry on the economic front, the UPND weak communication function (which admittedly has improved since Minister Mweetwa took over) lost the propaganda war to PF.

Like UPND before it, PF is taking the license of opposition to paint government negligent, even when they know it’s not true. They do it loudly and effectively.

Rather than use the massive communication powers at government’s disposal, to fight back on that propaganda turf, the UPND has, amazingly to me, chosen to take steps backward on the area in which it was doing very well – the democratic space.

It’s like watching a student who is very good at math, but is criticised for their bad grammar. In response, they begin to neglect the math and get poor marks, instead of improving on the English. Haaw!

Anyhow, let me end by saying we Zambians must not, as we are doing now, forgive UPND excesses against PF, because we believe they deserve it. A test of their own medicine, is a term I hear a lot.

The democracy is ours. Allowing UPND to implement openly undemocratic, vengeful actions on PF, because it’s PF after all, is exactly what the English proverb my mother liked to quote warns against – cutting off your nose to spite (punish) your face.

UPND should be held to account for everything it does. You see, what the ruling party does, to who they think is their enemy, will, if allowed to grow, end up at the doorsteps of ordinary citizens.

Zambia is ours. We must protect her democracy. It does not belong to any political party.