In the name of Politics
There is such a thing as a foolish death.
I know death is death regardless of how you look at it. The person crashed by a car, one who dies "peacefully" in their sleep and the one who dies of a heart attack all end up dead. Cold un-breathing, lifeless soon to decompose carcasses.
Yet there are some deaths that are utterly depressing not because of the end results i.e death, but because regardless of how one looks at it they are completely preventable. That is what David thought of the death of his son Absalom. And in his heart wrenching lament he wondered why Absalom should die in that manner.
These are the thoughts I was left with as news of the death of a Patriotic Front (PF) cadre due to the now familiar intra-party fighting was confirmed. I got home just in time to catch some of the pictures of the violence on television. Apart from the machete wielding, slogan chanting youths, you could also see police in full riot gear trying to quell the commotion. Meanwhile a light truck on the side had as its cargo a number of bloodied youths suffering from injuries ranging from gushing heads to broken limbs, all of them grimacing with pain.
Is it worth it?
A few kilometres along the Great East Road, the officials in whose honor the fighting was being done, were in parliament seating on the right side of The Speaker and acting with utmost civility towards each other. During the mandated fifteen minutes break from parliamentary proceedings, they probably shared a cup of tea, inquired about each other's families and shared a joke or two. They might have gotten wind of the latest intra-party fracas as Monze member of parliament Jack Mwiimbu raised a point of order on the same, but most likely dismissed it with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders and a self-assured adjustment of their reading glasses. Blissfully and conveniently unaware youths baying for Wynter Kabimba's blood on one hand and Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba's on the other.
Is it not ironic that the blood that ended up being spilled did not include even the tiniest iota of the two ministers' blood.
Back to the PF offices, rival factions of the same party were at each others' throats, using whatever weapon they thought would do the most damage, culminating in the death of one named cadre, although initial reports suggested that two cadres had actually lost lives.
It seems to me that in the absence of a formidable opposition, the PF has contrived to be its own worst enemy. In fact, its almost as if someone has pressed the self-destruct button in the ruling party. Amid accusations of corruption, tribalism and insubordination, it has now become a common fixture during official events to have a coming together of two factions, each one accusing the other of trying to hijack the party and eventually the presidency away from His Excellency (H.E) The President of Zambia Mr Michael Chilufya Sata.
For his part, the president has tried to manage the situation in the party, but one tends to believe he could do more and better. Firstly it took him ages to speak out regarding the endorsement drive for the 2016 elections, the same drive which I note is the genesis of these wrangles. Secondly he has not categorically castigated either faction. Some people I have spoken to, think this is all part of some grand political scheme by H.E, and knowing how politically astute the man is, I wouldn't put it past him. However, grand political scheme or not, when people begin to lose lives, it is time to act!
Let us talk about foolish deaths a bit. Foolish deaths as earlier alluded to, are those that are utterly preventable and should have been prevented. Such deaths include dying because someone asked you to fight over a cause you don't even understand. I believe this is partly the reason why the Vietnam war generates such anguish among those that were affected and why some able-bodied youths then, refused to be drafted into the the army to fight in Vietnam. They did not understand the cause and as such were not prepared to put their lives on the line for it.
The PF cadres are not fighting over heartfelt, staunchly believed in ideology; they are fighting over who will succeed President Michael Sata. Whoever is sponsoring them doesn't care about their plight or welfare but about advancing their ambitions for the highest office in Zambia. Unfortunately lack of employment and poverty greatly compromise our youths' standing such that they easily follow the next person who comes along as long as a few Kwacha and T-shirts are dangled in front of them.
I know there are causes that people have died for and there are many causes that some people are willing to die for and probably will die for. For me Wynter Kabimba and Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba are not among such causes and the sooner our youths realise that, the better.
I know death is death regardless of how you look at it. The person crashed by a car, one who dies "peacefully" in their sleep and the one who dies of a heart attack all end up dead. Cold un-breathing, lifeless soon to decompose carcasses.
Yet there are some deaths that are utterly depressing not because of the end results i.e death, but because regardless of how one looks at it they are completely preventable. That is what David thought of the death of his son Absalom. And in his heart wrenching lament he wondered why Absalom should die in that manner.
These are the thoughts I was left with as news of the death of a Patriotic Front (PF) cadre due to the now familiar intra-party fighting was confirmed. I got home just in time to catch some of the pictures of the violence on television. Apart from the machete wielding, slogan chanting youths, you could also see police in full riot gear trying to quell the commotion. Meanwhile a light truck on the side had as its cargo a number of bloodied youths suffering from injuries ranging from gushing heads to broken limbs, all of them grimacing with pain.
Is it worth it?
A few kilometres along the Great East Road, the officials in whose honor the fighting was being done, were in parliament seating on the right side of The Speaker and acting with utmost civility towards each other. During the mandated fifteen minutes break from parliamentary proceedings, they probably shared a cup of tea, inquired about each other's families and shared a joke or two. They might have gotten wind of the latest intra-party fracas as Monze member of parliament Jack Mwiimbu raised a point of order on the same, but most likely dismissed it with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders and a self-assured adjustment of their reading glasses. Blissfully and conveniently unaware youths baying for Wynter Kabimba's blood on one hand and Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba's on the other.
Is it not ironic that the blood that ended up being spilled did not include even the tiniest iota of the two ministers' blood.
Back to the PF offices, rival factions of the same party were at each others' throats, using whatever weapon they thought would do the most damage, culminating in the death of one named cadre, although initial reports suggested that two cadres had actually lost lives.
It seems to me that in the absence of a formidable opposition, the PF has contrived to be its own worst enemy. In fact, its almost as if someone has pressed the self-destruct button in the ruling party. Amid accusations of corruption, tribalism and insubordination, it has now become a common fixture during official events to have a coming together of two factions, each one accusing the other of trying to hijack the party and eventually the presidency away from His Excellency (H.E) The President of Zambia Mr Michael Chilufya Sata.
For his part, the president has tried to manage the situation in the party, but one tends to believe he could do more and better. Firstly it took him ages to speak out regarding the endorsement drive for the 2016 elections, the same drive which I note is the genesis of these wrangles. Secondly he has not categorically castigated either faction. Some people I have spoken to, think this is all part of some grand political scheme by H.E, and knowing how politically astute the man is, I wouldn't put it past him. However, grand political scheme or not, when people begin to lose lives, it is time to act!
Let us talk about foolish deaths a bit. Foolish deaths as earlier alluded to, are those that are utterly preventable and should have been prevented. Such deaths include dying because someone asked you to fight over a cause you don't even understand. I believe this is partly the reason why the Vietnam war generates such anguish among those that were affected and why some able-bodied youths then, refused to be drafted into the the army to fight in Vietnam. They did not understand the cause and as such were not prepared to put their lives on the line for it.
The PF cadres are not fighting over heartfelt, staunchly believed in ideology; they are fighting over who will succeed President Michael Sata. Whoever is sponsoring them doesn't care about their plight or welfare but about advancing their ambitions for the highest office in Zambia. Unfortunately lack of employment and poverty greatly compromise our youths' standing such that they easily follow the next person who comes along as long as a few Kwacha and T-shirts are dangled in front of them.
I know there are causes that people have died for and there are many causes that some people are willing to die for and probably will die for. For me Wynter Kabimba and Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba are not among such causes and the sooner our youths realise that, the better.
Kenneth Kaunda's words in the book 'a humanist in Africa' come to mind;
ReplyDelete"Are we not that concerned when we hear of the death of thousand of people in an earth quake because it happened thousands of miles away? Are not touched when hundred of people have died in a plane crush because we were not in that aero plane? What then separates man from the ape of which we are constantly reminded it what we evolved from? man must have the ability to feel compassion for another man"
may not be the exact words as put in the book but i have tried to piece them as much as possible to what i recall it is. So if i were to rephrase that in this PF hacking situation, it would read, "We may not be concerned today because we are not the ones that lost a limb in this PF hacking fracas. That may not be our relative. it is just another story on the news. what is being brushed aside today as just an item on the news may turn out to be a full scale hacking and break down of the rule of law. Men of God were beaten up in church in matero a few month ago and this violence seems to be growing from strength to strength. If you own a piece of land machete wielding political party cadres can come and subdivide your land at any time. They have even hacked a former PF meber of parliament to death. We may realise we have a serious problem when we are too deep into it. We have entertained the rot to spread and the POLICE is the number one culprit in letting this escalate to this level. If i was the Attorney General, i'd ask the DPP to indict the Police Central command for crimes against humanity.
No wonder they don't want the ICC. Clearly the police can not be relied upon to bring sanity to what is increasingly becoming the norm, i.e blood-letting in the name of politics.
ReplyDeleteReally sad. Thanks for the Kenneth Kaunda quotation. Wonder whether he is still in a position to speak like that considering how close he is to the president.
You have correctly stated that the police cannot be relied upon to protect us from such thuggery. There are numerous examples to site were the POLICE have done nothing to save life and property against these political cadres. What then should one do, say in the event that your land is invaded?
DeleteBesides, who are these cadres? Can we really put a face to these cadres? I have always thought of these as jobless youths roaming the streets but I was shocked to learn of the age (51) of one the cadres appearing in court for assault and unlawful wounding. In fact, a number (may be 4) were above the age of 40.
Thank you Anonymous. I never knew that people as old as fifty were part of this arrangement. When fifty year olds begin to wield machetes in the name of GBM or Wynter, then clearly something is wrong.
DeleteThanks for your contribution.