On Iris Kaingu and GBM

It cannot be denied that the reason Iris Kaingu is such a ‘darling’ of the media, to a large extent lies in that little sex tape that went viral a few years ago. However, to continually hold and link Iris to the sex-tape smacks of a lack of maturity from purveyors of that line of reasoning. I have read how some media houses continually refer to Iris as “Zambia’s adult film star”, “part-time porn star” and so forth. Such titles are not only meant to cast Iris in the most unflattering of lights, but also bent on perpetually tying her to her misdeeds of the past, which I find grossly unfair.

Admittedly, Iris and her partner where probably unwise in their choice of medium to immortalise their scene of lovemaking, or we could say, it was unfortunate that the recording found itself in the wrong hands. But to all of sudden cast her as this queen of immorality is grossly unfair to say the least. She had sex with her boyfriend, many people have sex with their boyfriends. Ideally, they don’t record the act on video, and if they do, have the sense to have the video locked away somewhere in the tenth ring of some high-tech Swiss made safe with a 20 digit passcode for every ring, but that is beside the point. What she did, in terms of the sexual act is not unique to her, and there is no need for the holier than though attitude that she seems to be getting.

Just a small thought before I move on to my next point. It would seem the gentleman with whom Iris made the sex-tape has somehow slithered into anonymity like one of those snakes that just vanishes from a crowd, leaving people to wonder where it has gone. The guy could practically even start a church and no one would recognise him. He must be kicking himself, considering that Iris is practically a house-hold name now, her fame even eclipsing that of the father. And to think, that it was probably the guys idea that they record the act; talk about someone stealing your show (and no I can’t remember his name either).

The point I am labouring to make is Iris deserves to be given a chance. If she has political views, which I read she has, they deserve to be appraised as coming from any normal, ordinary human being and not prefixed with the usual “Ahh, now the porn star wants to join politics”.

For all I hear (I never watched her interview on Muvi TV, thanks to ZESCO, despite my good friend Patrice alerting me), she had some pretty strong points on gay rights and politics in general. I think her ideas need not be tainted by her one act of stupidity, for which she has unreservedly apologised. Chances are that there are people who have done worse things, only that they were not caught. Let Iris be Iris, not Iris the porn star or Iris the adult movie actress (that wasn’t even a movie, she never got any money for her trouble or pleasure and it certainly as hell wasn’t acting).

Get over it!

On GBM

Now we need to get one thing out of the way. By now we all know that the UPND leader HH is desperate to get to statehouse, so much  that he is willing to do a lot of things, if only to improve his chances. Whether that is a good or bad thing is open to debate. He was once involved in a short-lived pact with the PF, just before the 2011 general elections (it must still haunt him as to why he didn’t stick around, knowing with hindsight now what followed). It was followed by a pact of sorts with a very strong faction of the MMD and some PF leaders who found themselves on the periphery of things in their party following the demise of President Michael Sata.

Being someone with conspicuously Tonga names, I found myself in conversation with some people who are really close to the decision making inner circle of the UPND, over a month ago and was made aware of the impending appointment of one Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM), then Member of Parliament for Kasama Central, as UPND Vice-President for Administration. I am not a UPND sympathiser by any stretch of the imagination, and I don’t sympathise with any party for that matter, not at the moment anyway. But I am interested in politics, being a social scientist. Having said that, I note the following:

• The appointment of GBM to that position, is an extremely risky move by the UPND. GBM’s own presidential ambitions are well documented and if the past has taught us any lessons, it is that loyalty in Zambian politics counts for nothing. Anyone who has memory will recall how GBM and Wynter Kabimba tore the PF right down the middle with their posturing and positioning, when it became clear that the late President Michael Sata at best wouldn’t stand for a second term and at worst that his health wouldn’t allow him to complete the first term. Didn’t we witness those senseless youths wielding machetes and chanting anti GBM or anti Kabimba slogans, bathing our streets with blood? So if the UPND think GBM has joined them in order to just “pick his nose”, to use a Danish expression, they have another thing coming.

• Which neatly brings me to my second issue. I am worried about what this says not only about the intra-party democracy within the UPND but about the calibre, let alone leadership qualities and ambitions of long-serving UPND members like Honourables Garry Nkombo, Cornelius Mweetwa and Request Muntanga. It is not far-fetched to think that they too would have loved to rise up the rungs of the party they have served for a very long time. To have the Vice Presidency simply given to a newcomer, who has yet to renounce his PF membership (I know that later GBM had the honours of renouncing his PF membership done for him by the Speaker of the National Assembly), just sends the wrong message. I know the UPND is eager to woo the Northern demographics, but should this be at the expense of party unity? Only time will tell. We also have to imagine that God forbid, should something happen to HH, it puts GBM in prime position to assume leadership of the UPND. But then I suppose the UPND’s National Management Council already considered these points and were happy about the situation. Mine is one of those background noises that no one pays attention to.

That said, I could be hastily rushing to conclusions here. Maybe this is the beginning of a more national feel and appeal for the UPND. It could be part of an elaborate scheme and strategy which will soon unravel and is not apparent at the moment to us that are novices in the political arena. Who knows? 

In the words of The Late Dennis Liwewe, let us wait and see.