Tue, 27 Jun 2017 14:02:59 +0000
IT WAS that enigmatic French revolution leader Napoleon Bonaparte who invented the famous quotable quote, ‘‘In politics, stupidity is not a handicap’’. And looking at the way the present political situation in Zambia is developing, he was not very far from the truth.
As we speak Zambia is under siege. The doom-sayers are turning the screw, using the outrageous social media and some sections of the church to portray Zambia as a country in a crisis, a State on the brink of anarchy.
They even have the audacity to manufacture a monstrous lie that President Lungu bribed the International Monetary Fund mission leader to Zambia Tsidi Tsikata as a way of improving Zambia’s chances of getting a bailout from the multilateral organisation.
It had to take the IMF communication director Gerry Rice in Washington to come to the defence of the Zambian government, describing the allegation as outrageous and a load of rubbish. But by then the damage had been done, and irreparably so.
And at the weekend, a band of saboteurs set out to plunge the country into darkness and push the economy into reverse gear when they tried to bring down the 330 KV Lusaka West-Kafue West ZESCO pylons by cutting off the support wires and steel members of the tower base, leading to the loss of 250 MW of electricity on the national grid.
If the tower had collapsed Zambia would be truly in a fix and this is what they want.
This horrendous act of national sabotage, whose evil intent – to paralyse the country – was only prevented by Providence, has yet to be fully established. But it sends shivers down the spine of right-thinking Zambians that there are some among us who can go to that extent, whatever their political grievance.
All these happenings come on the heels of a totally unexpected, unnecessary and inaccurate statement by two church mother bodies that Zambia was a virtual dictatorship. The tone, damaging effect and the motive of those behind it has set off a huge national outrage which has placed the church at the crossroads.
Napoleon’s motto, ‘‘In politics, stupidity is not a handicap’’, helped him make a major impact on modern European history. Using it to great effect, he became king, emperor, military general and ruler of France as premier consul of the French Republic. He also became mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.
By the time he died on May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte’s ‘‘stupidity’’ had changed the course of European history forever.
The same could happen to Zambia. There is nothing more telling than President Lungu’s lamentations at a church service in Ndola’s Twapia township yesterday where he told the congregation that the statement by the two church mother bodies and the reaction by other clergy was sending wrong signals to the political leadership. Politicians are now wondering who among them is telling the truth and who to follow.
President Lungu, speaking at the induction of United Church of Zambia reverend Winstone Simwinga, said the differing viewpoints from the church showed that the church was divided and this had a ‘‘telling effect on the governance of the country’’. The body of Christ was no longer speaking with one voice and in the process misleading its flock.
‘‘What I am currently seeing is that the church of Christ, the body of Christ, is disunited. They are sending different signals to the politicians such that we don’t know who is telling us what. One minute they are telling us ‘namuluba (you are lost) while others are telling us ‘mulifye bwino (you are alright).
‘‘How are we going to provide leadership when we are subjected to conflicting statements from the body of Christ?’’ President Lungu asked.
No wonder President Lungu liked our situation to the one in Rwanda just before the genocide when the church preached hatred and tribal animosity, setting the stage for the holocaust that followed.
That is why Zambians must not go to slumber under the mistaken belief that all is well and there is nothing to worry about. The truth of the matter is that Zambia is under attack from the powers of darkness and political opportunists who want this country fail to govern itself.
To them, in politics stupidity is not a handicap and can be used to achieve political goals.
