IT IS NOT A CRIME TO ASK THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND STATE WHEN ONE BECOMES A PRESIDENT

Dear Mr. Editor, 

BEING a lawyer, does not guarantee that one understands what Government is and what State is.

As long as a President confuses these two aspects of governance, State and Government he is likely to be a dictator or a fascist.

Now, what is the government?

The government is an organisation or institution that creates and executes laws and policies in a society of people.  How is this achieved?

There are three parts that accomplish these aspects, namely;

1 Legislative – the power to create laws and policies

2 Executive – the power to enforce the laws

3 Judiciary – the power to define the laws

A  President who interferes with one and three is a dictator and fascist at the same time like Benito Mussolini.

What is the State?

A State is a territory like Zambia with people and its lovely wildlife and natural resources.  The State has land to accommodate its people and its sovereignty enables it to independently carry out policies. 

And finally, it has the government which manages and allows that state to establish its sovereignty.

In other words, a Government cannot exist without the state.  At the same time, a state cannot run without Government.  Although the Government controls the State, governments change according to the will of the people while the State remains as it doesn’t matter who runs it.

But those who run Governments must be knowledgeable people as the oath says; so God happy me.  God does not help people without knowledge. First we must have the know-how.

What can we liken the State to be?

The State can be likened to a ship on the sea going in a particular direction (and not just seeing the light at the corner; as the saying has been previously in Zambia under one Party system),  the crew (Government) must be with the light to be evaluating in the direction.

So therefore, a President must understand the difference between Government and State. Then the President will be in harmony in running the Government for a collective good objective.

If a management team starts to think that they are a company, soon enough they will be in trouble.

COLLINS SHAMBOKO TEMBO.