Bombs won’t stop us

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 09:40:07 +0000

WE are not surprised that our newspaper, the Daily Nation, has been targeted by disgruntled elements in their bid to try and silence the paper. But they should be told in no uncertain terms that they are fighting a losing battle.

No amount of intimidation will sway what the newspaper stands for – Pursuing Justice and Equity with Integrity.  It is a principle that we pride ourselves in and will defend at any cost.

Sunday’s cowardly attack at our premises was meant to stop us from doing our work, that of exposing corruption and any criminal activities that the nation’s detractors would not want to be exposed.

That attack was meant to paralyse the Daily Nation’s operations but luckily the attackers failed in their bid.  By trying to disrupt the newspaper’s operations, the attackers’ motive was to stop us from reporting and disseminating news that the people want.

If anything, the assailants must be told in no uncertain terms that the newspaper will continue to report and expose any corrupt and criminal activities for that is what will build this nation.

If anything, is it wrong for the newspaper to expose the corruption that is going on in the country’s public institutions?  A case in point or example is the Kalundu saga in Lusaka involving the city council and the Chinese-built shopping mall that the residents have complained about.

The residents are right to demand that the manner in which the whole project was handled from the start was very questionable. The Lusaka City Council has failed to produce council minutes which could have recorded if the project was discussed and approved by the full council.

We have exposed petroleum product smuggling by Lake Petroleum Oil which has smuggled huge quantities of oil into the country of which only 12 tankers have been seized by the Zambia Revenue Authority. How much more has been smuggled?

We are also in the process of exposing  great abuses  in Zambia’s largest private  pension fund, Saturnia Regina, where highly dubious transactions have taken place, which transactions threaten the wellbeing of more than 30,00 retirees whose  funds have been invested in the firm hope that they will draw earnings for the rest of their natural lives.

It is important that we expose these wrong doings, regardless of the people who will be injured because we have a duty to the public and to the profession to expose crookedness and corruption at all levels.

Then there are those who, because of their inflated egos, have refused to accept reality and do not want to move forward after the August 2016 elections.  Even when the voters themselves made their choice clear, supported by other independent local and international observers, still dispute the results.

They have instead resorted to instigating acts of lawlessness across the country believing that this would get them into government.  That is wrong.  The people passed a vote of confidence in President Edgar Lungu and gave him their vote. Those who lost must just go back to the drawing board and meditate over what went wrong.

The assailants must go and tell their sponsors that they attacked a wrong target – an organization that is not afraid to stand and defend what it is doing with honesty.

We know for sure that the perpetrators of Sunday’s attack are the same people behind the current spate of cowardly attacks on vital installations in the country.  At the instigation of their crooked masters, they want to drive fear into the minds of the people.

But they must be told that they will not succeed for Zambians are not that gullible to support their evil acts of destruction. They have set on fire Lusaka City Market and left hordes of poor marketeers without any source of income for their livelihood.

And these are the same people who claim they can do a better job if they were in government.  How foolish can they be?

The Daily Nation is a credible paper and will strive to serve and meet the aspirations of the nation.  We believe in being factual and fair in our reporting.  For in a nutshell, it is the truth that will serve us well.