Comment:
It is very human to be protective of people one loves. It is also human to express one's feelings after the people one loves get attacked unjustifiably. But expressing one's feeling requires that one think through their feelings, think rationally under controlled emotions. That way, one would not make utterances that would make them seem as irrational as the acts they are speaking against.
Masheke has no moral ground to challenge KK, says Muyuni
By Mutale Kapekele
Tue 05 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT
A group of UNIP youths and the party’s women’s league yesterday stormed The Post in protest over a story published on Sunday where UNIP Revival Forum chairperson General Malimba Masheke called Dr Kenneth Kaunda an MMD cadre.
Leading the delegation, national women's secretary Beatrice Muyuni charged that Gen Masheke was a political impostor who had no moral ground to challenge Dr Kaunda.
Is it the reporter or Muyuni who begins by slapping a label on Masheke. Rational thinking would have advised Muyuni to begin by outlining the mistake(s) made by Masheke then how she felt about those mistakes. By calling Masheke a political imposter, a misuse of the term imposter, begins to put doubts in the mind of a reader as to whether there was something to look for in the rest of the article.
“General Malimba Masheke is a political fraud and an impostor. He has no moral ground to challenge Dr Kaunda because he is a stooge of Michael Sata and the PF,” Muyuni said. “He is easily bribed and known for contributing nothing to the party and the nation both in opposition and in the government.
All these descriptors are being piled on Masheke without Muyuni first telling the reader what Masheke had done wrong. At this time we cannot rule out the help of the hand of the reporter. However, it does not stop us to use what we have read so far to begin to think Muyuni has let reflexes get the better part of her.
When he was prime minister of Zambia, he even failed to secure the title deeds for the party assets like Mulungushi Rock of Authority in Kabwe, UNIP complex along Independence Avenue and other party properties.”
By definition, an imposter is somebody who pretends to be somebody else. False pretense is the undercurrent. If we all agree that this is on average a fair definition of the word imposter, then Masheke who was once Prime Minister does not fit the profile of an imposter. He was a real politician and has remained in active politics since then.
Could Muyuni be speaking and acting from another center? It is becoming evident that she may very well be. For how can she not know that the job of prime minister does not include securing property on behalf of the party? We will forgive Muyuni for now because, as matter of fact, Muyuni is not alone in that space of confusion. Whether by design or otherwise, our government offices, except perhaps the Judiciary, are as hollow as empty shells. They have no known job descriptions. That is why Muyuni would not be totally wrong in assuming the duties of the Prime minister entailed buy real estate for the party to which he belonged. When will we get this fixed?
She charged that Gen Masheke was also known to destabilize UNIP by creating factions within the party.
“He Masheke is infamously known for creating factions to destabilize the party from 1992 to 1995 when he created a faction against Kebby Musokotwane, and in 1997 to 2002 when he created another faction against Dr Kaunda,” she said. “In 2000, he was rejected at the party congress as president and after that he joined the FFD where he is still a member. He stood for party president there also but failed lamentably.“
We would like to inform Muyuni that the political landscape is strewn withe such events, success and failures, just like in any field of human endeavor. Rational thinking should have guided Muyuni not to talk about the obvious and try to cast them in negative light. In essence, Muyuni is grabbing straws, looking for some dirt to slap on Masheke for being the kind of politician she earlier claimed Masheke was not.
Muyuni charged that Gen Masheke was a liability to UNIP as he had created a huge debt for the party.
“He has always been a liability to UNIP. He created a debt and ran away so he has no moral right to condemn the current leadership which has liquidated the debt that he left and has created new wealth for the party,” she said. “General Masheke must be grateful to the Kaunda family because without it he could have been a nobody in this nation.”
Again, here, Muyuni charges that Masheke created a debt. But she neglects to state the nature of the debt. And rational thinking would have it that, if Masheke was an imposter, somebody who pretends to be who is not, Masheke would not have been allowed to incur a debt of any magnitude on behalf of the party.
Rational thinking would also have guided Muyuni to know that Masheke was assigned to certain position by Kaunda because Kaunda saw something in Masheke. What he is doing now has nothing to do with what he was before. If we asked Masheke, he probably would say he does not owe Kaunda eternal gratitude or he might have other reasons for doing what he has done which Muyuni has not stated up to this point.
She said Dr Kaunda's contribution to the country and southern Africa was immeasurable and could not be dented or distorted by “ranting of failed politicians like Gen Masheke.”
Muyuni urged Gen Masheke to desist from “insulting” Dr Kaunda who had quit active politics.
Okay, it seems we are getting closer to the revelation. Muyuni charges that Masheke was insulting Kaunda. Why would Masheke insult Kaunda. Did Kaunda do something to him? Rational thinking would, again, require that Muyuni be in possession of those facts and use them to strengthen her case.
She also described as “lousy” comments by PF general secretary Wynter Kabimba who described Dr Kaunda as a hypocrite and divisive failure acting for self preservation.
“What has Kabimba done for this country?” she asked. “KK deserves respect. KK built this country and now people have come out of their senses and they want to disrespect him. Even the little knowledge they have was because KK sent them to school for free."
This is yet another point that people make out of irrational thinking. Yes, Kaunda did a lot of this country. He was one of the founding fathers, a point that is not made clearly most of the times; one of the founding fathers. But then he became president after wards. What did they expect the president to do, sit on a stove all day and eat pies? No, the president is supposed to send children of the nation to school for free if the finances of the nation would permit it and at the time Zambia became independent, she had more than enough to do that. Muyuni. like many other people missed the point that Kaunda did not send Zambians to school using money from his pocket. It was the duty of whoever would have been in that position, Kapwepwe, Nkumbula, or Sikota, etc., to send the children of Zambia to school for free. It was not out of the kindness of his heart either, but an expectation that came with the position he fought hard to get. It was a job for Kaunda and we paid him well for it.
We are very disappointed with Kabimba and PF president Michael Sata. We expect them to honour KK. Sata was actually groomed by KK and now he is just the same as the MMD who have failed this country. All he knows are insults after he failed in the MMD and he is just like President Rupiah Banda who has moved from being a socialist to liberal.”
Rational thinking seems to have escaped Muyuni who does not state the nature of insults that people were pouring on Kaunda. Instead she hastens to slap a label on both Sata and Banda. This time it is "liberal." Does she understand the difference between Socialism and Liberalism?
She said Sata and President Banda were the same politically as they both entertained former president Frederick Chiluba.
Muyuni said UNIP would not tolerate insults especially if it involved Dr Kaunda.
Were Muyuni's sentiments over edited by the reporter to make them come out the way they did? Rational thinking would have assisted Muyuni up to the understanding that you don't assume everyone who hears words like liberalism and socialism would understand you. Muyuni needed to give situations where those two word would be understood to mean the good and the bad. In place of doing that, she jumps the fence to another area, which at this point we think she might not be able to explain anyway.
“We are not going to tolerate insulting behavior from anybody. They like insulting each other in the press and when we don't talk about it doesn't mean we respect them,” she said. “KK has a right to give advice to any Zambian as a father of the nation because no one can compare to him in terms of developing this country. Even the MMD cannot show any thing for their 20 years in office.”
These sentiments are consistent with the utterances of a person who loves and respects somebody and are prepared to defend them at all costs. But there is a danger in defending somebody who is not yourself. You may love some and respect them, it is your prerogative. But you surely don't know them well enough to defend their actions. A rational thinking person would only defend themselves to this extent. Because there is a chance that Kaunda contributed to the kind of treatment he is receiving. And that can only be defended by Kaunda and no one else.
She said Dr Kaunda could never be MMD because he believed in humanism whilst the ruling party was liberal.
Is Muyuni equating humanism to socialism? How does Muyuni know whether Kaunda may be a humanist and also a MMD sympathizer? Rational thinking would have made muyuni realize that MMD is not an ideology.
Muyuni said politics should be based on issues that were affecting the country as insults could not develop the country.
“There are a lot of development issues that politicians can talk about, that is why KK sent them to school so that today they can be political leaders,” Muyuni said.
She also announced that some members of the UNIP Revival Forum like Gen Masheke would not be allowed to attend the forthcoming party congress.
Muyuni is attempting to discourage politics of insults from one corner of the mouth and promoting disunity from the other. It is irrational to do so.
On Saturday, Gen Masheke said he could not be surprised if Dr Kaunda had become an MMD cadre following the latter's attack on former defence minister George Mpombo.
Rational thinkers, think through ideas before they comment or express their outrage. Love Kaunda and respect him, but do not revere him. As much as Kaunda would like to play the role of the 'father' and give advice to individual and groups as he sees fit, those who love and respect him must be prepared to hear people who also have a right not to love and respect him to say what they feel.
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