When Parents Exchange Obscenities in Public, Children Take Notes

 Many years ago in my seedy neighborhood, across from my home, there lived a family that was notorious for picking fights with just about anyone. No week went by without a fight-fest from some pub, some playground, some bus stop, to the house. The haggard-looking man on  stilts drunken old para-loony father and the sack of potatoes-looking fire-spitting mother were no bystanders. They would slight, shove, push, chip-shoot, mock and torment their sons' adversaries as the fighting frenzy escorted by the block mob entered their yard. Armed with sticks and pebbles they would throw in a punch, stab and whip with great caution. Through the high pitched choruses of wanu-eeh-wanu! you would hear the mother hauling obscenities at the sons' opponents.

What I found particularly intriguing was the fact that all these ba shimabungi were mooching on this one poor elder sister. Shonse ntalamisoke shi,  these fighting bobs had no jobs. They were not much of anything out a street fight anyway. And school to them was like a walk on hot coal. The oldest male who challenged himself to run the academic marathon met his demise prematurely when he got murdered in cold blood by his live-in girlfriend. It was rumored that she bludgeoned him using some heavy object. While he was lying unconscious, she drilled two straight holes into his chest, from shoulders down, using a 12 inch steel and poured hot water into them. Then she tied his head between his bent knees, kept him in a sitting position with hands tied to the back for eight weeks. Gradually the body began to decompose letting off a very disturbing stench but the girl continued to live mulya mwine mu kabini. The death of the only male who would have made something out of himself drove the older sister into a depression. When she passed away, all her assets were pawned off. Poverty reigned in the family once again.

But this family is not what this piece is about. Today I want to give an Irrational Thinker's Award to a group of public figures who always remind me of this family. Each time these politicians pen their mouths, a wrong combination of words come out. A colleague of mine in Atlanta wonders why Zambian politicians think they can operate the crowds and excite their base without a script. They either think every Zambian is naive or they don't know any better. My colleague adds that, campaign stop is a crucial time. It is synonymous with an elevator moment when you are allowed only 30 seconds to do your shtick. If you have anything worthwhile to say, according to the 30-second rule, you better deliver a well buffed no-nonsense presentation in that space of time. The rest of the time you would spend explaining what it may mean to different interest groups.

I have observed with utter disappointment the manner in which some of the politicians present themselves and how they feed off the excitement of their rowdy audiences. In place of managing that energy and excitement, they get drunk on it to the point of losing their heads.

This article, Sata is mad, says George Kunda, is essentially akasamuna nkunge.

I have always wondered where the Ng'wang'wazi, Eagle-eagle, and Kaponya get their training from to insult each other umoshacela. Little did I know they are subconsciously tutored by George Kunda, Michael Sata, Ronald Shikapwasha, Wynter Kabimba, Daniel Munkombwe, and a whole host of unscripted vile-tongued politicians who are old enough to be parents to these unemployed rolling stones. For some reasons, these guys have conditioned themselves to believe that they can deliver an earth shaking off the cuff impromptu speech.

If you attempted to go back in time, you would be hard squeezed  to find a time when you would hear shikuluBanda and siBwalya trading obscenities pa katande mono. So you would wonder what their parents would say if they heard them and whether they would be, like Kacepa would say, doing sit-ups in the grave upon seeing their sons' insult slinging in public every time a mic is placed in front of them.

Desmond Tutu once said, his father advised him and his siblings not to raise their voices but the quality of their arguments. Based on this one-sentence piece of advice, one can begin to analyze the content of the speeches of the Zambian politicians for quality. Truth be told, politicians miss an opportunity to educate the electorate on important national issues. But then again, you can only educate another on something you have educated yourself first. What politicians seem to have taught themselves well is not the ability to articulate ideological and and policy issues but obscenities. Consequently, their children are learning nothing from them but the art of self denigration.

Folks these politicians are unwittingly developing a culture of politics that is devoid of respect and while we stand by and look. We must stop them. Challenge them that there is no message too difficult to deliver without wrapping it in obscenities. What they ought to realize is that as a nation, we will be respected only to the degree that we demonstrate respect for ourselves.

So, when somebody tries to put somebody down we should remind them that insele fiko. We should encourage them to learn Mama Inonge Wina's style of debate and manner of presentation - well thought out, succinct and enlightening. I am yet to see a politician rival that calm yet firm style of public presentation.

This month's Irrational Thinker's Award is bestowed on George Kunda on behalf of himself and his fellow self deprecating politicians.

The Zambian Economy through the lens of Ms. Nawakwi

One major reason the Zambian economy is not doing very well is, it is being run by people who are not strong enough. What an interesting observation by former minister of Finance and now president of an opposition political party. 

I have always doubted the accuracy of the stroke of the pen of the news scribes regardless of who they work for. There is always that personal effect that cannot be ignored. In following the logic in Ms. Nawakwi's arguments, I see a few flaws that underpin her claim that the people running the country are not strong enough. These words, having been uttered by a presidential aspirant, need to be examined a little closely.

Ms. Nawakwi does not say what kind of strength is not enough in the people leading the country. Whether she purposely overlooked that part or not, the lack of clarity on that part alone weakens her subsequent arguments. Let me preface what I am about to do here with the statement. Every time you set out to criticize somebody, outline the points of disagreement and then, one by one, assign reasons why you disagree. That way, even if your argument turns out to be weak, you would have demonstrated that your thought process was logical, you knew what you were talking about except you did not just have the necessary expertise to give a foolproof solution. 

I will follow that same line of argument here.

1. Ms. Nawakwi says, "ideally, the mining companies were supposed to bank their monies locally and only externalize dividends and profits."  Ideally? This is a policy matter that should be in place and applicable to all foreign companies wishing to do business in Zambia. What we may not know, however, and might very well have escaped Ms. Nawakwi's memory, is that there may not be sufficient low risk short-term investment vehicles for companies to put their operating capital in. Having been minister of Finance and having been involved in some of similar investment negotiations, she should have known that an element such as that is likely to be the cause. Outside environments may be quite attractive. 

Foreign banks deposit their operating capital locally in Botswana because it is a policy, non-negotiable, in Botswana. We need to apply the basic concept of elasticity to our business environment when we are setting policy. One fundamental question we may want to consider is, "What would be the responsiveness of foreign investors to the formulation and implementation of policy X?"    

2. Ms. Nawakwi says, "investors are nothing but people who are looking to maximise profits..." Ms. Nawakwi is right. People invest in various ventures in pursuit of profits. But that has always been the definition of an investor. And when foreigners come to Zambia with sacks of money, they are not there to spend their money, but to sow and reap. People who usually go to other countries to spend money with a different motive are either terrorists, money launderers, or tourists. 

3. Ms. Nawakwi says, "unless we as Zambians realise that to create wealth, we need to create a wealthy middle class in this country and without this, the country is going to be perpetually toiling to support foreigners.” Ms. Nawakwi may have been wrongly quoted here but I think it is only fair for me to work with what we have. We do not create wealth by creating a wealthy middle class, but by creating an economic environment in which Zambians are set up to succeed. Most domestic policies we have in place are inconsistent with that ideal; from regulatory to taxation. The rules of the game and deplorable conditions of the communication and transportation infrastructure exacerbates the situation. Enforcing property rights, low interest loan guarantees, competitive commercial interest rates, and tax incentives would put us on a the path toward creating a Zambian middle class. Environmental conditions are essential.

4. Ms. Nawakwi says, “In this particular case of the exchange rate policy, the only way to address this imbalance in the trade pattern which does not favour Zambians but foreign capital is for us…specifically the minister of finance…to dollarise this economy even for one month.” Three things are wrong with her suggestion. First, the use of the word ONLY. That makes one think Ms.Nawakwi is floating the best thinking there is, a vocation that is a preserve of gurus. No disrespect but Ms. Nawakwi is no guru. Second, it is not in the purview of the minister of Finance to manipulate the currency in any color or form. In my experience and training, I have always understood this to be an integral component of monetary policy and the preserve of the Central Bank; in our case, the Bank of Zambia. It is important to keep the lines of responsibility straight and clear. Third, dollarizing the economy further erodes the respect of the Kwacha. A managed float, fixing the Kwacha to the dollar at a certain rate, might help. A few things need to be examined before this option is appealed to.

5.  Ms. Nawakwi says, “Now these mines are earning dollars, let us have these mines pay our workers in dollars.” I disagree. Ms. Nawakwi, if we want the Kwacha to regain its respect, we must demand that the monies earned by the mines through copper sales must buy the Kwacha to effect domestic payments. The Kwacha will appreciate against other currencies including the dollar when there is an increased demand for it by other currencies.

6. Ms. Nawakwi laments over the trade imbalance. She says, “Now these mines are earning dollars, let us have these mines pay our workers in dollars.” I would suggest a policy that is inward looking. The drive to earn foreign exchange to enable us get what we can't produce domestically puts our economy in perpetual dependency. We need an import substitution policy that promote domestic manufacturing to meet domestic demand. An import substitution policy for a period ranging from 5 to 10 years would Zambia's self sufficiency. Simple logic in trade has it that we export when we have met our demand and excess of production over demand is what we export. We can switch policies from import substitution to export promotion when we have a solid and sustainable manufacturing base aimed at satisfying local demand. This means, trade controls have to be in place to protect certain industries and their pertinent markets.

Final Note: Perhaps the strength Ms. Nawakwi was referring to is the political will to formulate and implement policies that are Zambian centered. It is time we started looking after our interests seriously. The copper tide we are riding will last but for a number of years. It would be wise of us to think and work like copper would lose its value tonight. Efforts must be made to convert our copperdollar, if you like, to capital. Zambia is not the first country to go through this phase. What makes a difference, however, is how well it comes out at the end. If the economic growth we seem to be excited about is reflected and in the production of seasonal crops, we may very well be strong enough to formulate for ourselves policies that favor us instead of the foreigner. The growth of an economy in a less industrialized country should be measured by the extent to which it enables individuals to produce middle class incomes. Anything short of that is meaningless.

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Zambia not being run by strong leaders - Nawakwi

By Patson Chilemba The Post                                    Sun 20 Mar. 2011, 04:01

Nawakwi

ZAMBIA is being run by people who are not strong enough to drive the nation's development agenda, says FDD president Edith Nawakwi.

In an interview, Nawakwi said ideally all the mining companies were supposed to bank their monies locally and only externalise dividends and profits.

“But it is just the problem that we have had in this country where we are not strong enough. This country is not being run by people who are strong enough,” Nawakwi said. “Look at Botswana which has diamond. Where is their money (proceeds of diamond sales) banked? The answer is Botswana. Even if you go to Angola, to create business you have to have a local partner.”

Nawakwi said when the kwacha started depreciating, those in government said it was because of the global crunch and declining copper prices.

She said the copper prices had risen considerably yet the kwacha had continued to depreciate.

“I have repeatedly said that investors are nothing but people who are looking to maximise profits…unless we as Zambians realise that to create wealth, we need to create a wealthy middle class in this country and without this, the country is going to be perpetually toiling to support foreigners,” Nawakwi said. “In this particular case of the exchange rate policy, the only way to address this imbalance in the trade pattern which does not favour Zambians but foreign capital is for us…specifically the minister of finance…to dollarise this economy even for one month.”

Nawakwi said in this case foreign investors would begin to cash in their dollars.

“If you go to Zimbabwe you don't hear of Zimbabwe dollars, you hear of the US dollar and the rand, and the inflation rate is far lower there than Mr finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane's,” Nawakwi said. “Inflation rate, why? Because there is parity in the trade.”

Nawakwi said the kwacha could only be managed if the mines cashed in more dollars in the economy.

She observed that all the money that was earned from copper by the mining companies was banked out of the country with only a few dollars being brought back to pay Zesco electricity bills and wages.

“Nothing is paid locally,” Nawakwi said. “Even the subcontractors in the mines are from India if it is KCM Konkola Copper Mines. The Zambians are just given jobs of supplying paper. How can you then expect the Zambian kwacha to have any respect on the market?”

The kwacha was now trading in the range of K4,700 to K4,900 against the US dollar but was in the range of K3,600 when the global crunch started in 2008.

Nawakwi said since the 1970s the economic policy was tailored to support the copper mines.
“It made sense at the time when we as a country owned these copper mines. When I was minister of finance we borrowed US $6million from a private bank to pay wages. It made sense for us to ask for more kwachas because we were paying our millions in kwacha,” Nawakwi said. “Now these mines are earning dollars, let us have these mines pay our workers in dollars.”

She said the inflation rate was rising on account of several factors but key among them was the almost US $2 price for a litre of petrol.
“To resolve the problem over the exchange rate, let us dollarise the economy, get all those infesters investors, these tourists investors to bank their turnover profits locally and only externalise profits and dividends. Let us create a middle class,” she said.

Nawakwi said Zambia had been dubbed as one of the leading trading nations in Sub-Saharan Africa that was not a pleasant label for any country.

“We can't even manufacture tooth picks, except for toilet paper by Softex. We can't even manufacture salt, even if we have salt pans in Mpika. We have to import everything,” said Nawakwi. “Now I can assure you that as long as we do nothing about our current disadvantaged position and you have a currency which is locally generated like the kwacha, you are not going to see your currency improving at all.”