Two UNZA problems, One simple solution

The University of Zambia, popularly know as UNZA, faces a disruption of classes and closure almost every year. Of well known causes, student protests precipitated directly or indirectly by political interference ranks highest. Those who were genuinely smart enough to get a spot on the program rosters at UNZA in the late 70s and early 80s, would remember the numerous times when the administration would be worried upon noticing silence in the student community. The UNZA administration would provoke the student by delaying their allowances or cutting back on their meals.

Considering that the majority of students at that time hailed from humble backgrounds, it was easy to show solidarity with the students. Students likened themselves to the downtrodden, the oppressed and the helpless workers or simply the proletariat. And that they needed to rise up and defend themselves against the tyranny of the bourgeoisie. They might have very well been right because, most of them came from the mining townships where their parents bali ni ba Chimbamabwe. They had a short life expectancy; you know ku malaisha, working hard and long awkawrd hours ne ncombolo. Others were sons and daughters of government workers. Now mwaKaunda, unlike nomba, government workers na ba Chimbamabwe earned peanuts. Except the apamwamba, ba Minister, na ba Makobo. These formed the group that Riki Ililonga sang about, Olemekezeka. Of course the track was banned after burning the airwaves for a couple weeks. That is how Kaunda and his unsophisticated shiftless bureaucratic Central Committee ran the show - very personal.

So, anyway, for the most part, students were on the edge. They learned to react to any slight provocation by politicians and the UNZA administration.They would block roads, smash widnshields in anger, overturn cars, and every once in a while burn a vehicle or two.As expected, Kaunda reacted to that kind of behavior with gusto - he curse a few times, 'stupid idiots,' (like there was ever a time when an idiot was not stupid) then he would deploy and a full load of an Ifa truck, armed police clad in riot gear to disperse the crowds. They would fire teargas canisters, mixed in with live bullets, at students and all hell would break loose.

If you really come to think of it, rebellion was not a Zambian practice until the self appointed chancellor of the great University of Zambia, Kaunda, embarked on a crusade to conscientize students, preaching about his newly discovered bombastic terms - Scientific Socialism. You had to know Kaunda as well as I did or better to appreciate how much he believed he was on to something. He literally shoved Sicentific Socialism down the throats of unsuspecting students until they choked on it. I hold him personally responsible for the behavior unbecoming of a learner, bordering on stupidity exhibited by UNZA students. It was not an easy sale. Did you know that UNZA students were required to memorize the Das Kapital like their life depended on it? For those of you who are spring chickens or who resemble them, look it up. Kaunda's communistic philosophies were not an option; they were a law and woe to he who would dare disobey. Very few people could afford to be rational in his day. So much for being THE father of the nation.

But I am not here to hold on to your coattails and drag you down memory lane about Kaunda and his vigilante boys he purposely denied education and enlightenment. Rather, I wanted to set the stage so you would understand the genesis of the kacha of turmoils that has has latched on UNZA like a smudge of umulembwe beta abati pimpo mwefu. The seed of trouble was sown in the Kaunda era, by his hand. Some rational thinking students did put up a fight, though. I will not mention names. But I will tell you that they ended up being expelled from UNZA and subsequently being blacklisted. It meant that they would never get a job in Zambia. Well, as long as Kaunda was president. And he wanted to be there umuyayaya. That is Kaunda for you.

Today's UNZA is relatively calm. The calmness flows from the incident where the police, who were supposed to be maintaining peace, shot and killed one student at Great East Road Campus, in cold blood, the frequency of provocation from both the political and the UNZA administration has since subsided. However, politicians have not gotten smarter. It is like they have nailprints of irrational thinking in the palms of their hands. They behave the same way their predecessors behaved in the 70s and 80s; doing basically the same darnedest things - being irrational with some of the quickest thinkers in the nation. That is what they spend time doing, buffing their thinking wheels. Whether what their minds bake at the end of the day is useful or less than useful is inconsequential.But one can count on the actions of the politico to prostrate naked before the eyes of the students each time they try to outsmart them. Look at this garbage:

Forgo one trip and pay for students, Mumbi Phiri urges Rupiah

By Agness Changala Tue 12 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT

PATRIOTIC Front Munali member of parliament Mumbi Phiri has asked President Rupiah Banda to forgo one trip and pay fees for the affected students at the University of Zambia (UNZA).

About 1,132 students have been withdrawn from 2010-2011 academic calendars due to non-payment of tuition fees as required by the 75 percent payment policy.

Phiri said even the money that President Banda used to pay for Amayenge Band to go and dance in Nigeria could have been used to pay for the troubled students and enable them to continue with school. She said among the students who were withdrawn, 38 paid half of their fees and were attending classes.

“So you can see that these students actually complied and some of them have remained with six months to complete. Honestly, how fair is it that one should be withdrawn?” Phiri asked.

“I am speaking as a parent and talking to parents. If that was their son, how would they feel?”

Phiri said some of the students were children to lecturers who retired as far back as 2004 and had not been paid their money, adding that it was not easy for them to pay for their children.

How can all three organs of the government fail to solve the financial problem of our two small universities? The Judiciary would scream, 'hey that is the purview of the Executive and the Legislature!' Well, learned ladies and gentlemen, when an irrational politician says the government this and that, it includes you. You may want to argue that the appropriate term is not government but administration. Well, why don't you make that argument. When will you for once quit being stiff necked and say something in defense of the people? As long as that term is used and you learned men and women in those Halloween-like gowns and, symbol of subservience to the British crown, blonde wigs stand idly by, you are co-conspirators and guilty as charged.


Solution

But seriously, the problems of allowances and unnecessary closures can be resolved permanently by taking the government out of the equation. I mean, all vestiges of the government including the ministry of Education. To them, UNZA should be a no go area. Unjustifiable closures would then become a thing of the past. But first the following has to happen:

1. Make UNZA autonomous;
2. Hire an accounting/management firm to administer bursaries; and
3. Make funding for UNZA cost-based.

The government should add a special expense line in it budget to cover the operating costs of UNZA or better still, all post secondary institutions. Such an addition should be enacted into law and subsequent appropriations made a responsibility of a parliamentary subcommittee.

Upon qualifying to an institution of higher learning, including UNZA, students would be expected to apply for a scholarship to the scholarship/selection committee of a private accounting/management institution. The management entity would lay out terms of eligibility, ratified by the parliamentary subcommittee. The government would not be involved in the day-to-day issues of UNZA, Evelyn Hone, etc. The UNZA administration would know its roles and responsibilities - chief among them to facilitate learning. And students would have one deterministic objective when they get to their various campuses - to learn and build professional networks. The accounting/management entity being private and apolitical, will be paid based on performance - defined simply how well it responds to the issues of the students. In other words, Expediency will be the name of the game for all involved. They will have to be perfect or they lose the contract.

My fellow Zambians, we cannot continue to condemn imiti ikula to the pit of poorly educated citizens. We cannot continue to dance cintako around simple issues like this. It's just unacceptable.

When A Slow Thinking Brain Can Be A LiabilityTo Its Owner

Before my grandpa passed away, in 1966, he said to me, "Man, it was not given to all mortals to think. Even when facts are lined up in front of them, some people don't have the ability to recognize that there is an order to their arrangement."

Since my man passed away, I have put his words to the test. And each time they prove to be true. This brings to mind a saying in my mother tongue that, "Pansaka ta pabula ciwelewele." It is with the realization of the same fact that Hitler managed to hoodwink the weak minded and rode on their backs for a long period, exactly 33 years earlier. Saying you don't know what he did with weak minds is suggesting that you don't know the suffering of Semites at the hands of one of the most vicious dictators in recorded history.

Not too long ago, the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, got a beating for recognizing Hitler's "ingenuity." His critics argued that the actions of such brutes as Hitler should be pushed to the fringes of human history. Arnold's critics may have had a point. Suggesting that actually in the mix of Hitler's crimes, one ca find a leaflet of lessons, may sound insensitive especially to the Semites, Gypsies, etc. Well, and all people of darker shade, especially myself. But dismissing the fact that there were a multitude of lethargic thinkers, on whose backs Hitler rode to pursue the objectives of the Third Reich is denying the fact that the Holocaust was perpetrated by thousands of people, if not millions, who were at least 6 degrees removed from him.

In a world where some people fail to count empty insupa lined up on the wall in front of them, Hitler managed to mobilized millions of people with slow cranking brains to incinerate people who had done nothing to him. The only crime they were accused of, which in fact they had no hand in shaping, was being of a darker shade. He hated them and he wanted them wiped off the face of this earth. But from an organizing angle alone, Hitler could be thought of as a genius. Hitler is actually said to have had remarked, "Good for leaders that most people don't think." There was nothing genius about what he did. He only recognized the abundance of slow cranking brains Germany and put them to work. Any idiot can do that. All it takes is a little boldness.

Politics aside, Hitler had a point. The same point that my grandpa, who had never seen the inside of a primitive classroom, let alone take a lesson in European history, had made. I will venture to say, however, that lethargic thinking is not a preserve of some Zambians. It is an attribute that one can find in the community of puritans as well.

Therefore, as long as that remains a fact, the world and Zambia in particular, will not be in short supply of individuals who will take refuge in lethargy in thinking.

Enough of philosophizing. As my cab driver once said, "take a straight shot to it." In one of my jaunts on Zambia Online, Dear Mr.President forum, a year or two ago, I encountered many MMD hardliners. One of them used my first name for a handle - Mwata. Whether he knew me or not is inconsequential. He responded to my postings and we locked horns in what ended up being a protracted debate. Did it feel awkward to debate someone who uses your true name for a pseudonym? Absolutely. Sometimes I felt schizophrenic because I was calling another person by my name.

Anyway, it quickly dawned on Mwata that I was neither on his side nor the side of those he despised. That did not deter him from unleashing flurry of his nuclear power packed political punches on me. Each time I exited the forum my mental lips would be split and nose bleeding. I would try to reason with Mwata but he was hellbent on convincing me that sitting on the fence would only expose me to shots from either side. He suggested, his side was safer. He may have had a point, but then that was looking at things only through his prism. Needless to say, debates on ZOL don't get to the conclusion, instead they recede into hibernation only to resurface later. My debate with Mwata was no exception.

Mwata and I got fatigued by the hard punches to our philosophical bodies. We respectfully said our farewells and vowed never to cross paths again.

As fate would have it, I was informed recently that Mwata was defending me in another forum when a bunch of slow cranking brains, in another forum, actually ascribed his postings to me and poured profanity on my name. This was brought to my attention by a colleague of mine who had read the comments on Lusaka Times. Some of these lethargic thinkers even went to an extent of characterizing my article on the Association of Zambians in Atlanta website as below modern first grade standard.Honestly I would like to meet a first grader that would analyze issues better myself after being on earth for only 6 years!

Now, you are thinking Mwata Chisha was upset because he was abused in an episode of mistaken identity. You cannot be farther from the truth. The assault on my person even when the person whose postings argued that he and I were not the same did not bother me at all. I would not give another person the power to hurt me with words. Elenore Roosevelt once said, "No one can hurt you unless you give them permission."

What bothered me in that debate between Mwata, who is not me, and those many Zambians with slow cranking brains is the poverty of thought. Not a single one of them said, wait a minute, 'Just because the poster's name is Mwata, it does not mean it is Mwata Chisha.' Not a single one of them thought about that except the same person who they were arguing with. He told them he was not Mwata Chisha, but they unwittingly continued feeding off each other. Now, one would think, their thinking had been challenged and that an indicator placed in front of their face, they would take a step and connect the dots. No, not them. They dug up stuff on Mwata Chisha and brought them back to the discussion to perpetuate their myth.

I, Mwata Chisha, have my own gig: THIS ONE RIGHT HERE! I don't visit Lusaka Times unless I am told that there was something worth reading; as was the case here. If I wanted to debate issues I would go back to ZOL. Although ZOL is busy, I think the proportion of lethargic thinkers on ZOL is less than that found on Lusaka Times.

What happened was that one overzealous self-righteous partisan misled a whole bunch of supposedly educated Zambians into believing the Mwata of Lusaka Times and Mwata Chisha are one and the same. Sadly, they believed him and without even a word of instruction from him, they started abusing my name.

Doesn't it remind you of the time when you were little and somebody would tell you, "Icimbwi co! And you get all scared, you almost pee in your pants? You would not have even seen a hyena before, for crying out loud. Yet the mention of it puts you on spaghetti legs.  But I can understand that; you were young and gullible. We all go through that. Little brains are imaginative, and trusting. One wonders how such busy minds get tired so early.

Mwata Chisha, here, is not partisan! I am not on the side of politicians. I am on the side of the people.

I lost both my parents and a number of my siblings in the Zambian hospitals, in a short space of time, not because they could not be helped but because this and the previous administrations shared a common element - slow cranking brains. They did not and still don't believe health-care is a priority. They would rather spend money on promoting ideologies, custom tailored suits and heels, physicals in London, and globetrotting, while taxpayers rot in poorly equipped health facilities at home. Only people with slow cranking brains would refuse to make health-care a priority in a nation with a low health profile.

With that much pain in my heart, I cannot possibly be hobnobbing with the administrations which I hold partially responsible for my irreversible losses. I seek no retribution, I want solutions. I want lasting solutions. And singing praises to the administrations, regardless of who is at the helm, is not my style. I started this blog to call attention to the urgency of thinking. Thinking is one chore that most Zambians feel too lethargic to do.

If one slow cranking brain, a mortal to whom it was not given to think, can mislead a considerable number of bloggers at Lusaka Times, it is only fair to speculate that there is a large number of Zambians with significantly slow thinking brains, ingwilabulime, bacitongo, ba cipelelo, ba muselela kwakaba, ba musekela kali kwisaya, intonko. 

It is not healthy!

PS: I was going to bestow upon them the Irrational Thinkers' Award but that is okay. Kuti uleipushe mbwa ngeifwele?

Not Now, Not This Time

I remember when I was little, my mother would pinch the side of my little sauagey thighs when I acted silly, which was often. But sometimes she would only pull my ear as she mumbled something under her breathe. In those days such pinches were popularly known as tu namatanta. The sting of tu namatanta was as bad as that of utushinda beni. Those of you who visited the country side when school was out would know what I am referring to. Then the sting of utushinda beni on your dust covered butt would linger on for a while, reminding you not to sit on the bare ground while wearing short pants with holes in them.

That is the kind of pinch I would like to give Banda and Sata when they convince themselves that they could actually turn the plight of the Zambians into a joke. Banda speaks of obligations. What obligations? Why is it difficult for him to point out what those obligations are? What obligations does his administration have to the poor people of Zambia? Can he come up with a prioritized list of what constitutes obligations?

Never mind his incessant travels and repeated visits to places he has been before, he should try hard to explain how his trips are helping those "obligations."

But just in case Banda cannot remember what obligations the Zambian president has to the people of Zambia, I have highlighted one of the top priorities of his administration's obligations.

When he says irrational things like this, I feel like reaching out from here, ukushempo lupi ulwine lwine. Cilya awe cipense pense, afilwo kulilala, alatusaila fye nga katutwa kapusuka ku lupikiso, I would pull his ear and ..... well, you know, read on....

Sata is silly, says Rupiah
By Patson Chilemba
The Post Tue 05 Oct. 2010, 04:01

MICHAEL Sata is very silly, President Rupiah Banda charged yesterday.

Reacting to Patriotic Front president Sata’s comment that he was now soliciting for international trips in order to raise campaign funds, President Banda dispelled Sata’s assertions.

“But he Sata is very silly. I think it is the first time I have to call him that,” President Banda said shortly before his departure for Chipata at Lusaka City airport. “He hasn’t even phoned me to say sorry about my funeral, which I expect him to do. Traditionally, he should do that. He is a fellow leader and he is my cousin, he should do that. He just has to talk. It looks like he is one of the reporters for the particular newspaper because he has all the time to say something. So let him say whatever he wants to say.”

President Banda said he was recently in Nigeria and met that country’s President Goodluck Jonathan. He said he did not travel out of the country to solicit for campaign funds.

“I am a President. It is so disgraceful for me to solicit for funds. I cannot do that. I have my own country. My own industry is here and everything. I am very proud of you people and I carry your pride with me,” President Banda said. “If he does that himself, let him go ahead and do it, but mine is to attend to our obligations.”

President Banda said he had to attend to obligations, adding that Zambia was a member of the African Union, the Commonwealth, SADC and the United Nations.
He said he did not go for the recently held United Nations General Assembly.

“Last year I didn’t go. He pointing at Vice-President George Kunda went, he went isn’t it? Who went?” President Banda asked as Vice President Kunda responded: “I went to the Commonwealth.”

President Banda said this year, defence minister Dr Kalombo Mwansa was the one who went to the United Nations. He said other Presidents went there also.

“I didn’t go. He doesn’t talk about that because it suits him. He only talks when I go somewhere. Even just going for my funeral, I am sure he will say I am traveling again. But I hope he is human enough to understand that I am a President,” President Banda said. “I have to travel for funerals, for obligations, different obligations which concern all of us here. So I don’t bother much about him anymore. If he had that much power I wouldn’t be traveling by now. But I will continue to carry out my obligations as President as long as I think it is to the benefit of Zambians. I will do it.”

Sata last week observed that President Banda’s trips were fruitless because they had failed to materialise any tangible benefits for the nation. He said President Banda was now soliciting for foreign trips in order to source funds for the 2011 campaigns.

Asked to comment on information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha’s remark that doctors were influenced by opposition politicians to strike, President Banda said he had not read the article in question. He reiterated his earlier statement that the doctors were negotiating with Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja and Ministry of Health officials.

President Banda said he wanted to stay out of such matters until it was absolutely necessary.

Let's pause here for a second. When? When are such matters absolutely necessary for you to step in? Ba Banda, SUCH MATTERS ARE IN FACT YOUR OBLIGATION! And you are pushing your obligation to the back burner. 

Remember the Chansa Kabwela case? Ba Banda, you don't mess with people's healthcare. 

Not now. Not this time. 

Not Ever!

Health and safety of the Zambians is numero uno on the prioritized list of obligations of the President of the Republic of Zambia. It is in such matters that you step up to the plate and act presidential. And by the way, keep in mind that Sata is not president. You Are!.

“So what my colleague may have said, or is alleged to have said I have no comment on that,” he said.

On the problems in the PF-UPND pact, President Banda said he did not know about the wrangles in the pact, adding that the matter did not concern him or the MMD.

My final word to you ba Banda: You are carrying the weight of the nation on your shoulders. Everyone is counting on you to be rational in your thoughts and deeds. If you want to play with Sata in the Sand box, call him to the national house. There is a safe and secure backyard large enough for both of you. You can smack each other, slap each other upside the head, bump heads and ukuishina tu namatanta for all we care. But once you come out in public and have cameras and mics pointing at you, Zambians want to hear you show concern about the issues they are grappling with. Tell them what you are doing about their concerns and when help will reach them.

For consistently failing to enumerate and articulate your obligations, Mr.President, by the powers vested in me by my ancestors, I confer upon you the Irrational Thinker Of The Week award, entitling you to all rights and honors appertaining.

I Agree With Kambwili. But That Is Not The Point

Kambwili urges Musokotwane to acknowledge corruption in govt
By Salim Dawood
The Post Mon 27 Sep. 2010, 14:50


DENYING the existence of rampant corruption and abuse of public resources in government is like denying that a human being does not go to the toilet, Roan Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili has charged.

Reacting to Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane’s statement that opposition MPs should desist from inciting donors to withhold their aid by alleging that there is rampant corruption and abuse of public funds in the country, Kambwili said the best the minister could do was come up with better ways of dealing with corruption instead of issuing irresponsible statements...

Enough of this garbage!

Mwata's Remarks
In ancient times, when our proud forebears roamed the earth, panhandling was a craft for the lazy, the peeons. Such terms as real men, and true women, were coined to illuminate unfettered quest for success at both individual and collective levels; the desire and ability to work hard and solve their own problems. They had the will to face problems head on. Self-sufficiency was a virtue. The idea of rite of passage was rooted in that concept. No rational thinking parents would marry off their daughter to a man who had no means of earning his livelihood. No, not a beggar! They called such a man kawayawaya mupanda buci.

Conversely, men based their choice of a bride on the family's notoriety for success; they sought maidens from families with a tradition of hard-work. Family members demonstration of self respect, earned them admiration and respect from others. They lived their values and valued their lives. Beauty has always be the attention grabber of course but the spirit of work counted more. Umwanakashi ni chinokole lisembe lya mukuba, simply meant that the maiden may be beautiful but she was not marriage material.

Married men boasted about the beauty and strength of their wives. They took pride in their societal knowledge, social skills, and abilities to perform with excellence any work before them. One would often hear a triumphant man exalting himself in such terms as, "ne muka naChibeka...!" Even the name Chibeka says something about the power of thought of the parents. Or "ne shiChibeka...libili na litatu!" Men felt proud of their families and they wanted the world to know especially in moments of success. Their peers would also acknowledge their achievements and remark, "e ndupwa sha kupilamo shilya..."

And when the Agro revolution reached them and they started mixing the old ways and the new ways, it was common among community members to praise their neighbors, "ba limi balya" or "ni mwana chilime ulya...!" And collectively, the clan would be characterized as "uluko lutobela." The reputation of a family was elevated to something from which others sought seeds. "We lubuto ula bipa we! Kanshi cikolwe nshi cafwile kunsala?" A parent would complain when his child begins to show signs of laziness. "Tata ali ni nka ya milimo...nampo nga ni ntunga nshi uyu afumishe icipasho?"

There is no argument we come from a proud and hardworking people. They never depended on anyone for anything. They provided for themselves the three basic needs; cloth (ifilundu), food (ubutala) and shelter (amayanda).

They also knew how to party. They ate, drunk and danced like there was no tomorrow, in thanks giving to imilungu, for the new crop and good health.

The lazy among them had little chances of finding a marriage partner, that is if they would find one at all. So, economic prowess was a factor in limiting the contribution of the lazy people to the gene pool. Natural selection, the differential reproduction of genotypes, worked against bu mbokoya. And those who died without contributing to the gene pool, were buried with their butt plugged up with umuseba wa nyanje. What a way to go, huh?

It was a disgrace to be lazy, to beg, to depend on others. It was shameful for an able bodied individual to not provide adequately for oneself and family. Dependency (ubupushi, bu kalombalomba) on other people was spat on.

My question to Zambia and Zambians is, where is your pride? When did you abandon the ways of your forebears and become beggars? Allright, every once in a while a person falls upon hard times, but when are you going to get up and go on your own?

I did some checking and I found panhandling as a percentage of Zambia's annual budget:
2007 19%
2008 17%
2009 23%
2010 15%
How can you make begging an essential ingredient of your national life? Have you no shame?

Media Distortions and the Irrational Thinker Award

Every time I analyze a statement in the press made by a Zambian public figure, I always factor in errors by the scribe. Any literally piece put out is laced with a high dose of subjectivity. Even when one tries to reproduce a statement word for word, the possibility that the scribe edited out some parts that they thought were irrelevant, or an idea not properly articulated, is high. In essence, any reported item is subject to "the power of the pen." This as true in Zambia as is in America.

The article below is the best example of the obvious distortion of information by the reporter. I have dissected Kombe Chimpinde's article to show how long he'd been out to lunch. Read on...

UPND has not run out of options to win in 2011 - Mweetwa
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 24 Sep. 2010, 17:50


THE UPND has said that it has not run out of options to win the 2011 elections.

And the UPND has complained that they have sacrificed enough including Namwala member of parliament major Robby Chizyuka because of their commitment to the Pact.

Speaking when he featured on 'People’s Last Say' programme on QFM radio last night UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa accused its partner the Patriotic Front (PF) of not being committed to the Pact that has been on the agenda of Zambians.

The foregoing paragraph is reporter Chimpinde's take on what Mweetwa said. It is supposed to be very clear in its construction. But as any language teacher would observe, it is long, winding, and poorly punctuated. I am not a language expert myself but I am always a sucker for a well written article. The italicized part of Chimpinde's sentence is likely to lead a reader to thinking Mweetwa is an object or is the partner of PF. A rational thinker would, however, know that UPND deputy spokes person Cornelius Mweetwa is not an object. Therefore the use of the word its in the sentence is a distortion. It may not be intentional but the totality of the errors in the opening paragraph reflects possible thinking impairment in the writer.

“What is happening in the Pact is not actually indisciplined. I think its lack of commitment within the Pact. I am saying this because indiscipline is when someone in the political circles is contrary to the party's position. When you walk out alone and say as far as am concerned I stand for something that is contrary to the party's position then you are said to be indisciplined. This we did in UPND when we expelled Namwala MP Major Chizyuka because he was taking a stance that was contrary to the party's,” he said.

In the above paragraph, I am assuming Chimpinde is transcribing the voice of Mweetwa on some contraption of some sort. I understand Mweetwa may have said "indisciplined," in place of "indiscipline," may not have used proper syntax when making his comments, but I think Chimpinde had time to insert proper punctuations in the sentence. I mean when you quote someone quoting someone else, you need to use appropriate punctuations to mark the beginning and end of the second quote. On this one, Chimpinde had been out to lunch for too long!

Mweetwa said that UPND expelled Chizyuka just to demonstrate their commitment to the Pact.

It is not clear whether it was Chimpinde's idea to use the wordjust or it was actually Mweetwa's. The use of the word "just" projects the simplicity of thought of the UPND party as a collective. Whether this was intentional on the part of Chimpinde or it was indeed Mweetwa's best choice of words, I am not sure. However, reading it the way it is written, I am made to think that the UPND departed from principle when it expelled its member just to demonstrate its commitment to the Pact. Such an action, in my view, is irrational.

“We had to lose an MP because we knew we were concentrating on a bigger picture, the Pact, because that’s what the people of Zambia want. We had to expel a member of parliament on that score now when people say Gary Nkombo is indisciplined he is a member of parliament and chairperson for energy in the UPND,” he said.

Once again, Chimpinde did a poor job reporting a spoken word. Chimpinde could have cut the sentences short to elevate the degree of clarity. This is because the use of the word because in the same sentence is permissible in speech but not in written.

“He was speaking as a member of the working group and in this particular meeting that took place that sanctioned PF's stand in Mpulungu and Chilanga to be contested by UPND. Gary was the secretary who was taking minutes of what was discussed.”

Chimpinde! This is not acceptable! Lunch hour ended yesterday.

He said it was astonishing to learn that PF general secretary, Wynter Kabimba, who was a senior party official in PF could come out and contradict the agreement s made at the meeting.

“...its lack of commitment because from what the general secretary of PF has said he has gotten full coverage and backing of his President Mr Micheal Sata in The Post and on Joy FM this morning. He (Sata) has covered him 100 per cent. He has also insisted that he (Wynter) is the voice for the central committee of PF, he has also joined in saying the working group is a smaller body and the decisions of working group. So now a senior party official getting the coverage of the president.”

What did Mweetwa say? What did Kabimba say? What did Sata say? And what did you, Chimpinde, hear?

He said the only explanation to PF’s behaviour was that there was no commitment on their part.

“...today PF has changed the stance cause the stance cause in the post Wynter Kabimba has said HH should forget about been President for the pact and on the other side on the radio and in the paper Mr Sata is saying Wynter Kabimba is the voice of the PF Central Committee which they have portrayed as been sovereign and beyond reproach they are a supreme beyond the working group or any marriage with UPND.”

I am going to assume, Chimpinde is a student on internship from a local college of journalism. This is not the way to write! Working with my assumption, I am going to place blame on the editor (of whatever prefix fits the job of looking through articles of interns before they are published). My question to the editor is, What the heck happened? Look at this paragraph! You can't let such poor pieces be put through for publication.

He further accused the PF leaders of not being sincere by indicating that Sata was ready to work under Hichilema.

There goes Chimpinde again. By stating that Sata was ready to work under Hichilema contradicts the insincerity that you are claiming Mweetwa had accused Sata of. Is it possible that you are distorting what Mweetwa said?

“So his voice is sanctified, it is a pure position of PF. So for the PF to insist that the two leaders have agreed to work under each other is not true, only HH has said he is willing to work under Mr Sata, and I heard myself,” he said.

Editor, don't you find this confusing

“So it no longer applies that Mr Sata is willing to be a vice-president to HH. The wrangle has nothing to do with HH, it has something to do with the working group and the failure of organisational consistency,” he said.

It could have sounded better had you, Chimpinde, inserted the word "its" in place of "the," between the words "and" and "failure." I did not mean to confuse the reader further. But the last part of the sentence should have read, "...working group and its failure to maintain organizational consistency." I will let you off on this because it may very well be what Mweetwa had said. But based on what I have observed so far, I cannot be sure.

He said PF was defending people who thought that each time they went to a meeting they got a fresh mandate.
“They failed to send people to this group who have to talk about Chilanga. The wrangle is about Chilanga but look in The Post and how Kabimba has gone far to disparage HH saying that HH should not think he will just walk into the PF -UPND Pact and take over the presidency the same way he walked in and become president for UDA( United Democratic Alliance.”

All Chimpinde needed to do here is apply proper punctuation and the reader would follow with great ease.

He said people should learn to put certain things in the past.

“HH will become president of this country one day which I believe he will, it will not be as a result of the wishes of Wynter Kabimba, neither will it be a wish of Mr Micheal Sata. It will be the wish of the people of Zambia who vote,” he said.

“... and people in Zambia in 2006 had indicated that they were willing to vote for HH, so there is nothing wrong with thinking that come 2011 actually many people who had promised to vote for HH will.”

I give credit where credit is due. This is a teaching moment for me. That is how you quote somebody, Chimpinde. Good job!

Mweetwa, however, said that it was possible for the two parties to produce one presidential candidate if they remained committed to the Pact.

“It is possible to produce one presidential candidate under the umbrella of the Pact but for us UPND we have not yet run out of options and ideas of our future and it is clear and bright.We are willing to contribute positively to ensure we bring about change,” said Mweetwa.

Apply proper punctuations, Chimpinde!

And during the same programme, Munali PF member of parliament Mumbi Phiri called in and maintained that it was impossible for individual parties to remove the MMD government.

“I am speaking as Munali MP representing the people of Munali. I can assure you that the Pact is not going to break. Those in the Pact that think they can go and stand alone are joking,” she said.
Phiri said she was hopeful that the Pact was going to hold and that only an insane person could think that either parties could go it alone.

“Let us keep praying am a woman of faith who believes in prayer and you know in a marriage they say a marriage that is criticised in the beginning comes out to be strong. I believe the UPND -PF Pact is going to stand until 2011 and that’s my prayer and I will not stop kneeling until this Pact works so that we can liberate this country. People are sleeping hungry, women are being raped, people are being killed. Can you imagine now corruption has even entered the mortuary.question mark here would have been better Where are we going as a nation?” she asked.

There is something seriously wrong with the first two sentences in the above paragraph; it distorts what is being said, not because of what is being said or how it is said, but how it is reported

“This country is not going anywhere so those who are joking let us get serious. I don’t think any sensible person can want to break the Pact and go it alone unless you are insane.”

I have always argued that that words are symbols of our thoughts. One can use different symbols to represent one's thoughts as long as one understands what those symbols mean. The variation of symbols is synonymous with language. It is clear that Chimpinde's mastery of the language he is using to report what he heard, or lack of it, is introducing distortions into the report. It is easy for an irrational reader to get inaccurate information from an article characterized by so much errors. Whether it is intentional or not, the mountain of evidence against the reporter suggests that he may be a major contributing factor to misinformation.

Such a poor piece of literally work emanate from many sources but a rational thinker. I therefore confer upon Kombe Chimpinde the Irrational Thinker of the Week Award.

Lying: Intentional or Ignorance?

Stop using maths to hoodwink Zambians that economy is improving – Mambo
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 24 Sep. 2010, 04:01


FORMER Church of God overseer Bishop John Mambo yesterday told the MMD to stop playing with maths and figures to hoodwink the people of Zambia that the economy is improving.

And Bishop Mambo has predicted another constitution review after a change of government next year.

In an interview Bishop Mambo said that it was absurd for the MMD government to say the economy had greatly improved under the leadership of President Banda when poverty levels had still remained very high.

“Poverty levels in the country are still very high even if we are talking about our economy picking up. I have a foundation called Chikondi Rural Foundation and when you visit the area it is clear that the majority of our people in the rural areas only have one meal a day. You can't say that we are governing peacefully because of the fear of God. Governing people who cannot have a day’s meal?” Bishop Mambo questioned.

He has since challenged the young generation to mobilize and stand up for their rights.

“A hungry stomach will always be corrupt. The high levels of corruption are as result of rampant poverty, so we must fight corruption by first trying to fight poverty. And since we were bold enough to declare ourselves as a Christian nation why is government failing to put bread on people's tables, and you the young generation can't even put your act together and say enough is enough it is time we change,” he challenged.

“Zambia is a beautiful country but we are destroying it because these people (MMD government) who are currently there are not there to serve, you can even tell. It is just, ‘how much I will make' so if we are not going to remove this scenario of politics being for income, then we are in trouble.”

Bishop Mambo asked President Banda to take a leaf from the Libyan administration when claiming success. He cited Libya's economy stressing that the people of Libya were happy with the developments because there was a match in pronouncements of the governments and the reality on the ground.

“If you go to Libya people are happy that’s why (Colonel Muammar) Gaddafi has been there for a long time, you understand the growth that we are talking about. Not growth where the rich are becoming filthy rich and the poor, poorer. Here in Zambia we will not accept that the economy is improving when the amount of interest rates for you to borrow money to start a business is still very high,” he said

“I am not an economist but I know money. When the country is doing well, one can go to bank and borrow money at a low cost but the gap between the poor and rich continues to widen...I think we shouldn't play maths and that’s what they (MMD) are doing because in terms of the economy only when the majority have food on the table can we say there is economic growth. Until we say that voters in Kanyama, Mandevu and so forth eat, then we can say the economy is growing. This is why the Catholics are saying that people want a regime change. Us evangelicals, we say this is a Christian nation but Christians must fight for the poor and ensure that they have food on their tables which most churches are not doing.”

Bishop Mambo hailed the Catholic bishops for speaking out for the people and stated that they were talking about reality on the ground and that it was important that this government listens to them.

“If you are going to convince me that the economy is doing well there has to be a generation of decent employment for the graduate from university, don't talk about six per cent. What growth? It must be matched with what is going on the ground,” he said.

People must not be swayed to vote for the government when a road has been built in an area prior elections. This is the situation. We are going to see a lot of activity because we are heading to elections. Money is already flying around. This is why there is need to sensitize people because people don't know their rights. When the government builds roads prior to elections they (people) are saying we will vote for them because they have built us a road. But that’s their right. Thats the obligation of government.”

He said that there was need for Zambians to change their mindsets so as not to fall into traps meant to gunner support for the government.

“It’s important that we go back to 1991 when we stood and said; ‘Kaunda that’s enough, we want change’. Change must be there. However, it must be peaceful change. If the current President will continue showing us that he can’t serve the people of Zambia then we need change,” he said.

“They must listen to criticism. People are tired of this kind of leadership were people have made themselves kings that they cannot listen to people. Leadership is not about reacting to people.”

Commenting on President Banda’s silence on the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) in his speech to Parliament, Bishop Mambo said no president was going to rule with a clear mandate without having addressed the desperation of people expressed in the Mung'omba Constitutional Review process.

He observed that the desire by Zambians to have a Constitution before 2011 had been hijacked by the MMD government.

“It was the desire of many Zambians to go to the 2011 elections with a new constitution but I don't see it happening. They have applied brakes because they want the document to suit their desires. The President and his Cabinet know that the document that will come out will not be accepted by the majority of the people. Again this is what we call playing with time and money ,” he said.

Bishop Mambo observed that this was why those people who were supposed to be at the core of the process have been left out from the process.

“Whether we go for it or not we will still have, and am not a prophet, a change of government outside the MMD. We will go back go to the drawing board, the reason being that no President will rule with a clear mandate without having addressed the desperation of many people who submitted for fifty-plus one we know its costly but we don't want a minority president,” he said.

“…now this is not the start, we have had a number of documents that are gathering dust now a mountain from the late Mainza Chona, Mvunga, we went to the late Mwanakatwe who resisted to take up the position because he did not want lies to be told and finally Willa Mung'omba who for three years NCC was seating they never consulted him. So now, how smart is Chifumu Banda and his team?” he questioned.

Bishop Mambo has since charged that the process was not helping the country in any way.

The National Constitution Conference in August handed the draft constitution and report to the government although there has been no direction given on the future of the document.

There has, however, been repeated calls from Zambians to government on the need for a new constitution before the country goes to the polls next year.

The Post

Does Zambia Have Mechanisms to Implement Fiscal and Monetary Policies?

The management of a structured economy depends, to a great extent, on the ability of both the administration and the central bank to formulate policies that affect unemployment, inflation, and and growth. In this short discussion, by unemployment I am referring to the proportion of the labor force that is unemployed. And for simplicity sake, inflation here means the increase in the general price level. As for growth, I have adopted the textbook definition of GDP which is the value of all finish products produced in a given year within an economy. I am not going to waste time discussing GNP for reason that will soon become apparent.

To influence the rate of unemployment which is normally caused by factors such as fluctuation of business cycle (cyclical), people changing jobs (frictional), pool of skilled manpower not keeping up with the demand for new skills in the labor market (structural)both the administration and the Central bank have to have mechanisms which only they can manipulate. For instance the administration can pour money into the economy through implementation of planned infrastructural development projects. The central bank would augment the administration's effort by lowering interest rates so business can borrow to purchase equipment, expand their production capacity. These two efforts if implemented in a measured and coordinated way, can create new jobs and lower the rate of unemployment.

Let's not forget that the secondary effects of these actions is the powerful undercurrent of the multiplier effect. They cause ripple effects as funds cycle through the markets creation of more money.

I have no doubt in my mind that the Zambian administration does pour huge funds into the infrastructural development projects. The question I have is, how does it measure the impact of its actions? How does it know that the rate of unemployment is being impacted by it actions and to what extent?

These are simple questions but they can be difficult to provide good responses to when the administration does not have a decent mechanism in place to associate facts together. The administration needs to know the baseline rate of unemployment first and then measure the change immediately the project has commenced.

To influence the rate of inflation, the administration can work together with the the central bank to reduce the volume of cash in circulation. This can be accomplished by selling financial instruments issued by the government. The central bank can do even more by increasing the interest rates. Both the selling of financial instruments and increasing premium rates give an incentive for people and businesses to put their money in the bank. However, such an approach would work well when the population has a culture of saving. Zambia has instead a consuming culture. In addition, the interest rates are always high. There may be a good reason for high loan rates and I intend to explore that in another piece. What is of interest at this time is to identify the mechanism the administration uses to influence inflation and how it measure the impact.

Again there is no doubt in my mind that the government sells bonds. The question is, to whom? Another pertinent question at this point would be, does the central bank have the power to increase or lower interest rates? If it does, how does it exercise that power?

Economic growth can benefit from all the above actions, assuming all the actions are done in a thoughtful, intentional and coordinated manner. However, institutional mechanisms have to be in place. The administration can augment the efforts by acting as a consumer in the products market. we all know that the government consumes just about anything one can think of. And once it does, it stimulates a chain of activities in the economy which has a positive effect on unemployment.

In view of the interdependence of the factors at the disposal of the central bank and the administration, measuring the effects of each action and predicting the extent of the impact on the fringes of the economy makes it look complex but in actual fact its very easy. The complexity is diminishes with the clear definition of and institutionalization of the mechanisms that the administration and the central bank can use.

When both the administration and the central bank begin to describe an increase in the production of raw copper and high corn harvest as increase in GDP, one wonders whether the country has the right set of eyes reading the economic indicators. I should not have to say it but copper cathodes and corn are intermediate products. In fact in the strictest of sense, they are raw materials. In their state, they should be excluded from GDP computation.

Excluding copper and corn from computation of GDP leaves us with absolutely no fundamentals to work with to determine the performance of the Zambian economy at any one given point. I think this is true because, as difficult as it is for the government to measure unemployment and the effects of its attempts to reduce the rate, it is even more difficult for the government to measure the incomes that were earned by households in the resource market. Assuming a close, two sector economy, the value incomes earned should give a suggestion of the value of all finished products produced in the Zambian economy in a given year which was bought by the Zambian consumers. Does Zambia have the mechanism in place to monitor retail sales? Who is capturing these data and how are they stored?

If it hard to compute GDP using such simplified approach, it is even harder to compute GNP. To start with, most of the manufacturing industries in Zambia are owned by foreigners. The proportion of what they produce has to be subtracted from the computation as we add the production of assets owned by Zambians abroad. I would be hard pressed to find Zambian nationals with assets worth writing home about reporting their earning to Zambia Revenue Authority on a regular basis. Or are there?

How then do we know the status and condition of the Zambian economy when there are no formal mechanisms in place to collect reliable data? Are these mechanism important? Howe difficult are they to set up?

Of course I am assuming that they are absent. If anyone knows better, please educate me.