Opinion: Zambians, Unprincipled and Docile

By Chipego Monze

Over the years I have come to read the post newspaper with a pinch of salt. Like any other media house, they have an editorial that appears to favour certain individuals, institutions or even certain events.

Therefore its objectivity depends on which side of the ledge you standing on. However, the (10/12/14) editorial of how unprincipled our politicians are, struck a resonance with how Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili boldly claimed to have withdrawn from the Patriotic Fronts presidential election because they were flawed and unconstitutional. And yet, a few days later, Kambwili is at the forefront of endorsing Edgar Lungu as presidential candidate, a product of the same illegal and unconstitutional convention that he withdrew from on ‘principal.’ Such behaviour is almost an emblem of Zambian politics.

What the editorial however failed to elaborate is that the lack of principle in Zambian politics is borne and exacerbated by the Zambian public. We seem to lack the basic intellect to analyse simple issues and deductively make moral and principled decisions. This is a trait that politicians have picked on. They know that regardless of their immoral conduct, corruption, fraudulence and all other ills, they can still stand on a podium and have a foolish and docile multitude blindly follow them.

Over the years, we have seen the same corrupt and unprincipled politicians making numerals political comebacks and still being able to command a crowd. We have politician today that have violated their own constitutions and all other rules that govern human morality and decency vying for presidency.

How do we correct such a wrong when politicians are a product of our own Zambian communities and the community’s ways of thinking? The first step is to relinquish the badge that we Zambians are peaceful. We are not peaceful. We are simply docile with an intellect incapable of thinking beyond what we are going to eat today. Harsh as it may sound, it is the reason why we still sing praises for corrupt leaders. It is the reason why we have failed lamentably to run our own industries such as the mines. We need to learn to make long time decisions based on a critical analysis of issues. Great principals, values, and morals are a product of an informed decision.