The Odd Politicians!

Last night, the Republican presidential candidates for next years US elections, held an interesting debate on the Fox news network. I could not help but, notice how similar the business of politics, across diverse cultures - The old proverbial Bemba saying, pansaka tapabula chiwelewele has some application even, in the grand old USA.

The leading candidate Rudy Giuliani outlined strong and popular views on US national security, the economy (taxation), civil liberties and immigration. However just like our Newstead Zimba he struggles on family values. Like Mr. Zimba in that famous ZNBC news exposé by Lackson Nthani (I wonder how he’s doing these days), Giuliani is on his third wife. When a young man sitting and having a meal, in a restaurant asked Giuliani a question on family values - via live TV feed linked, to the venue of the debate, University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore center (My good Zambian blogger Cho, will love the role ICT played here) you could sense the man’s anguish and frustration, at having the substance or his lack of family values been brought up in a public forum.

Then there is, the always odd but sometimes wise Ron Paul, he some how reminds me of the late Zambian politician Mr. Chama Chakobomka. Ron Paul has as bad a chance in wining the US presidential elections as had Mr. Chakobomka in that Zambian election. And yet, one can not help but pay attention to what this man is saying. Though he holds pretty radical and unpopular views such as abolishing or reducing the role of the FBI and CIA, curtailing presidential executive privileges and ending the war in Iraq, immediately. In last night’s debate, he probably drew the most applause, especially when he said;
We have warrantless searches, we’ve lost habeas corpus. We’ve had secret prisons around the world and we have torture going on.
That’s un-American, and we need to use the power of the presidency to get it back in order, in order to take care of us and protect this country and our liberties. (www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295886,00.html)

Does that not sound like the views, one late Chama Chakobomka would hold (God rest his soul), what do you think?