tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81596271875423785572024-02-07T20:12:12.132-06:00Mwankole Kumushi KulishaniZambia's social, economic & political welfare.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-61758279851996880262012-08-18T09:14:00.000-05:002012-09-08T17:21:35.255-05:00Romney or Obama, whose resolve is pure? President Obama I presume!<style>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Nothing shows the immodesty or purity of a man’s resolve as
the lengths and breaths one takes to exploit the vulnerable or in case of the
other to help. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What does a man do when he sees another vulnerable and weak in
possession of something valuable? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In the later part of the 19<sup>th</sup> century, Cecil
Rhodes and Dr. David Livingstone early explorers into Southern Africa had
before them such a sight; Africans rich with potential and resources yet
vulnerable and weak against slave and mineral traders.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One Cecil Rhodes conceived a "dream" to exploit
the wealth of Africans and use it to form a brotherhood of elite Anglo-Saxons
(whites) that would occupy all of Africa, the Holy Land in the Middle East, and
other parts of the world. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A secret society that would extend British
rule throughout the world and colonize most parts of it with British settlers,
leading to the "ultimate recovery of the united states of America" by
the British Empire.</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Cecil Rhodes Biography<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The other Dr. David Livingstone conceived a mission to reach
new peoples in the interior of Africa and introduce them to Christianity, as
well as to free them from slavery. He later publicized the horrors of the slave
trade and secured private support for expeditions into central Africa,
searching for the source of the Nile River and reporting further on slave raids
in the African interior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
literally stood up to and was the last man standing in the way of barbarians
that exploited Africa for slaves and minerals. His efforts are credited for
hastening the end of slave trade and delaying the colonization of Africa.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Livingstone was part
of an evangelical and nonconformist movement in Britain which during the 19th
century changed the national mindset from the notion of a divine right to rule
'lesser races', to ethical ideas in foreign policy which, with other factors,
contributed to the end of the British Empire.</i><span class="reference-text"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="reference-text" style="font-size: large;">Corelli Barnett: The Audit of
War: The Illusion and Reality of Britain as a Great Nation (Macmillan, 1986)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In this year’s US Presidential election, the US electorate
is also weighing the purity of two men’s resolve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Upon completing college at Harvard, both Mr. Romney and Mr.
Obama were confronted with the grim specter of the capitalistic binge fallout
that precipitated the dawn of the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Companies that had
been productive and formed the bedrock of many communities for years were struggling
under the new economic order of globalization. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mr. Romney seized on the opportunity to found Bain capital,
just as Cecil Rhodes founded De Beers a century earlier. Bain is a venture capital
firm that bought financially vulnerable firms at low cost, restructured them and
resold them at a profit. However, the restructuring process was not always
successful, a handful of companies Romney bought were simply saddled up with
more debt and eventually went bankrupt and shut down taking with them the life
of communities that depended on them. When this happened, Romney took great
lengths to always come out ahead, making a profit for himself even when the
company restructured failed.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mr. Obama on the other hand, worked on the other end of the
spectrum, in the communities around the companies that were struggling or
failing with the advent of globalization. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Company communities that are wholly dependent on a single
industry for example coal or metal processing took the biggest hit. Plant
closures and downsizing which became the whole mark of free trade in the global
economy decimated these communities as unemployment rose. Mr. Obama took up
reorganizing these communities, to diversify their economies and develop
re-training programs for workers that got laid off. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">These two varying experiences now lays the foundation of
their political aspirations and provides a stack choice for the American
electorate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">For whom do Mr. Romney and President Obama travel the length and
breadth of America canvassing?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Why do they really want to be President of the United States
of America?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mr. Romney’s economic plan according to a tax policy
institute will favor the wealthy with further tax cuts yet requires middle class
families to pay more in taxes and cuts in services for the poor.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">President Obama on the other hand has sought to expand health
coverage to the uninsured and people with pre-existing conditions, cut taxes
for middle-income families while requiring the wealthy to pay a fair share in
taxes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Much as Cecil Rhodes is well known for setting in place the
monopolistic practices De Beers has used throughout the 20th century to
dominate and manipulate the international diamond market, Romney’s ultimate
ambition seeks to consolidate and put American political power at the disposal and
benefit of a few wealthy families.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">President Obama in contrast, has resolved to make every
opportunity for advancement available to ALL Americans, by making college
loans, health care, home ownership more affordable while requiring equal pay
for women and fair taxes for all. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Like Dr. David Livingstone his heart is with and for the
people.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That is why I stand still with President Obama in this year's election.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-25291135568506674952012-07-28T19:16:00.000-05:002012-08-18T10:45:34.190-05:00Structured Resettlement – Re-imagining rural Zambia<style>
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<img alt="" class="attachment-full" src="http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/wp-content/themes/Transcript/timthumb.php?src=http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dihele-e1343150663825.jpg&q=90&w=629&zc=1" /></div>
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The dispersed settlements in which most rural Zambians live
poses egregious challenges to the development of public health infrastructure like
roads, clinics and school. Their
dispersed distribution calls into question the practicality of continuing this traditional
lifestyle and cultural behavior in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.</div>
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The villagers need clinics, schools and roads yet want no
part in shouldering the costs or the life transformations these services
require to sustain. They want to return settlement decisions framed in the 18<sup>th</sup>
century when the threat of inter-ethnic conflicts lead most ethnic groups to
move further apart, beyond the reach of perceived aggressors.</div>
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Now, that the threat of ethnic conflicts has all but
disappeared, what is still motivating these people living in far flung and
remote areas to continue living beyond the reach of Government. </div>
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The bedrock of rural life is supposed to be agriculture yet
every year the Zambian governments is overwhelmed with pleas to send seeds,
fertilizers and vaccines to rural areas. The governments hardly gains any return on that seed
investment instead after the harvest rural farmers appeal yet again to the
government to buy their surplus produce which can not make it to commodity markets
due to impassable roads. Rural farmers rarely achieve self-sufficiency this
cycle of dependence has been going on for years at great cost to the rest of
the population.</div>
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What draws these people to this hard life on the edges of
rural Zambia?</div>
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Is it a fatal
attraction to the traditional land that their ancestry was first to lay claim
or is it the absence of property rights that lures people further and further into
the jungle.</div>
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Any urban Zambian that has visited their father or mother’s ancestral
village will observe how far apart the village settlements are in rural Zambia,
you travel for miles upon miles on treacherous impassable roads seeing nothing
but bush then a small village setting then bush for miles again then yet another
small settlement. </div>
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This story about what school looks like in Shangombo in
<a href="http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/2012/07/25/here-is-what-schools-in-shangombo-look-like/dihele/">Watchdog Zambia</a> illustrates this wacky phenomenon.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
“About
150 pupils at Dihehe primary school in Shangombo are having their lessons
under trees while their only classroom built on temporal structures is
almost collapsing.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
School
Head teacher Sikute Kamona said though government had given them school
about K180 Million to construct 1×3 classroom block under which 4000
bricks have since been moulded by parents, pupils at the school still
receive lessons under trees and a few risk their lives learning under an
almost collapsing temporal classroom block built on pole and<br />
muddy structure.</div>
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Mr.
Kamona added that despite the government funds to the school, construction
has not been done due to difficulties to find a contractor as a result of
long distance coupled with extreme bad road to the area.”</div>
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The problem is not only funding, the Government of Zambia has
written out a check of approximately 40,000 USD but there are no contractors
willing to go down to this remote area for this amount.</div>
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What is most challenging and disconcerting in dealing with
rural Zambians is not only that government assistance cannot easily reach these
people but how little effort these people in remote areas make to detach their
lives from the jungle, in order to access the help they so desperately need.</div>
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How can the Zambian government help people in rural areas
especially the kids in meaningful and lasting terms? Beyond the emotional
handout, forced by an occasional glimpse into the daily hardship of rural children.</div>
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How can anyone
help if these people insist on living on the edge, beyond lure of 40,000 US dollars?</div>
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Does the government have any authority to re-order rural
settlements to make the delivery of public infrastructure cost effective?</div>
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How compelling is the moral or humanitarian justification
for such a disruptive measure?</div>
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What to do to overcome cultural attachments to ancestral
habitats?</div>
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What will be the costs and long-term impact of such an
undertaking?</div>
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These are difficult questions that may not be readily answered
but the alternate preposition is to go along with the status quo, to leave the
fate of so many children to the hand of time.</div>
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How long will it take for the rural mindset to evolve to the
reality of 21<sup>st</sup> century living?</div>
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Fifty maybe a
hundred years, yet the ability to reorder and adjust can be seen in the
transformed lives of those Zambians that have made the move to the cities. So
quickly dispensed is the traditional mindset of isolated living, in per-urban shanty
compounds. Once in the city, these urban drifters experience a collective shock
to their traditional mindset, they flocked together overcoming ethnic diversity
to build an urban habitat so closely knit it is said neighbours can literally shake hands
through open windows standing in their own homes. </div>
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So when people in Kanyama or Misisi need a school,
clinic or road - the cost or challenges of delivering such infrastructure is
dwarfed by the thousands instead of a few hundred who stand to benefit simply
because these settlements dynamics are more favorable. These people in urban
settlements are more successful at attracting and actually getting the benefits
of government assistance by using their collective weight of their numbers and
shared demographics.</div>
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Yet their rural counterparts despite collectively
significant and shared demographics cannot be as successful because they are so sparsely
distributed and isolated from one another.</div>
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Well, I think we need to restructure our rural settlements
into organized clusters, for the sake of these kids and posterity. Before undertaking such a monstrous task
government needs to;</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
i)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>Undertake a rural population study to ascertain the
specific behavioral characteristics and demographics of rural Zambians.</div>
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ii)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>Use study data to formulate, plan and develop a long-term
rural settlement policy including cluster settlement designs, public infrastructure
plans, local and national development schedules.</div>
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<br /></div>
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iii)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>Identify and prepare populations that will need
relocating into the created settlement cluster including generating cost
benefit analysis, environmental impact assessment, implementation timeframe and
education on the long term benefits of organized settlement clusters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
iv)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>Design and Implement regulatory and tax
incentives to enhance economic activity and attract business to serve the
market, organized settlements will create.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rural population study should seek specific understanding
of these people in rural areas; their culture, heritage, attitudes to
landownership, per capita income for 12 months, mean travel distance to school
or health center and most importantly the level of cultural or ancestral
attachment to their specific environment </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course such a study may be costly and challenging but the
benefits of such understanding are important for national development planning. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the 2000 census data the population density
disparity between rural and urban settlement is wide and significant. Lusaka
has 63 people per square kilometer while Western province has 6 people per
square Kilometer, so it is clear where government expenditure creates the most
benefit. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, how can the Zambian government justify spending K1.3
trillion (US$350 million), approximately 4 per cent of the national budget, on
the construction of a 74 km road between Mongu and Kalabo in the Western
province?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Considering the population density in Western, at this rate
we are talking about connecting 6 people per Kilometer at the cost of 4 per of
our national budget.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Ouch… and this money is a secured loan that needs to be repaid with interest, I
say instead of spending obscene amounts of money building a road to reach a few
people let the Government relocate the few to the many.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-3168740073324923952012-07-12T09:41:00.001-05:002012-07-12T09:51:04.373-05:00Get back some land – How Sata can appease the Zambian youth.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Michael Sata popularly known as King Cobra came to the
Zambian Presidency, on the shoulders of the Zambian youth who voted for him en
masse. His canny straight talk and practical approach inspired, the young
people to hope for better prospects under his Presidency. However, he now finds
himself without means to assuage their impatience with a sluggish economy and
lack of any positive movement from the endemic high unemployment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What does King Cobra tell his still unemployed “don’t kubeba
enthusiasts “?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether it was a gaffe or wink… wink am trying to appear
strong by talking tough to a former leader of the free world, that lead King
Cobra to accuse Bush of colonial plunder; his message of the colonialists
giving back what they took from our country, might resonate with the Zambian
youth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Young people read
about a time in our country’s past when 2 Zambian Kwacha’s were worth 1 British
Pound, when Zambians did not need a visa to get into the UK or the United
States, that history is at such a grave variance with the country now before
the Zambian youth. Saddled with
crippling foreign debt and dwindling investment, it belies it’s glorious past and
has become a vicious trap of poverty that only a few can escape.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For majority that cannot escape, any lifeline goes a long
way in assuaging their impatience with the status quo.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Enter Sata’s
gaffe, it has been said in politics one must never miss any opportunity to
extract all the good a bad situation offers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing is more central in the lives of the urban youth than
the issue of land. The City of Lusaka for example has run out of residential
land for new applicants. This means its young population can never hope to
build their own houses in the city nor can they be buried in the city when they
die as even burial places (Leopards/Chingwele) have also run out land for new
graves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the laws of Zambia, all land in Zambia is vest
absolutely in the President and shall be held by him in perpetuity for and on behalf
of the people of Zambia. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, while young Zambians can not find land to build on or
be buried on, non- Zambians hold title to most of the Land in Lusaka and are
now profiteering from land they paid next to nothing for, in the colonial era. Non-
Zambians are now offering small parcels land for building at Meanwood development or burial at Mutumbi.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since all land in Zambia is administered and controlled by
the President for the use or common benefit, direct or indirect, of the people
of Zambia. Mr. Sata can make good on his rhetoric by simply getting back the
land non-Zambians took in the colonial days.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Simply change the lease terms for non- Zambians as follows –</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The President
shall not alienate any land to non- Zambians or permanent residents for a term
exceeding forty-nine years and where the interest or right in land is being
inherited upon death or is being transferred under a right of survivorship or
by operation of law; the President shall not renew a lease, upon expiry, for a
further term not exceeding the concurrent forty- nine years even if he is satisfied
that the lessee has complied with or observed the terms, conditions or
covenants of the lease, the lease will be liable to forfeiture. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This amendment if made retrogressive to 1964 might have the
effect of freeing up some land in Lusaka that can be available for young
Zambians and consequently also free King Cobra foot from his own mouth, at
least in the eyes of young Zambians.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-18344061127015783242012-07-06T09:41:00.000-05:002012-07-06T09:47:43.078-05:00The Rider and the Horse revisited<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Most recollections of the earliest European interactions
with Africans portray Africans as brutes or Tarzan like characters that needed
taming and civilizing. Notwithstanding
accounts of brutal practices like human impaling that cannot be challenged, it
was inaccurate to ascribe such brutality as specific to African culture excerpt
perhaps that Africans were among the last people to disavow such practices.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So it was up to King cobra to remind us that there are still
some among our contemporaries that are yet to give up dehumanizing fellow human
beings through acts of corporal ill treatment and subservience.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBH9_4BsZm2JBtNPNZdYBO5aVRYhV9CbdgmfYAdJqS2Jf-M3jY7HftTWrp4nvJf0_DIq5MwCk3VXPyyG8Q2L0xvqtPPaqXkeeahjkuxe94Y0acZqgb8NA78eIIhCtWOozKFfImIDz7Tcs/s1600/article_image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBH9_4BsZm2JBtNPNZdYBO5aVRYhV9CbdgmfYAdJqS2Jf-M3jY7HftTWrp4nvJf0_DIq5MwCk3VXPyyG8Q2L0xvqtPPaqXkeeahjkuxe94Y0acZqgb8NA78eIIhCtWOozKFfImIDz7Tcs/s320/article_image.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our quest for Independence from Colonial rule was
intensified by the indignity Zambians suffered at the hands of European masters
who deemed us beneath them and undeserving of the dignity to buy goods from an
open counter. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">However, it is now self-evident that while the Zambian
masses sought independence to achieve dignity and self-determination, our
political leaders sought only, to take the place of white man.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Free Zambians hope to construct a social reality that meets
their highest aspirations but our politicians, always set out to construct a
different reality. One that assigns them all the prestige and power the colonizers
enjoyed before independence yet requires Zambians to acquiesce to an only
slightly enhanced status.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">King Cobra wants to talk and act like a colonizer, while he tames
the rights of Zambians to speak their minds or express dissent. Meager national resources are spent
indulging cronies and relatives while ordinary Zambians go without drugs, water
and electricity. Each year more and more young Zambians complete the formal
education that marks the rite of civilization yet they find no certain role in
this post independence reality these wannabe bwanas have constructed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But they need not accept this arrangement that is unfair and
one sided. It is the rider that now, needs taming and civilizing.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-10762162325929930312012-07-04T16:43:00.001-05:002012-07-09T07:26:13.671-05:00On the verge of revolt<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>The troubled past of the House of Lubosi.</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZbiBW08_2eyeXVzkSl-Z5SXcLWcjr8k7FXZJoOi-VjIvwqBf8ZSifSqJvmcCjR5LDWHHqgDJTyzCZrJQPfXNnb7k8hzksGL-IxzISpI8qLg_iA2GaMcMWhBIJIYPKTm9Md4D58AZwxU/s1600/article_thumbs.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZbiBW08_2eyeXVzkSl-Z5SXcLWcjr8k7FXZJoOi-VjIvwqBf8ZSifSqJvmcCjR5LDWHHqgDJTyzCZrJQPfXNnb7k8hzksGL-IxzISpI8qLg_iA2GaMcMWhBIJIYPKTm9Md4D58AZwxU/s320/article_thumbs.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">When Francois Coillard a French missionary arrived at Lealui
in 1886 he found Lubosi the King of the Lozi’s at the time struggling to unite
a kingdom on the verge of revolt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The trouble then as now stems from the Polylithic administrative
body Lozi’s now call the “national council”. It should really be called the
supreme council, as neither the Lozi’s nor the Barotse Royal Establishment
(BRE) enjoys any national status.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The supreme council is made up of indunas (who are formerly commoners)
and princes of the royal family. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Any Lozi commoner could aspire to become an Induna (a judge
and councilor) or Ngambela (Prime minister and Chief councilor)- according to
Gerald L Caplan in his book The Elites of Barotseland 1878 – 1969: A Political
History of Zambia’s western province. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The rules of succession to the Litunga or King are not
rigidly fixed in that any male descendant in the patrilineal line of the first
legendary King Mboo is eligible. This creates a constant state of uneasy and
back-to-back pandering between the supreme council and the Litunga. The Litunga
can appoint any commoner to any supreme council title as Induna or Ngambela but
the supreme council is in turn the body that appoints a Litunga from the line
of eligible princes. Thus in a
culture were class and title matter as is certain in the Lozi culture,
ambitious commoners who rise to be Induna may rump up the stakes by wielding
their favor to bolster their own interests and thereby keep the kingdom on the verge
of revolt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">And so it was, when François Coillard arrived in Barotseland,
Lubosi later known as Lewanika (who became Litunga in 1885) was making frantic
steps to preserve both his Kingship and his kingdom. He was the third Litunga
in 3 years and faced an immediate threat from Mwanawina who had just lost a
succession decision by the supreme council. To secure his position Lubosi appointed his known supporters
to the Council and had the Kuta agree to replace Mwanawina’s Ngambela Ngenda
with his own preference Silumbu.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Lewanika later enlisted François Coillard's assistance in
negotiating for a British protectorate to be declared over Barotseland in an
attempt to strengthen his grip on the kingship. However, the king and the
missionary misunderstood the connections between the British crown and Cecil
Rhodes’ British South Africa Company (BSAC). Lewanika and Coillard were
gradually caught up in self-serving posturing, which resulted in the signing of
the Lochner Concession, which delivered the Lozi kingdom to the BSAC's domain
on 27 June 1890. During the first seven years after signing the Concession, the
BSAC failed to make any of its promised annual payments of £2000 or to provide
any of the educational assistance that it had pledged to Lewanika. (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">wikipedia</span><span style="font-size: large;">)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Fast forward to now, we find the current Litunga Lubosi II
also caught up between the political interests of ambitious Indunas and
preserving his kingdom. The Indunas
who now comprise what they call the “National Council” aspire to elevate their own
positions in the Lozi social system by demanding secession from the Republic
of Zambia.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Lubosi II
(which ironically means the escaped one) whose own accession to the throne was
not without controversy appears, at pains on how to navigate the intrinsic
potential for instability fostered by the institutional structure of a supreme
council of ambitious Indunas. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Only by great wisdom, shrewdness and justice have Kings
before him managed to control and keep in check the ambitions of those
royal members and indunas that are not satisfied by properly preserved
traditions and the prestige of the Barotse Royal Establishment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Article contains references to The Elites of Barotseland,
1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia By Gerald L. Caplan and The
Transforming Gospel: The Mission Of Francois Coillard And Basuto Evangelists In
Barotseland by Jean-Francois Zorn</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-83392871085570398882010-01-13T22:56:00.004-06:002014-08-01T06:42:31.838-05:00Ta- Lakata by Zindaba Nyirenda - A contra positive to Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzcNF9ZjYEWLiO-kRyKlUFIxKjbnTambkIPRjdiXtTgkol5yz4_dBZv_8iuI7OGbsA3gC3k3_EfVVJ6xZo-k7Je4jD1CYTaabZxcJeAt1bASOCpNTP0DK26XGYvTeilwzsYZe4VygPUc/s1600-h/nyirendacover.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzcNF9ZjYEWLiO-kRyKlUFIxKjbnTambkIPRjdiXtTgkol5yz4_dBZv_8iuI7OGbsA3gC3k3_EfVVJ6xZo-k7Je4jD1CYTaabZxcJeAt1bASOCpNTP0DK26XGYvTeilwzsYZe4VygPUc/s320/nyirendacover.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426456810310476946" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 226px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>B<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ook Review - Part 1</span></b><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In this book Ta Lakata (we are dying) Zindaba Nyirenda expresses at times painfully, what many Africans belabor, the quest for self-identity, personal conflicts with modernity and our collective anguish and inability to prevent the loss of so many lives to disease and poverty.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Using her native tongue Tumbuka, where English fails to give full meaning, she explains her lineage and personalizes Zambia’s fate under both colonial and post independence governance. What emerges is picture endemic in all of Africa, that the colonizers, as do multi national investors now, only needed the collusion of a few rulers to gain unfettered access to Africa’s wealth of natural resources.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">But rather than outline Zambia’s decent through the prism of poor Zambians in urban settings, she unlike Dambisa Moyo (Zindaba’s cousin, contemporary- author of Dead aid) takes the reader to rural Zambia, remembering her roots and her past in a village setting. She paints a graphic mosaic of life in Lundazi, a poor part of the eastern province where she and Dambisa Moyo trace their family trees; it is representative of most of rural Zambia. Now as then, it lacks in clean water, basic shelter, adequate health centers, schools, and roads.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The lives of rural Zambians have in large part been the melting pot of the conflict between western ideals and local interests; dating back to a time when colonial masters imposed head taxes on poor villagers, to force them into mining labor.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The central question now, as then is -</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">What is the best way to bring their daily lives within the norms of 21<sup>st</sup> century livelihood?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">That is at the heart of this book and “Dead Aid” by Dambisa Moyo - is the answer simply curbing exploitation by western entities or a complete stemming o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">f</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> theft and waste of public funds by corrupt governments?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Zindaba would like to start from the genesis of western involvement in Africa, she wants a meeting or indaba with agents of the principals from the 1884 Berlin meeting. The outcome of that meeting set in motion the colonization of Africa. She would like to call back the hand of time and reset the terms of western engagements in Africa ; demand restitution for plundered resources. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">She takes particular aim, at the Rhodes scholarship, which was started with proceeds from Cecil Rhodes estate, yet less than a hundred Zambians have been granted scholarships since it was started in 1902.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">She contends that, since the Rhodes scholarship fund consists of proceeds from mineral resource exploitation from Northern Rhodesia (named after Cecil Rhodes), it should therefore benefit more Zambians. By contrast, more than a hundred Americans have received Rhodes scholarships. Though Cecil Rhodes intended recipients to meet the highest academic requirements, applicants from southern Africa should have a comparative advantage over other regions whose resources were spared by his untimely death; Cecil Rhodes is said to have once remarked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race...If there be a God, I think that what he would like me to do is paint as much of the map of Africa British Red as possible...”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In regard to current Western entities in Zambia's mining sector, Zindaba bemoans the poisoning of rivers and the pollution of air as a result of poorly regulated mining activity since the 1920’s. She attributes the high incidence of respiratory diseases on the copper belt to polluted air and poisonous metals dumped into the Kafue River. To redress this, she calls upon educated Zambians to return from Diaspora, to oversee environmental intervention programs, monitoring <span class="Apple-style-span">and restoration of water systems. To help the Zambian government develop an effective regulatory framework to enforce environmental protections and monitor pollution of public resources like water and air.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-3286445396114508962009-11-20T10:57:00.001-06:002012-08-20T14:59:03.583-05:00After the Trial: A Case for Tort Reform in Zambia.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now that reason has prevailed in the frivolous case, against Zambian journalist Chansa Kabwela., it is perhaps time to reflect how we got to this point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I found BBC ‘s <b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8358936.stm">Jo Fidgen’s comment</a> after </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">observing the whole charade most telling; </span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">“<i>It seems to me that Zambia's social conservatism is in tune with a Britain that no longer exists</i>.” she said.</span></div>
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Against strong attempts to avoid drawing a post hoc ergo propter hoc conclusion, I wonder - </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Was there ever a time, when Zambia’s social conservatism was ever in tune with Britain?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
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It seems to me that her majesty’s forgone empire has always cast that awful spell in all her former dominions that taught even coerced her subjects - to present the appearance and behavior of a British social system. </div>
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In Zambia as in much of the former colonies, keeping up that appearance is still far more important than the substance of daily life. </div>
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So sacred is the legacy of that British law as it was handed down, that we can not bear to amend it in the slightest, to right any modern day wrongs. Even draconian laws that were specifically conceived in the colonial period to enforce public order, in the face of legitimate insurrections for freedom by the natives are preserved and still applied in a present day independent Zambia. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The case of the “porn journalist” poignantly displays the dilemma of a present day Zambian stuck in a legal system framed for a different time.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The actual victim in this case, the wronged woman whose baby and privacy were fatally assaulted, can not sue for redress. There is no legal remedy for her against a vicious affront perpetuated by the hospital and the state. </div>
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In the United Kingdom the <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rightsandpledges/NHSConstitution/Pages/Overview.aspx">NHS constitution</a> provides remedies to make a claim for judicial review for anyone who has been directly or indirectly affected by an unlawful act or decision of an NHS body. If a claim is for just, compensation is paid out. While the British system has moved on, the Zambian system still returns a fatal attraction to the fidelity of colonial law.</div>
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I think time has come, for Zambian legal minds to write and enact our own laws and craft a legal system that will address the challenges of modern day Zambian lives. It is time for Zambian legal practitioners to give up those white wigs made from horse hair that look so out on place on an African head. My I suggest the current Zambian penal code and Tort law as the starting point.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-1094162879731485042009-10-22T23:27:00.010-05:002012-08-20T15:09:00.756-05:00Attention all Africa - Good Governance wanted!In his recent interview with the BBC, Mo Ibrahim explains why no ex-leader has won the award for good governance this year. You can see the interview here<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004jq3m">Mo Ibrahim interview on BBC</a><br />
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This comes with no surprise to me, the state of global leadership much more in Africa, has over the years been in limbo, till the advent of Barack Obama. In the last era, most Africans could name a few prominent continental leaders, the likes of Nelson Mandela but now that he is no longer active politically there is none standing up to his statue.<br />
In the book Prince by Machiavelli, he states there are two ways a prince or leader is made- by preparation or good fortune.<br />
Those that have been prepared over a life span by mentors, education and experiences are most likely to posses the ability to lead and be successful. However those that find themselves installed as leader by the good fortune of benefactors, soon find themselves without ability to govern the masses and are left prone to the whims of their installers.<br />
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This sadly is the state of most leaders in Africa today, they have been installed by external influences to cater to outside interests rather than the needs of those they govern. In Egypt President Mubarak is retained to preserve geo-political stability, while the west ponders a peace deal for the Israeli -Palestinian conflict.<br />
In Nigeria a corrupt political regime is tolerated to keep the oil flowing, while in Kenya Kibaki a tyrant by all measures rules as we all hold our nose under the pretense of avoiding civil war, this also applies in Zimbabwe.<br />
In DRC as in Zambia, accidents of death by design in one case and fate in the other have installed ill equipped novices, to govern masses with severe needs.<br />
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As I listened to Mo Ibrahim make the case for want of good leadership in Africa, I couldn't imagine but wonder how long it will take for Africans to get their act together. How long before we realize, we can not put up with cronies any longer?<br />
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Another critical factor, highlight in the interview, was the absence of relevant statistical data for most African states. What is known of measurements of important elements like poverty, education health etc are crude estimations of western visitors that do not bear the remotest semblance to the conditions or state of so many Africans.<br />
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It is essential, that Africans know and understand for themselves their immediate estate, rather than continue to validate western perceptions.<br />
As Sun Tzu writes in the art of war, one must posses the knowledge of one's strength and know that of one's adversaries, in order to succeed in any endeavor . In this regard, it is not always external influences that impose adverse conditions of poverty and under development upon so many Africans. Cultural adherence and often a lack of personal drive for self improvement are as much to blame, especially in parts where violent conflict has been absent.<br />
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Africans must demand more from our current system of governance, we must ensure basic systems exist to collect social indicators; a basic structure to track life from the cradle to the grave.<br />
Inadequate clinics, schools, roads even insufficient legislative representation stem not so much from a lack of resources as from the lack of useful data to match population needs to infrastructure capacity. This can not be allowed to persists at a time, that a goat herder on slopes of a remote hill in Kenya, can receive a money transfer to his cell phone from any part of the world.<br />
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It is only when more Africans begin to take a keen interest in creating and maintaining an accountable system of governance that more Africans will begin to seize the opportunities that exist to exploit African resources for our own benefit rather than external interests.<br />
Just as, Mo Ibrahim was able to envision an opportunity to sell more than 25 millions phones across Africa, more African entrepreneurs may begin to envision other opportunities to exploit.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-47252689717737096402009-08-17T19:16:00.006-05:002012-07-03T17:24:30.776-05:00Justice by executive order – The Era of Bwezani Banda<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibM4zFpaDDr6d9IUInHe0k3sSm7eFlpaiSZys8wvH6iO7k4AM_yIplFThI9MuoSn96YOeia7sy3DXhMfS7wKA9kacZm2XwQa2gYv-8wLTEjzJyBLMllVPp-kVjE8FQmErfA9YyYrdy4OY/s1600-h/15319444.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371091339793493714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibM4zFpaDDr6d9IUInHe0k3sSm7eFlpaiSZys8wvH6iO7k4AM_yIplFThI9MuoSn96YOeia7sy3DXhMfS7wKA9kacZm2XwQa2gYv-8wLTEjzJyBLMllVPp-kVjE8FQmErfA9YyYrdy4OY/s320/15319444.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 180px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
“<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b>It took me five minutes from when Mr [William] Harrington asked for the tribunal to be set up and the judge-in-charge of that phoned me in my office here to say that we have had a citizen who has come to request for a tribunal to be set up in order to answer certain questions regarding Dora Siliya. It took me less than five minutes to say please go ahead....</b></span>.” (President Rupiah Banda press conference – 24th June 2009 Transcript of Q & A Session -The Post).<br />
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By his own admission Rupiah Bwezani Banda exposed how he can fix or influence any case brought under the Zambian judicial process. Whether by design or fate, his chilling admission in that ill-fated press conference during which a monkey peed on his presidency, he on his part exposed how an overbearing executive can pee on the Judiciary.<br />
The justices it appears cannot do anything without consulting the almighty Bwezani for approval or are they been made to check with the almighty before adjudicating important cases.<br />
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If that is the case, it is no wonder that Ndola High Court registrar Jones Chinyama had to postpone his verdict in the Frederick Chiluba case last Friday, only to come back today with rumblings that consumed more than six (6) hours yet ended with a bizarre acquittal of Chiluba. He obviously spent the whole weekend consulting President Rupiah Banda.<br />
And for all the support Chiluba has given Rupiah Banda, in the elections and on key decisions like the sale of Zamtel, Bwezani could not allow Magistrate Jones Chinyama to send Chiluba to jail.<br />
Despite the overwhelming evidence presented, which in some bizarre fashion was sufficient to convict his principal accomplices Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu to 3 years of hard labor prison sentences, Chiluba came off without the slightest pretense of a reprimand. Chiluba was the President in charge when Kabwe and Chungu were stealing; further the evidence for all intents and purposes points to the duo carrying water on Chiluba’s behalf. <br />
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Doesn’t he bear some responsibility, if not all? Does the buck not stop at plot one?<br />
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None of that matters in the era of Bwezani, just like we’ve heard of the return of smelly hospitals, strikes, university closures, and patients on hunger strike, wait that’s a first.<br />
Even under the latter horror of UNIP era, patients could at least find refuge in hospitals, what kind of hostilities are now forcing patients in Zambia, to go on hunger strike?<br />
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As I have bloviated before, the executive wing of the Zambian government needs some of it’s power clipped off, the Zambian people through several constitution reviews including the on going NCC, have consistently demanded a reduction of the current excessive power and the untoward influence being exerted the President in most aspects of their daily lives.<br />
The executive under the current system is sucking all the oxygen in the room; he decides how much to pay nurses and doctors. He determines the student allowance and when university students should get it; he decides how and to whom companies like Zamtel should be sold to and he can possibly even sway the outcome of any election in Zambia.<br />
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You may wonder really?<br />
How is that possible?<br />
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Well, it took five minutes for Rupiah Banda to weigh on a private citizen’s petition to setup a tribunal to investigate Dora Siliya.<br />
The chief justice under section 13 (3) of the Parliamentary and Ministerial code of conduct act, chapter 16 of the Laws of Zambia is duly authorized to constitute a tribunal if the petitioner or complainant presents prima facie evidence for all the essential facts of the case. Yet in less than five minutes the chief justice had exhausted all his legal authority and independence, the almighty Rupiah Banda had to know about this case, he had to approve whether the case proceeds or not.<br />
Proof that it is not the weight of evidence that determines the outcome of significant legal cases in Zambia; it is the executive that calls the shorts.<br />
It therefore follows, that Magistrate Jones Chinyama had to buy himself more time before passing judgment on Chiluba, a whole weekend to consult the almighty Rupiah Bwezani Banda. He then had, come up with 6 hours long blah…blah, that let loose without so much as a slap on wrist, one of Zambia’s most unscrupulous plunderer simply because the current plunderer in chief did not want a precedent set.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-60983708184925068822009-08-07T23:22:00.000-05:002014-08-23T16:00:30.560-05:00“ki mitolo-it’s taboo” – The reign of the village idiot.The tone of discourse in Zambia has so riled my soul; I cannot bear it anymore.<br />
The President is caught up in a “yo mama” like childish tirade with Michael Sata talking about whose more ugly than the other and the judiciary is forced to adjudicate whether breeched birth pictures are pornography or a sad telltale of the state of medical facilities in Zambia. Add a first lady collecting pay for work she is not doing and a monkey pissing on her husband during a press conference and you would have the script for a funny comedy but for the 12 million poor Zambians caught up in the middle of all this, all the time, every single day battling the effects of debilitating poverty.<br />
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I have always tried to hold our leaders in high esteem but when events so clearly betray that confidence, am reminded of an old proverb –<br />
“a foolish man may be known by six things: Anger without cause, speech without profit, change without progress, inquiry without object, putting trust in a stranger, and mistaking foes for friends.”<br />
President Rupiah Banda is angry at the media for exposing the people’s suffering during the recent strikes but rather than view himself as the leader elected or selected to resolve the problems in Zambia’s medical sector he has chosen to portray himself as the victim of an overzealous media. Pooh he moans incessantly about the Post manufacturing lies, pictures unless doctored almost never betray facts. <br />
Culturally it has always been accepted that when women are pushed beyond social norms, baring all is the only nuclear protest move left, mama Chikamoneka did it before a British envoy, mothers have bared when their children leave them no recourse so why does the Zambian government prosecute a journalist for forwarding, the protest of woman whom our social net badly let down?<br />
It’s a case of a fool getting angry if you ask me, where was the President for a week before this event unfolded. It’s always better to get ahead of a crisis, manage it, set the terms rather than let the crisis set the terms for you. Rupiah Banda let the crisis evolve to the current specter – the whole world now laughs.<br />
Rupiah Banda does not possess the knowledge nor is MMD party machinery structure comfortable near him, he still reeks of UNIP and it’s horrible tendencies, so he deals with any potential contenders for 2011 candidacy, by letting strangers/foes like Tentamashima and Mangani run them off with threats of violence. <br />
The sad tale of a fool putting his blind faith in foes is all too obvious whether it’s Prof Clive Chirwa panning all his hopes on a few women singing “Chirwa uli wa mano (Chirwa you are intelligent)…ni iwe wine fye (you are the one)… presidential material.” when he joined the MMD in 2007 with hopes of making the MMD 2011 Presidential candidate or King Cobra thinking his “eagle eagle” boys will carry him to plot one. The truth has always been stirring wide eyed, poverty is a grim pathetic dehumanizing condition that makes any people say or behave however you please.<br />
When captured through the lens of a camera however it is impossible to escape the fact that a child died because his would be breeched birth occurred during doctors/nurses; strike under the reign of the village idiot. <br />
When Rupiah Banda suddenly found himself President of the republic of Zambia after the death of Mwanawasa, he quickly moved to make himself appealing to the MMD party machinery by increasing cabinet ministers and MP’s salaries – they were after all the primary king makers without them he could not have survived politically or otherwise. If Rupiah Banda has any real agenda to relieve the suffering of the Zambian people, it is hard to say right now, what is apparent is his desperate ploys to stay on in spite of his age and lack of wisdom to manage mundane crisis’s like a workers strike. <br />
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What would a wise leader do for the average Zambian woman, well he would or perhaps some day she will certainly save us from the horrible specter of a Zambian woman ever having to throw herself on the ground to welcome a politician at airport or having to give birth on the ground in public view. My soul sinks into despair when I hear tales of what women in childbirth had to endure during the nurse’s strikes, how can such cruelty ever unfold in my homeland. Many have been moved to tears by the retelling of the 2000 old nativity story, the birth of Jesus in a manger, how can a women in modern day Zambia suffer a more cruel fate?<br />
The cruel irony is that Rupiah Banda was in South Africa getting his knee checked out, yet when he returns to Zambia he still fails to address the fundamental needs of Zambian women, he instead leads a government lynch mob in prosecuting a female journalist who dared to expose the sad plight of Zambian women. <br />
Ovarian cancer has afflicted so many Zambian women, I applaud Maureen Mwanawasa for prevailing on her late husband to set up a cancer treatment center at UTH, I would readily forgive our current first lady for taking pay without work if she, would at least whisper to her husband to drop this sad case against the post female journalist. <br />
But that’s all far fetched, it’s the reign of the village idiots, the discourse and central preoccupation is about Sata’s red eyes scaring kids and Sata for his part responds that he finds Rupiah Banda ugly and fat, the needs of the Zambian women will have to wait for now.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-47096206101923216592009-04-04T15:44:00.010-05:002012-08-02T07:26:23.925-05:00Dambisa Moyo's "Dead aid" - Africa's PR disasterDambisa Moyo is on a TV book promotion circuit appearing largely to audiences in the UK and the US, who are also Africa's most charitable benefactors and in some part Africa's most unscrupulous lenders.<br />
Her appearances on TV, as her book attempt to call attention to the failure of some aid programs in parts of Africa, to lift the standard of living for most Africans. <br />
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<a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Colbert Report</a><br />
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c<br />
<a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/223405/april-01-2009/dambisa-moyo" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Dambisa Moyo</a><br />
<a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/" style="color: #96deff; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">comedycentral.com</a><br />
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While I agree that some aid programs have failed to meet their intended goals, I fear the narrative Dambisa's appearances and book has generated have now turned out to be a PR disaster for Africa and more specifically Zambia's charity program needs.<br />
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It may not be what Dambisa set out to do, but in this case the message and the messenger are gravely tainted. Dambisa has worked for the World Bank and Goldman Sachs in the past, if she views the two entities' activities in Africa as charitable or aid, she may have taken to much boardroom cappuccino and whisk. Most of the 1 trillion Dollars she keeps bringing up was made out in interest loans to newly independent countries beginning in the 1960's.<br />
It is important to remember the prevailing circumstances in much of Africa in the 50's.<br />
The high rates of illiteracy, absence of health care facilities, clean water, decent housing, roads and food insecurity etc. The status quo in Africa may seem out whack for Dambisa after her Wall street boardroom experience, but surely all the money spent in Africa was not in vain.<br />
As a former Munali secondary school graduate, that spent a considerable amount of time learning in classrooms which we popularly called "World bank" because they were built with funds from a World Bank loan to the Zambian government, I take her generalization of mass aid failure with a pinch of salt.<br />
It may be a case of seeing the glass half empty or in her case what she is selling(snake oil). I wonder if she had worked with USAID or World vision instead of the World Bank and Goldman Sachs, would she still have had the some perspective?. There are certainly, always better ways of spending money especially when looking at things in hindsight but "dead aid".<br />
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In Lusaka, Zambia for example Irish aid and Jica ( Japenese aid) programs to improve access to clean water in peri urban areas, have had more success than the impact of German loans to the Lusaka water sewage company to do the same. It important for Dambisa especially in her TV appearances to make a qualified distinction between aid funds and loans. She then needs to explain the difference in impact aid vs loans have had on Africa's social development.<br />
Contributions to aid organizations like the Red cross, one world etc have already being negatively affected by the global financial crisis, Dambisa 's narrative of "dead aid" will do more harm to operations of aid organizations in Africa, especially now, when many need the most help.<br />
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Dambisa's book has put Africa's western benefactors in a difficult position, should they withhold aid until the last corrupt African government has developed a better structure for managing programs effectively or continue the much needed aid with the knowledge that, as Dambisa puts it, that it will be "dead aid". It is like the case of "two mothers and one baby" brought before king Solomon in the bible, only Dambisa in her quest to sell her book, may have chosen to have the baby die rather than risk ending up in the wrong hands.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-26840675048859802262009-01-11T20:40:00.003-06:002009-01-11T21:00:25.474-06:00The curse of illogical progression.As did many people around the world, I start this year with a firm resolution to cut down expenditure and to save as much money as possible. The months ahead will be exceptionally challenging. The US economy lost more the 2.6 million jobs last year, yet unemployment is projected to hit double digits soon.<br />I have been desperate for any good news from home, to cheer the somber outlook, I keep hearing from President Elect Barack Obama. So imagine my discomfort at the pain and hubris that scream out from the article below.<br /><br />“<em><span style="color:#ff0000;">Police stop Chipata residents from slashing RB’s maize fields The Chipata Municipal council has suspended the slashing of maize on hill slopes until further notice .<br />The action follows the action by some Chipata residents who yesterday went amok and wanted to slash maize at President Rupiah Banda’s farm after Chipata Municipal Council slashed their maize fields.<br />Chipata mayor Sinoya Mwale said the council will not continue the program until it convenes a meeting with the affected residents.<br />Residents whose maize was slashed by the local authority yesterday went on rampage stoning a <a href="http://www.hummerguy.net/2007/03"><strong>Hummer</strong> </a>belonging to Chipata central Member of Parliament Lameck Mangani, a shop in Navutika and the house belonging to the mayor.<br />Quick action by Zambia Police who rushed to the area, prevented the irate residents that wanted to protest by slashing maize at the president’s farm</span></em>.”<br /><br />In the normal scheme of life, it is inconceivable that a municipal council that develops plans for land use and zoning, would ever find itself slashing the food crops of its impoverished residents, yet here we have all that and a GM Hummer in the picture.<br /><br />There in lies the curse that affects many African nations, we have a vicious craving for modernity and luxury that can hardly be reconciled with poor circumstances.<br />Planning for one’s food needs is a basic and fundamental aspect of our existence; the municipal council in this case, should have designated a proportionate area for the growing of food crops. Yet the council and the legislative representative that have failed to establish these basic premises reward themselves, in the case of the representative with a Hummer- US 71,000, 9MPG, a gas guzzling SUV.<br />In the newly sworn US congress, there is a representative who sleeps, on a camp bed in his congressional office, to save his family and constituency money.<br />Zambia is projected to experience a food supply deficit this year, imagine how this US congressman would react, if the Hummer driving Zambian Member of Parliament should ever appear before him to appeal for food aid.<br />Ironically, the CEO of GM the makers of the Hummer had to dump his corporate jet and drove to Washington D.C in a hybrid car from Michigan, on his second visit to ask for a bailout.<br />As I, therefore, scale down my own expenditure, I wonder if others like the Member of Parliament Mr. Lameck Mangani might be considering scaling down too.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-73166363894537921232008-12-25T16:13:00.003-06:002008-12-25T16:43:38.969-06:00Merry Christmas and a happier new Year.<strong>Merry Christmas and goodwill to all.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><br />As the year ends, there is much cause for anxiety, a global economic recession causing jobs losses everywhere, in Michigan and Luanshya. Yet we can, still be hopeful .<br /> As the new year dawns, there will be new opportunities, the sun will rise still and we will surmon again that universal courage to overcome, the small and great challenges that confront our daily existence.<br /><br /><strong>Have a blessed and happier year in 2009.</strong>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-76927028371629852342008-12-13T15:57:00.005-06:002014-08-23T16:06:41.288-05:00To bail or not to bail: the parallel between Detroit’s auto makers and Zamtel.The debate over the wisdom of government investment in a private company is primarily focused on an argument over whether it's viability is of such public import and necessity that it's loss would be unbearable for the entire nation.<br />
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For years Detroit’s auto industry has provided the back born of the US manufacturing industry. The industry has given the middle class more than 13 million direct and indirect jobs.<br />
And for more than 30 years, Detroit auto makers have successfully lobbied government to protect their market share against foreign car makers and tougher fuel efficiency standards.<br />
However, as fuel prices spiraled ever upwards US consumers began to prefer foreigner cars especially Japanese cars with higher mileage.<br />
Detroit therefore, began losing its market share and some southern states begun hosting Japanese car makers to meet the growing demand for foreign cars.<br />
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Last year, the feds finally increased the fuel efficiency standards after thirty years. The timing could not have been worse as the US economy had entered a recession leading up the crescendo of the current credit crunch that has brought Detroit, to the brink of bankruptcy.<br />
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Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) has also enjoyed government protection from foreign telecom operators for years. It has successfully lobbied the Zambian government to maintain exclusive control of the international gateway, and the domestic fixed phone lines market.<br />
Like Detroit auto makers, Zamtel has offered Zambian consumers poor phone usage with very low mileage against spiraling charges. Consequently, Zambian consumers have preferred the efficient services of foreign telecom operators and now Zamtel hangs on the brink of insolvency.<br />
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Unlike the debate in the US where the debate is whether the US government should bail in with public funds to save Detroit and millions of US jobs, the debate in Zambia is whether the Zambian government should bail out of Zamtel ownership.<br />
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There are passionate views in both debates, as the auto bail out bill fell in the US Senate, senators across party lines shared fears of the demise of Detroit.<br />
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“I believe we must work swiftly to allow the domestic automotive industry to gain access to emergency assistance…..the risk in doing nothing is too great,” Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio).<br />
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“There are national security implications here, these companies also make the axles used on our military vehicles…. we have already yielded electronics and textiles….do you want to outsource the manufacture of tanks.” Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan).<br />
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Despite ideological differences there is growing consensus that despite, it’s past mistakes, Detroit can not be allowed to fail. The Whitehouse is now expected to use part of the initial financial system bail out money to save Detroit auto makers.<br />
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In the debate to save Zamtel, there are differing views; there are proponents of unbundling and privatization while others favor further government recapitalization with restructuring.<br />
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While Zamtel‘s troubles stem from government ownership and the associated inefficiencies of government ownership regaining it’s viability is not contingent on the loss of its’ exclusive control of the international gateway. International investors might find, acquiring Zamtel more lucrative if the company retains control of its domestic and international infrastructure.<br />
Zambian consumers are also, more likely to derive more mileage for their money spent on phone usage and the Zambian government would have cheaper means of addressing national security concerns if the company is retained as a single private entity versus unbundling.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-54626847970269474542008-11-09T16:01:00.003-06:002012-07-15T02:52:25.705-05:00The reign of the vulgar gives way to a wise gentleman.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIK0s-whw37iv81zTymiWT768wzYJdi9mZRtiG3a5LoufjGyqMo_v7201T6H51NHCvVpDNXMmIRtrDvCd6RzaukatbStuOxrxeH6Bg6AUDQptBtX1Q7h9aaW6a6Yoa9hvjpwmy9oPRKIM/s1600-h/slide_605_12484_large.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266784047928104274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIK0s-whw37iv81zTymiWT768wzYJdi9mZRtiG3a5LoufjGyqMo_v7201T6H51NHCvVpDNXMmIRtrDvCd6RzaukatbStuOxrxeH6Bg6AUDQptBtX1Q7h9aaW6a6Yoa9hvjpwmy9oPRKIM/s320/slide_605_12484_large.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 233px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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“It is a demand of justice that there should be a reasonable correspondence between the social hierarchy and the natural hierarchy “Leo Strauss, 1968.<br />
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This has in part been, the premise of neo-conservatism as adapted by Irving Kristol the godfather of neo-conservatism and father of Bill Kristol of the weekly Standard, that those who have gained through inherited wealth the most opportunity to education and financial success, have a higher right to rule and govern the affairs of the nation.<br />
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Much further neo-conservatism at its core demands a preservation of social and economic inequality through taxation and limited government expenditure on social programs. The outrage of conservatives like Bill Kristol and Sean Hannity, at the prospect of an Obama presidency is explicitly rooted in the fear perceived or real of the demise of this inequality.<br />
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While, I embrace some conservative values such as preserving personal freedoms especially with to respect to religion and family; I find reprehensible the conservative agenda to maintain extreme economic disparity through the use of tax policies and government budgets.<br />
The unifying of all Americans was first credited to Republican President Abraham Lincoln; however it is the current Republican Party that uses its taxation policy to maintain economic and social disempowerment. It disproportionately impacts minorities, especially African Americans given their history.<br />
The Republican Party has always formulated tax policies that favor the protection of wealth over the accumulation of wealth. While Republican tax policy has protected income from inherited wealth by enacting zero or minimal tax rates for estate, capital and dividends taxes they have subjected income from labor (i.e. income and personal) to higher taxes.<br />
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In the last two months I have volunteered my time and money to the Obama campaign, because I believe, the Obama Presidency is certain to turn part of the conservative paradigm on its head. First the belief that the privilege to rule is the preserve of the elite and second that the free market should disproportionately reward wealth more than work. </div>
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It is not that I want affirmative action or communism, but as President Elect Obama has articulated, pragmatism in the way government taxes and spends public money.<br />
Republicans in the past have attempted to starve government, by cutting taxes and social programs, the beast (Govt.) they claimed was demanding more, more and swallowing every resource. This spanned well, when government did not have the burden of wars or infrastructure development, now the Iraq and Afghan wars plus the repair costs of crumbling infrastructure has outstripped government income. The Republicans would have the middle class bear the brunt of funding the federal budget and expand expenditure through war expenses while resisting increases on capital gains or estate taxes.<br />
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The two bizarre celebrities that emerged from the Presidential race, Sarah Palin and Joe the plumber exposed the underlining hypocrisy of this conservative agenda. </div>
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Conservatives took two people, who in truth should have been held out as victims or the resultants of the failed conservative policies but they held Sarah and Joe as the embodiment of conservatism. When both begun to show cracks and disintegrated before a national audience, it was the last nail, we needed before burying the caricature the ideology has become.<br />
Sarah Palin it turned out was an example of past and future results of children left behind / home schooling policy that fails to fill the enormous knowledge and funding gaps because Republicans have withheld federal funds to provide schools and parents more resources.<br />
Joe the plumber is neither the entrepreneur nor the limited government proponent they made him out to be: in fact he is not even licensed to work as plumber and has been a recipient of government social program benefits.<br />
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So what will the reign of the forty-fourth President look like?<br />
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President Elect Obama has broad, almost unprecedented support; he embodies the diversity of America and the world both figuratively and literally perhaps this why most people feel a personal connection. He has offered to put government on the side of working people, to give the middle class a tax relief and expand opportunity for social and economic empowerment to all.<br />
His outlook and governing philosophy lends confidence to social and economic policies that will bring into the mainstream, those Americans that have existed on fringes of America's social progression over the last hundred years.<br />
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“<em><strong>Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the </strong></em><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/11/09/ap5668876.html?partner=lingospot"><em><strong>Republican Party</strong></em></a><em><strong> to the White House--a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity.<br />Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends ... though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn--I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too.” President Elect Barack Obama</strong></em>.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-28910794555428856652008-09-01T16:25:00.011-05:002008-09-01T18:44:40.815-05:00Zambia's future:Old dog new tricks vs old tricks young dog?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ghfb-s64P-3t7_ixfdHGk4aAdRIuxSpWSF6lYj2rwb51V2y1TcEsn3Bx5LcyhHGGesGaxW33Yj9vxt4l0CnK_J1wN8a2wfLRHrVDU5tNKX6DfgSXskVFax_Ys7x_VNnfW3dVEZbXPXw/s1600-h/old-dog.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ghfb-s64P-3t7_ixfdHGk4aAdRIuxSpWSF6lYj2rwb51V2y1TcEsn3Bx5LcyhHGGesGaxW33Yj9vxt4l0CnK_J1wN8a2wfLRHrVDU5tNKX6DfgSXskVFax_Ys7x_VNnfW3dVEZbXPXw/s320/old-dog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241197086526069458" /></a><br /><div><br /></div>Against the order of age old traditional values, a political battle is already raging to succeed the late Mwanawasa before his body is even laid to rest. Caught at the heart of the battle is his grieving widow who had to part with tradition and raised her voice to state her late husband's preferred successor - finance Minister Ng'andu Magande.<div>Yet<br /><div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; font-family:Arial;font-size:14px;">"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> (MMD) in six provinces out of all the nine have endorsed Acting President Rupiah Banda as candidate for the forth-coming presidential by-election, MMD co-founder member Mbita Chitala have told Zambia News and Information Services.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 20px; font-family:Arial;font-size:14px;"><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> Provincial executive committees in Luapula, Northern, North Western and Copperbelt have unanymously endorsed the candidature of Banda in the November polls, he said</span>." (Xinhua)</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">If Rupiah Banda is the old dog, in this battle for succession, figutively speaking, he has certainly learnt a few new tricks otherwise how did he win the party people and keep the master's confidence at the same time?</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">While Mrs. Mwanawasa may not have taken to Rupiah Banda as a potential successor, a significant number of party powers seem to have fallen for the old dog charm, unbridled generosity. While Magande is urging financial discipline, Banda like grandpa is offering higher wages and increasing allowances for political leaders across the board.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; font-family:Times;font-size:16px;"><a name="1220257064" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span style="font-family:VERDANA;font-size:85%;"></span></a></span></p><a name="1220257064" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span style="font-family:VERDANA;font-size:85%;"><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); display: inline !important; "></p></span></a></span><p></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; font-family:Times;font-size:16px;"><a name="1220257064" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span style="font-family:VERDANA;font-size:85%;"></span></a></span></p><a name="1220257064" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span style="font-family:VERDANA;font-size:85%;"></span></a><span style="font-family:VERDANA;font-size:85%;"><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); display: inline !important; "><a name="1220257064" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); ">"</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The MMD in Lusaka has endorsed the candidature of Vice President Rupiah Banda as the presidential candidate in the forthcoming presidential by-election with more joining in the calls.</span></p></span><p></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; font-family:Times;font-size:16px;"><a name="1220257064" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span style="font-family:VERDANA;font-size:85%;"></span></a></span></p><a name="1220257064" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span style="font-family:VERDANA;font-size:85%;"><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">MMD Lusaka Province secretary, Cleophas Chimembe said in a letter to the party’s national secretary Katele Kalumba that the provincial executive committee supported the application of Mr Banda as the most preferred candidate.</span>"</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">“We further state with conviction that Mr Banda is the right candidate for the job and we acknowledge the respect and confidence the late beloved President Mwanawasa had in him by appointing him to the office of vice president,” he said. (Times)</p></span></a><p></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Magande is a relatively new political player and may have kept his master's voice and promise to fight corruption and waste but a party structure and public that are eager to satisfy immediate needs may not be attuned or pay attention to such noble yet causes that take a long time to bear benefits for all.<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Magande, graduated from UNZA in 1970 with a degree in economics and mathematics, then added a masters in Agricultural economics from Makelele university. He has tremendous international experience, working for the World bank, ADB and ACP-EU. He has clearly used his immense economic and international experience to assuage Zambia's economic troubles, so why does he seem to be losing the battle even with the explicit support of Mwanawasa's widow?</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Is old age and experience a greater charm than relative youth, excellent academic and professional credentials?</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">As in the US Presidential race, where Barack Obama faces a similar challenge from an old and experienced Mc Cain, old politicians apparently are more adept than old dogs in learning quickly and employing new tricks. They have both created just a little excitement amongst their political base to detract from the real issues of the campaign. While Rupiah Banda used money and more money to induce support, Mc Cain enlisted a beautiful woman as a running mate.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">It has been said politics is a game of dirty tricks, new and old, I wait to see how this battle rolls out.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><br /></p></div></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-54584943023718263882008-08-01T09:05:00.007-05:002014-08-23T15:54:46.345-05:00Rupiah Banda:unsavory consequence of Machiavellian Politics?In his influencial book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince" title="The Prince">The Prince</a> 16th century political thinker Niccolò Machiavelli describes the arts by which a Prince (a ruler) can retain control of his realm. Among other bold means of maintaining power, the prince need only carefully maintain the institutions that the people are used to, preserve the the status quo, as more appealing than change; a new prince will have a much more difficult task since he must stabilize his new found power and build a structure that will endure. The execution of this task requires the Prince to be publicly above reproach but may privately require him to do unsavory things, in order to achieve his goals.<br />
Machiavelli also notes that it is wise for a prince not to ally with a stronger force unless compelled to do so.<br />
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This kind of political strategy has increasingly gained prominence in modern day politics. In Zambia's recent political history, former Presidents have sought to carefully manage and retain institutions in a form that furthers rather than challenge their power. There has been untoward resistance to the reform of the institutions of government like parliament, electoral council and the judiciary.<br />
Despite several constitutional reviews including the on-going NCC, there is still opposition to the reduction of executive authority, specifically, attempts to mitigate the power to appoint key members of the judiciary, the electoral council, government boards even government owned companies.<br />
Perhaps more Machiavellian has been nature of appointments to the office of Vice President, in the recent past, we have had Nevers Mumba (2003/4), Lupando Mwape(2004/6) and present Rupiah Banda. All of whom had to be nominated to parliament and held no viable party position in the MMD. Essentially, they are outsiders brought in so close, to the principal power- the President, so that he has always remained more powerful, more appealing, less transient. In making such appointments, he may have employed the more important virtue of Machiavelli - having the wisdom to discern what ventures will come with the most reward and then pursuing it courageously.<br />
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In the US presidential race John McCain was asked what he thought the most important job of the Vice President is - " <em>it is to inquire daily on the President's health</em>" he said and " <em>In my case</em> , <em>this is going to be very important</em>". McCain is expected to appoint a more able running mate.<br />
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Sadly, it is the cruel hand of ill health that has brought Zambia, to the current political and constitutional limbo. In our case, Ruphiah Banda is hardly prepared nor appropriately positioned within the MMD, to continue the transcendent role of governing and managing the state.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-24154387666708977842008-07-05T18:13:00.002-05:002008-07-05T18:17:22.031-05:00Mwanawasa 'is not dead'A Zambian minister has accused South African media of "malice" after they issued reports - later retracted - that Zambia's president had died.<br />Information Minister Mike Mulongoti said the reports had caused "panic and damage" for Zambians.<br />President Levy Mwanawasa, 59, is in intensive care at a hospital in Paris after suffering a stroke at an African Union summit in Egypt last weekend.<br />Vice-President Rupiah Banda said Mr Mwanawasa's condition was stable.......<br /><br />South Africa's leader has retracted comments in which he said that Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, 59, had died.<br />President Thabo Mbeki asked for a minute's silence on Thursday but his office later said reports of Mr Mwanawasa's death were "not true".<br />Zambia's Vice-President Rupiah Banda said Mr Mwanawasa had had a "satisfactory night" in Paris.<br />He was flown there from Egypt, where he had suffered a stroke on Sunday ahead of an African Union summit.<br />South African radio earlier quoted a spokesman who said he was from Zambia's High Commission as saying Mr Mwanawasa had died. ( BBC)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-35389144938421537222008-07-03T04:35:00.003-05:002008-12-11T14:33:41.681-06:00Alas Mwanawasa is gone.....<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUr-0REPyw79PE8OGXMFaiXx1r6DWMrRp81Tpah2n06FgyW15LExBV7GfR-Lr8U04247WQa-4tzjmpRlh2NbfNgWEIRjlVxy-p0cMK6eSoDB-QFI8DlYxojdOSLF-T9CRaNVPswdCv4p8/s1600-h/images.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218719437009349042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUr-0REPyw79PE8OGXMFaiXx1r6DWMrRp81Tpah2n06FgyW15LExBV7GfR-Lr8U04247WQa-4tzjmpRlh2NbfNgWEIRjlVxy-p0cMK6eSoDB-QFI8DlYxojdOSLF-T9CRaNVPswdCv4p8/s320/images.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="color:#ff0000;">Zambian President Mwanawasa has died -report<br />Thu 3 Jul 2008, 8:12 GM<br />JOHANNESBURG, July 3 (Reuters) - Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a Paris hospital on Thursday after suffering a stroke earlier this week, South Africa's Talk Radio 702 reported.<br />The radio quoted a Zambian High Commission spokesman as saying that Mwanawasa died earlier on Thursday morning. Mwanawasa was taken to hospital in Egypt just before an African Union summit on Monday and Tuesday and then transferred to Paris...</span></div><div><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></div><div><span style="color:#000000;">This makes for very sad reading, indeed, we pray for peace and a graceful mourning of our most eminent Leader.</span></div><div>My condolences to the first lady and the family.</div><div> </div><div>God bless our beloved nation.</div><div><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></div><div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-74559971361560664952008-07-02T17:50:00.007-05:002008-07-02T19:25:12.464-05:00Political posturing: The dynamics of post Mwanawasa politics.For the last hour my blackberry is buzzing with (sms) unconfirmed information from Zambians in the US, that President Mwanawasa has died in Paris, though no news outlet has posted this information.<br /><br />Bloomberg has this....<br /><br />"July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Zambian President <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Levy+Mwanawasa&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1" t_above="true" t_static="true" t_fontcolor="#000000" t_fontface="Verdana,sans-serif" t_bgcolor="#ddedd9" t_width="110" t_delay="50">Levy Mwanawasa</a> was flown to France last night for specialist treatment after suffering a mild stroke in Egypt on June 29, Vice-President Rupiah Banda said.<br />Mwanawasa was moved to a Paris hospital where he will undergo ``further medical treatment,'' Banda said in a statement in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, late yesterday."<br /><br /><br />My prayers are for our beloved Mwanawasa to recover, as grim as the prognosis of suffering two strokes, any other outcome is hard to come to grips with and indeed casts doubt on the future of our nation and the constitutional, political, economic and structural progression Zambia has made under Mwanawasa.<br /><br />Vice President Rupiah Banda hardly strikes me as a reformer, he has certainly had his time from the UNIP era to a period of retirement. He lacks the necessary grip on contemporary and future challenges Zambia faces, in the wake of recent government and economic restructuring.<br /><br />Would he provide the leadership Zambia needs to rein in the mines in order to bring Zambians benefits through taxation and fair employment opportunities?<br /><br />Would he follow through with government restucturing, to make service delivery to average Zambians more responsive and effective?<br /><br />Would he deliver the constitution, we have being crying out for?<br /><br />On the opposition side, Michael Sata is equally ill equiped for our time in both health and idealogy.<br /><br />UPND's Hakainde Hichilema may have youth and progressive ideas but his party lacks the grassroot framework and support to deliver him the presidency.<br /><br />It maybe to the outcome of the battle between the old and the young Turks in the MMD to carry the mantle.<br /><br />As Cho the Zambian economist/seer has outlined <a href="http://zambian-economist.blogspot.com/2008/07/clearing-constitutional-mud.html">here</a> the levers of our current constitution are clear.<br /><br />Within MMD, Prof Clive Chirwa and Dr. Nevers Mumba may have to prove between them who has the grip and proximity to the MMD party machinery.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>For this moment however, my duty as every Zambian is to pray for our President Mwanawasa and our first lady Maureen and the family that is our beloved nation.</strong></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong></strong></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-18634157051927113242008-06-04T04:23:00.002-05:002008-12-11T14:33:41.839-06:00Came the man, came the moment!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNix-8S9Gb1T8Yr9OGYxSNkUu7yuwkL3DPmAS0HGXW7uZDWbUpri8RwrDBhkv_H0aTLlcmkl9XkwErinPdTftA5_8Xe6V_jbvTIQk3Vy2c_PbmCVSyK7tLV_pMJi76OmArTiEE9fflq3I/s1600-h/39585602-03193718.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207954803754771954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNix-8S9Gb1T8Yr9OGYxSNkUu7yuwkL3DPmAS0HGXW7uZDWbUpri8RwrDBhkv_H0aTLlcmkl9XkwErinPdTftA5_8Xe6V_jbvTIQk3Vy2c_PbmCVSyK7tLV_pMJi76OmArTiEE9fflq3I/s320/39585602-03193718.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>ST. PAUL—In a moment bearing history's weight and the future's promise, Sen. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/">Barack Obama</a> of Illinois claimed the Democratic nomination for president Tuesday night to cap a grueling but ultimately successful quest to be the first African-American candidate to lead a major party's bid for the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLCUL000110" title="The White House" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics/government/executive-branch/the-white-house-PLCUL000110.topic">White House</a>.The career trajectory of the man who only four years ago was serving in the state legislature in Springfield has been as rapid as any in American politics, featuring a blend of celebrity, youthful appeal and gift for rhetoric that could attract crowds by the tens of thousands across the nation.His rival, <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PEPLT007433" title="Hillary Clinton" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics/government/hillary-clinton-PEPLT007433.topic">Sen. Hillary Clinton</a>, kept her campaign alive, telling supporters in New York that she would "be making no decisions" on Tuesday and pledging to meet with allies and party leaders to figure out what to do next. She hinted at accommodation but sounded notes of defiance, and her supporters sent signals that she would like to run for vice president with Obama. (Chicago tribune)</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-54480804876179454902008-05-22T16:41:00.007-05:002008-12-11T14:33:42.053-06:00Desperate Hillary cites Zim elections in Dem primary.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMGW6yfejPUuQQEv0BTladqtCdF08xDoSJdQ5qmbEm4BarbgNRosYeBhzyY7LR60X3Iby-pApsyZrvD1XvYwzDKDkLk4CYp3ntaUIVB_76T-3t7bGE8Q56OnZwnPZunTn3kb0NYov7TA/s1600-h/s-ZIMBABWE-large.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5203321943194521954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMGW6yfejPUuQQEv0BTladqtCdF08xDoSJdQ5qmbEm4BarbgNRosYeBhzyY7LR60X3Iby-pApsyZrvD1XvYwzDKDkLk4CYp3ntaUIVB_76T-3t7bGE8Q56OnZwnPZunTn3kb0NYov7TA/s320/s-ZIMBABWE-large.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Hillary Clinton is pushing harder and harder to convince the DNC to count the votes held in Florida in Michigan. And with reports suggesting that she is just going through the motions of the election, Clinton has apparently decided to ratchet up the rhetoric. During a rally in Florida yesterday, she not only compared the current situation to the 2000 election, she also referenced rigged elections in Zimbabwe:<br /><br />Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when "people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded."<br /><br />"We're seeing that right now in Zimbabwe," Clinton explained. "Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people," Clinton told the crowd of senior citizens at a retirement community in south Florida. (AP)<br /><br /><br />Though the political system in the US bears the wholemark of a fully developed democratic structure, Hillary has served as a reminder that politics are the same everywhere, that at the core is a desperate quest for power sometimes regardless of the price.<br />Social harmony and relationships that have developed across class and race over many years are as much at risk in US as in Zimbabwe.<br /><br />Indeed, Kashikulu can see at little of Mugabe's traits in Hillary Clinton-<br /><br />i) that failure to percieve a loss of resonance with the majority of voters.<br /><br />ii) that desperate tenacity to potray self as the only viable candidate.<br /><br />iii) that annoying chick to paint opponents as weak, as traitors to common values.<br /><br />And sadly here, as in Zimbabwe, the average citizen alone will bear the long term consequences of the strife and resentment churned out by an individual politician's quest for power at any cost.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-60143292275900596992008-05-06T21:28:00.008-05:002008-05-07T10:55:24.975-05:00Prof Clive Chirwa - Power or Influence?In the play "Kafuti the brazen serpent" by Zambia’s acclaimed playwright <a href="http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=8&id=1206360352">Mulenga Kapwepwe</a>, Kafuti the main character asks the age old question – <span style="color:#ff0000;">which is best power or influence?<br /><br /></span>I imagine Zambia's Presidential aspirant Prof Chirwa has mused over this question too, would his influence on participants in Zambia’s political system yield more benefit or does he need to be the principal power to effect the change average Zambians so desperately need?<br /><br />In the play Kafuti finds herself inclined to choose influence, for she reasons- influence the ability or clout to persuade others to get things done without the direct responsibilities of titular power as in the case of the <a href="http://www.aei.org/about/filter.all/default.asp">American Enterprise</a> or <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595113603,00.html">Oprah</a> is far more enduring and beneficial than the transient power of a political title.<br /><br />Political power would, readily avail Prof Chirwa the potential to allocate resources, make and enforce decisions but even Presidential authority relies on the power of persuasion and influence to rally important and effective players for government to deliver benefits to the public. More importantly, to gain political power he must first, persuade and influence the Zambian electorate to vote him into office.<br /><br />In their books Robert L. Dilenschneider’s ‘Power and influence’ and Rudy Giuliani’s ‘Leadership’ both stress that seizing the power of governmental organizations and using it appropriately differs greatly in contrast to private sector companies.<br />Giuliani offers the following advice;<br /><br />i) prepare relentlessly for the day you become boss<br />ii) Under promise then over deliver.<br />iii) Surround yourself with good and effective performers.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani">Rudy Giuliani</a> who recently lost the Republican Party nomination might have been the greatest beneficiary of his own advice, had he prepared relentlessly for the Presidential campaign, sharpened his promises and surrounded himself with good people he might have gained the ultimate power of leader of the free world.<br /><br />Yet, Giuliani has now devoted his efforts to influencing government policy through his lobby firm <a href="http://www.giulianipartners.com/default.aspx">Giuliani Partners</a>. Think tanks like American Enterprise and <a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/dayInLIfe.asp?careerID=88">lobbyists</a> have become more brazen and effective in influencing government policy, it now appears political power has lost some of it’s clout.<br />In a way Giuliani’s case illustrates the influence versus power dynamic, does power guarantee influence or is influence that gives way to power? Like the chicken and the egg, the two are interdependent; therefore it is folly to attempt or seek a political career/power without influence.<br />Would Prof Chirwa therefore, be more effective and beneficial to the average Zambians by creating a policy influencing think tank or lobby firm that would influence the Zambian government to allocate resources more effectively, to make and enforce decisions that are pro poor?.<br />Prof Chirwa has vast aviation technology expertise and has formed important relationships with leading global companies, investment firms and leaders, he would use this influence (which is widely unrecognized in Zambia) on these players to derive benefit for Zambians.<br /><br />Presidential office may provide the ultimate power to get things done, however it also confers absolute responsibility. The probability of Prof Chirwa’s international influence been enhanced by political office is significant but also real is the possibility that it may be scared.<br /><br />Prof Chirwa must therefore weigh heavily, whether he prefers influence or power over Zambia’s current political system, I would that he would choose influence!<br /><br /><br /><embed id="VideoPlayback" style="width:400px;height:326px" flashvars="" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-8993696858372008793&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-76590834308457610032008-04-28T03:32:00.006-05:002008-12-11T14:33:42.173-06:00Mugabe's cronies completely lose it!It has been speculated that Hitler may have suffered from a mirage of psychological issues, he was an ideologue with unshakable convictions........ He did not use language for the purpose of interaction with others, but only for the purpose of dominating others. He endlessly engaged in long-winded and pedantic speeches, with "illogical arguments full of crude comparisons and cheap allusions.<br /><br />As in the case of Hiltler, I find that Mugabe's direct reports, especially the army chief are pandering to the whims of a mentally ill man.<br /><br />Much worse how do these policemen beat up their fellow countrymen for voting against Mugabe, during the day and go back to their homes at night, in the very neighbourhood where the people they beat up live?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194220790361901842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2eO66TzZVIZEEjvH5pn_q9ucmOndbaBeMB4hSvgMki62NaZf66XxIBaNw1eh2WP0DvC4DGcYHJ-nejD_Yk6ZGWOChCU1Gt2w9t5fkS50lMGD64Y-2br3y75n85Pjd24iKCmCfcvYvhm8/s320/s-BEARAK-large.jpg" border="0" /> BarryBearak.<br /><br /><br />New York Times correspondent <a class="inline_tag" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/barry-bearak">Barry Bearak</a>, who was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/barry-bearak-pulitzer-win_n_94939.html">jailed earlier this month</a> in Zimbabwe where he was reporting on the country's elections, has a lengthy piece in Sunday's Times about his experience. Bearak was released on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/07/barry-bearak-emnew-york-t_n_95454.html">bail</a> a few days after being taken into custody, for, as he writes in his Times piece, the crime of "committing journalism:<br />I had never been arrested before and the prospect of prison in Zimbabwe, one of the poorest, most repressive places on earth, seemed especially forbidding: the squalor, the teeming cells, the possibility of beatings. But I told myself what I'd repeatedly taught my two children: Life is a collection of experiences. You savor the good, you learn from the bad.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">I was being charged with the crime of "committing journalism." One of my captors, Detective Inspector Dani Rangwani, described the offense to me as something despicable, almost hissing the words: "You've been gathering, processing and disseminating the news." </span><span style="color:#000000;">NYTimes.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159627187542378557.post-71190968839792875202008-04-21T03:42:00.004-05:002008-12-11T14:33:42.299-06:00Zimbabweans driven beyond despair.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6UQIPWG8o-UFtDWGvcBBtU9yVL3khK8LQtQlk35W2521Jx2N-sUIbGLsuJicD20TSyFzP79DED69TkXTD2SMbzUCj-B4GlaI9yJYGyMQuIVxuRUy-1i54UitLJg4X2qMRxDuFMHGLsLs/s1600-h/zimb.600.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191616859227561250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6UQIPWG8o-UFtDWGvcBBtU9yVL3khK8LQtQlk35W2521Jx2N-sUIbGLsuJicD20TSyFzP79DED69TkXTD2SMbzUCj-B4GlaI9yJYGyMQuIVxuRUy-1i54UitLJg4X2qMRxDuFMHGLsLs/s320/zimb.600.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#ff0000;"><br /></span><div></div><br /><div><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#ff0000;">ALONG THE </span><a title="More news and information about South Africa." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/southafrica/index.html?inline=nyt-geo"><span style="color:#ff0000;">SOUTH AFRICA</span></a><span style="color:#ff0000;">-</span><a title="More news and information about Zimbabwe." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/zimbabwe/index.html?inline=nyt-geo"><span style="color:#ff0000;">ZIMBABWE</span></a><span style="color:#ff0000;"> BORDER — Sarah Ngewerume was driven to the river by despair.<br />Seeing South African military truck, two women, with their babies, fled back to Zimbabwe after trying to cross into South Africa. </span></div><div><span style="color:#ff0000;"><br />More than 1,000 people cross the border from Zimbabwe into South Africa every day.<br /><br />She said she had seen gangs loyal to Zimbabwe’s longtime president, </span><a title="More articles about Robert Mugabe." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/robert_mugabe/index.html?inline=nyt-per"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Robert Mugabe</span></a><span style="color:#ff0000;">, beating people — some to death — in the dusty roads of her village. She said Mugabe loyalists were sweeping the countryside with chunks of wood in their hands, demanding to see party identification cards and methodically hunting down opposition supporters.<br />“It was terrifying,” said Ms. Ngewerume, a 49-year-old former shopkeeper.</span> </div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/world/africa/21zimbabwe.html?_r=1&ex=1366430400&en=4cf21bb14ea5dfbc&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">Mariella Furrer for The New York Times </a></div><div> </div><div></div><div>It has been said the strength and morality of a nation, is revealed by the fate and circumstance of the weakest among them.</div><div> </div><div></div><div>I therefore must ask - Is there indeed, no conscience nor sense of a higher purpose among the men of Zimbabwe?</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div>How be it that this sad fate of women and babies, fails to arouse the valor of any man in Zimbabwe?</div><div> </div><div></div><div>How can the fate of an 84 yr old man be more important than the future, of millions of Zimbabwe's children?</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div>To borrow from Mathew Arnold's "Dover beach" -</div><div> </div><div></div><div>How can a nation- <span style="color:#ff0000;">that lay before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, </span></div><div><span style="color:#ff0000;">Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; </span></div><div><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></div><div><span style="color:#ff0000;">And now Zimbabweans are before us, as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.</span></div><div><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></div><div></div><div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293103518471430860noreply@blogger.com0