Celebrating JJ’s disappearance

By Daily Revelation Editor

For the sake of national tranquility it is very welcome news that Petauke-Central independent member of parliament Emmanuel Jay Jay Banda has been found and is currently undergoing the necessary medical attention at Maina Soko Military Hospital.

The nation saw too much already in terms of what happened in the two days he went missing to have been very worried if the sad episode had prolonged, and even worse if a very big misfortune happened.

In just these few days a lot has happened, many things said and several opposition leaders arrested. Among the leaders arrested include FDD leader Edith Nawakwi, Lumezi member of parliament Munir Zulu, civil rights activist Brebner Changala and Mfuwe member of parliament Maureen Mabonga for seditious practices and expressing or showing ridicule for persons because of tribe or place of origin.

If these leaders have committed wrongdoing, let the law take its course. We won’t discuss the merits or demerits of the charges slapped against them. However, we want to raise alarm on what we view as clear police double standards, as there are several people in the UPND who have gone on record advocating violence and expressing ridicule against people from other regions. They have actually been captured on video telling other people not to set foot in their regions and police have paid a blind eye to that.

Similar concerns have also been raised against Infrastructure minister Charles Milupi for instructing UPND national youth chairman Gilbert Liswaniso to deal with all those who were insulting the President and Liswaniso agreeing to effectualise the orders. Yet we have not seen anything happen to them. Yet the police dares to tell us that they are operating fairly when these double standards are clearly visible to everyone except maybe those who have de-gazetted their minds from reasoning.

The disappearance of Jay Jay also revealed how progressively ugly this nation is becoming. We are a nation that can’t differentiate the importance of humanity over politics. We treat people based on their political affiliations and not their humanity. We consider those who do not belong to our political grouping or even tribe as enemies who must be annihilated.

We had a situation before us where a human being, someone’s son, father, brother, uncle had gone missing, and in the midst of that sad incident we had idiots who were going out of their way celebrating and ululating, with every ululation revealing the deeper evil that had so heavily possessed their sorry souls. We wonder how a normal human being could celebrate such a tragic situation.

Instead of coming together as a people during a very sad incident, we were instead being pulled apart further with each second. We are sure some even felt sad when they heard that Jay Jay had been found. They wished he could have just kissed permanent goodbyes to this earth.

We surely can’t continue adding steps on this very dangerous path we are treading on as a people. We must restore Ubuntu in us. We must be defined by the values of empathy and sympathy towards each other and not the corrosive partisanship that is eating at the very fabric of this nation daily.