By Daily Revelation Editor
We applaud permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development Hapenga Kabeta, for urging Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) to continue providing checks and balances to the government.
Kabeta made the urge when he officially opened the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Africa Regional Learning Workshop hosted by TIZ in Lusaka on Wednesday, stressing that even if TIZ sometimes said things that the government did not like, he encouraged them to continue to provide checks and balances to the government.
”My comment further is that as you carry out your mandate of (as) Transparency International, sometimes you will say things that we may not like, but say them,” said Kabeta. “In our cacophonies we shall sit back and say what we said has to be addressed. So, please l wish to encourage you to have checks and balances, to ensure that we are on the right path.”
This is as it should always be. As human being we don’t always share the same views or opinions on matters. And usually, we often hold our views and opinions to be always right, even when the same might not usually be the case. As a result, even when other opinions are offered, we mainly simply proceed with our opinions only to realise much much later that we were wrong and should have taken on board the opinions of others. Such is human nature, which actually requires a lot of effort on oneself to regulate in order to look at matters rationally.
That human nature does not only affect us at personal level but also at organisational level, more especially at governments level. Government’s usually just move along with the same inherent nature on national matters. They do so because they are human beings. And without a lot of effort in self-regulation, governments often tend to mistake criticism as simply opposition or even cynicism. They only come to realise their errors once they have been voted out of office.
For instance, Zambians complained repeatedly about the vice of caderism that had seriously taken root in this country under the PF administration. But the PF as a ruling party then simply dismissed those concerns and even normalised the problem without really addressing it. Actually, then Republican president Edgar Lungu even boasted on several occasions that he was friends with cadres and that they were part of his office. Lungu and the PF only came to see the problem after they were voted out of office. They have actually admitted that one of the problems which cost them public office was caderism.
Today, Zambians are raising several issues against the UPND administration, including how they are going about with the fight against corruption and questions on democratic freedoms. At some point the administration has also been at loggerheads with the Church, civil society and other stakeholders on Bill 7, which was recently assented into law, among other issues. However, instead of seeing the genuine efforts in the criticisms, the government has gone about dismissing their critics as bitter and fighting the Head of State because of where he hails from.
Even the recent TIZ report on the Corruption Perception Index which painted the government in the negative was simply dismissed as a perception. However, in times when the report has reflected the government in the positive, they have only been too happy to highlight the same as giving credence towards their anti-corruption efforts.
We therefore welcome Kabeta’s call when he urges TIZ to continue providing checks and balances on the government. We hope other government leaders could look at national matters from that perspective. They will actually benefit more by taking on board concerns raised by their critics as opposed to some of the mindless support they get from their own supporters.
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By Daily Revelation Editor
We applaud permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development Hapenga Kabeta, for urging Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) to continue providing checks and balances to the government.
Kabeta made the urge when he officially opened the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Africa Regional Learning Workshop hosted by TIZ in Lusaka on Wednesday, stressing that even if TIZ sometimes said things that the government did not like, he encouraged them to continue to provide checks and balances to the government.
”My comment further is that as you carry out your mandate of (as) Transparency International, sometimes you will say things that we may not like, but say them,” said Kabeta. “In our cacophonies we shall sit back and say what we said has to be addressed. So, please l wish to encourage you to have checks and balances, to ensure that we are on the right path.”
This is as it should always be. As human being we don’t always share the same views or opinions on matters. And usually, we often hold our views and opinions to be always right, even when the same might not usually be the case. As a result, even when other opinions are offered, we mainly simply proceed with our opinions only to realise much much later that we were wrong and should have taken on board the opinions of others. Such is human nature, which actually requires a lot of effort on oneself to regulate in order to look at matters rationally.
That human nature does not only affect us at personal level but also at organisational level, more especially at governments level. Government’s usually just move along with the same inherent nature on national matters. They do so because they are human beings. And without a lot of effort in self-regulation, governments often tend to mistake criticism as simply opposition or even cynicism. They only come to realise their errors once they have been voted out of office.
For instance, Zambians complained repeatedly about the vice of caderism that had seriously taken root in this country under the PF administration. But the PF as a ruling party then simply dismissed those concerns and even normalised the problem without really addressing it. Actually, then Republican president Edgar Lungu even boasted on several occasions that he was friends with cadres and that they were part of his office. Lungu and the PF only came to see the problem after they were voted out of office. They have actually admitted that one of the problems which cost them public office was caderism.
Today, Zambians are raising several issues against the UPND administration, including how they are going about with the fight against corruption and questions on democratic freedoms. At some point the administration has also been at loggerheads with the Church, civil society and other stakeholders on Bill 7, which was recently assented into law, among other issues. However, instead of seeing the genuine efforts in the criticisms, the government has gone about dismissing their critics as bitter and fighting the Head of State because of where he hails from.
Even the recent TIZ report on the Corruption Perception Index which painted the government in the negative was simply dismissed as a perception. However, in times when the report has reflected the government in the positive, they have only been too happy to highlight the same as giving credence towards their anti-corruption efforts.
We therefore welcome Kabeta’s call when he urges TIZ to continue providing checks and balances on the government. We hope other government leaders could look at national matters from that perspective. They will actually benefit more by taking on board concerns raised by their critics as opposed to some of the mindless support they get from their own supporters.
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