By Daily Revelation Editor
The Holy Scripture in Jeremiah 17:5-6 says: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in the uninhabited salty land where no one lives.’”
And it therefore goes that those who place their trust in politicians have no hope for the future. It should be known by now to those who are reasonable that the politicians we place our hopes in are but human beings with their own human limitations. If anything, the human limitations become more pronounced as people seek office, with their every word and action displaying who they really are.
The higher a politician rises in political standing, the more their actions are put under the microscope and the more people get to know about them, more so the President. We are sure that the lifestyles of our leaders who lived in relative obscurity before aspiring for office and ascending to the presidency and other higher offices became all to plain to see during their life in public office, and by the time they were out of office, all that needed to be known about them was plain for all to see. Of course we are alive to the fact that some have tried to hide the very worst of themselves and managed to some extent, but human nature being what it is, that which they have tried so hard to hide has managed to slip through in one way or the other for all to see.
This is not to say that all that has been experienced about leaders has been bad. In saying what we are saying, we mean public life has found a way of revealing the very good and the very worst in our leaders. We are sure that what people did not know about Dr Kenneth Kaunda was already public knowledge by the time he was done with his 27 years in office, the same with Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda, Edgar Lungu, maybe with the exception of Michael Sata as by the time he was getting into office, Zambians had appreciable knowledge of both the baggage and good he carried in himself. And every day, Zambians are getting to know more about Hakainde Hichilema. Zambians know more about Hichilema now than they did one year and some four months ago. His ways which were only known to those closer to him in his family, business and party are now broadcast every day to the wider public. Zambians have gotten to appreciable levels now in terms of understanding when he is telling the truth and when he is lying. They know when he is doing things in the interest of Zambians or when he is doing things for self-aggrandizement and pomposity or even to benefit himself and his associates.
The leaders we elect into office, even those in the opposition seeking to take over from them are no saints. In fact some may even argue that most are closer to evil than they are towards good. If a leader turns out to appear good, it means that they have simply tried and worked hard in limiting their imperfections, not that they have out rightly done away with those imperfections. There is no leader who will ever be perfect. That simply is not possible as doing so is denying human nature itself. It’s inhuman to expect Hakainde to behave like a super human being for instance.
No wonder, Hakainde will in one breath promise that the Kwacha will appreciate supersonically on the very day of his inauguration but one year and four months later the local currency is trading at the same K17.5 to the United States Dollar, or that he will reduce the price of fertilizer per 50kg bag from K700 to K250, yet the price is now over a K1000, including the fact that he promised that the fuel price will be less than K12 per liter, when one of the very first actions he took while in government was to increase the same price of fuel and today it is fetching at more than double the price he promised it would be fetching. Today, petrol is fetching at K25.95 per liter from the K17.62 price in August 2021. But Hakainde actually sees no problem with that, let alone apologise over the same. In fact, his sympathisers will even turn on you for simply reminding him over that which he promised with his own mouth, unprovoked by anyone to say so.
Of course not all that Hakainde has done is bad. There are so many good things he has achieved including reducing the prominence of cadres, whom Edgar Lungu had normalized to the extent that they reveled in that glorious madness. He has also increased the allocation in CDF and free education among many other praise worthy achievements. This is what he was elected for. He was elected to do good always. Therefore those senselessly rising in arms against those who demand accountability from him over his unfulfilled promises, are doing a disservice to the man as they are denying him the opportunity to work hard towards limiting his own imperfections as a human being and as a leader.
And for those waiting for another messiah to take over from Hakainde, we urge you to unbury your heads from the sand, as some gullible praise singers may not only be found in the UPND. They are everywhere. As you follow your leader and party, we urge you to do so with all your might, but please leave some little room for common sense, do not bury everything in the sand so that you forget that your duty is to elect a leader to do good for the public. Your duty is to keep the leader you have elected in check to ensure that they are working for the good of the public and working towards fulfilling their promises. Your duty is not to mindlessly defend your leader even when their actions demand public criticism or repudiation by all.
That leader you are following in the opposition, demand that as they provide checks and balances on those in power, they should do so because they have the interest of the public at heart and not because they are baying for those in power to fail so that they can take over from them.
For those addicted to a leader in power, demand that your leader be a listening human being to do that which is in the interest of the public.
Senseless partisanship is doing a great injustice to this nation, leaving very little room for common sense necessary for advancing sound national dialogue and consensus on issues.
