Old Leaders: And the endless Chronicles Of Public Sleeping.

Africa is a continent of so many talents and you have to be a concerned African to know some of the unusual talents that our renowned leaders have, therefore it is the duty of this article to illustrate some of the talents our leaders possess, though my main focus will be the sleeping sickness that has engulfed our old leaders' lives. Our old leaders seem to possess a trait that is common, but shameful and makes most of us wonder if in did the own homes that have beds since most times they are caught dozing at public event or maybe our old leaders are too spiritual such that they are always communicating to a spiritual being through the comfort of closed eyes and a moment of silence in dream land.

Regime of Sleep

Africa as a continent has passed through a lot of phases and if am not mistaken one of the many reasons that encouraged the scramble of Africa in 18^th century by European powers was the mystery behind the name 'Dark continent' and greed though the Europeans may argue out the latter reason under the pretense of 'Age of discovery'. And I assume the sadden 21^st century scramble for Africa is due to the continent's new identity which is 'Continent of Sleep' which has been portrayed and proven by most African leaders.

And it’s important to realize that Africa’s syndrome of sleep can be traced back to the 1960s when Nigerian first United Nations (UN) Ambassador Jaja Wachukwu shocked the world by his wonderful talent of sleeping at a meeting in New York of heads of state in October 16^th 1960. Furthermore, to most Ambassador Wachukwu may seem not to be the perfect example, but I believe the Ambassador's weakness of sleeping in public exposes and characterizes the kind of leaders we have on the continent. In other words, Ambassador Wachukwu gesture of sleeping is what is called 'sleeping on duty “in lay man language and its shocking how the Wachukwu gesture is still haunting down African leaders even after 55 years of its occurrence.

Even though, Wachukwu may seem to be the pioneer, it’s important to understand that the ambassador was just a beginner because his bosses such as Robert Mugabe and Yoweri Museveni are experts in the department of sleeping in public. For Mugabe and Yoweri have continued sleeping at public events when pressing issues affecting the well-being of citizens are been discussed and unbelievably deny of the sleeping but insist they were meditating.

Not long ago, Mugabe was fast asleep during a dinner that was held in his honor after becoming chairman of the African Union (AU) while Museveni's entourage of senior government officials which included second Deputy Prime Minister Moses Ali were flat asleep while listening to the state of the nation address and budget speech. With the above situation in mind, I am reminded by a saying by Desmond Tutu and I court, 'When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said let us pray. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land' at this moment I believe if our leaders continue with this sleeping at important events a repeat of history might occur at the expense of ordinary Africans.

For our leaders are fountains of honor indeed, hence to protect they dignity it’s important to encourage them to sleep at their own time and space since taxpayers pay for they accommodation, for the public is not a sleeping place, but a place of serious business.

Written and Edited by

Musanda Sishumba

THE FALL OF DIPLOMACY

Diplomacy and Protocol

I came cross the word diplomacy when I was very young and since then, I took the opportunity to understand it from all possible angles. To my understanding I believe diplomacy is a ' code of conduct' that governs people’s behavior, image, language and actions in the presence of members of the international community. And with the above in mind, I believe most individuals, groups or countries have forgotten the importance of diplomacy and this can be displayed in the unfolding events from all corners of the world. Furthermore, if am not I believe diplomacy in all aspects is a protocol that any individual or country observes, but with recent events from Ukraine and South Africa leaves less to desire about diplomacy and protocol in general.

Ukraine: Verkhovna Rada Boxing Arena

Indeed it is a known fact that Ukraine is a land known for its famous distinguished boxers Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko also known as the 'Klitschko brothers', but little is known about the box sessions that take place in the parliament or Verkhovna Rada whenever an agreement is not reached among politicians. As an illustration of the already portrayed mentality of boxing above, a no-mercy show-down boxing was done within the Verkhovna Rada premise were lawmakers Vadim Ivchenko and Yegor Sobolev battled themselves tirelessly until separated by sergeant of arms.

Event	Date and Place
Anti-corruption between Yegor Sobolev and Vadim Ivchenko was a highly heated and resulted into bleeding nose and mouth on 12 February, 2015.	Parliament Hall, 12 February 2015
Legislative battlefield: In July 2014 when President Petro Poroshenko proposed army mobilization bill that did not impress most MPs hence the Rada was turned into a battlefield.	Parliament Hall, July 2014
Knockdown for opponent: Tempers and punches rose due to failure to come to agreement over the crisis in eastern Ukraine with MP Aleksandr Shevchenko setting punches on Oleg Lyashko in August 2014.	Parliament Hall, August 2014
Gender equality: A video leak in April 2014 showed two female MPs in Rada having a heated verbal political dispute.	Parliament Hall, April 2014
Eggs and smoke grenades as arguments: One of the most picturesque fights to take place in the Rada was in 2010, when MPs were setting off smoke grenades and throwing eggs over the ratifying of extending of the naval base in Sevastopol that saw the speaker shield himself with an umbrella to keep the session going.	Parliament Hall, 2010

Juju vs Jay-Zuma: The Post Madiba Era

Although, the boxing events in Ukraine are not the only that break protocol and diplomacy, South Africa and Julius Malema's madness made headlines international. And the exchange of abusive words not forgetting punches and kicks in the presence of diplomats was unfortunate and paints a bad image of South Africa locally and internationally. With Julius Malema being the master minder of all chaos in the South African parliament, I believe President Jacob Zuma's ghost of kicking out his former youth league president is haunting him down day and night. As a matter of fact, President Jacob Zuma must find himself heavy security when he is to address the state of addresses in parliament because Malema and his Economic Freedom Fighters are not fans of his excellence for Malema and co. make serious business and its high time President Zuma begun to take Malema seriously. Though, the relationship between President Zuma and 'juju' has turned sour many might ask what really happened to the inseparable friends that once endorsed each other as highlighted in the below graph.

President Zuma

Julius Malema

At one point President Zuma described 'juju' as the 'new ANC' and a 'future leader', but I believe President's state will haunt him down in his second term for it seems 'juju' believes the future is now and cannot wait any long, watch out your excellence via 'Juju' is seen as a potential replacement for you.

On 17 June 2008, 'Juju' in his capacity as then ANC Youth League vowed and I court, 'we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma. On 16 June 2014, 'Juju' in his capacity stated that Zuma must suffer and I court 'they killed our people and never responsibility for that'. On 12 February 2015, 'Juju' yet again interrupted President Zuma's State of the Nation address by loudly demanding the president ‘pay back the money'.

From the above time chart, I believe readers can make analysis and conclusion on the love turned hated affair of President Zuma and 'juju' even though I know more is yet to unfold. At this point all I can say to the readers is to be expectant of more action from the South African political scene for 'Juju' seem ready to knockout his former boss.

Mugabeing: The Fall of Uncle Bob

Honestly, I am tired of calling President Mugabe 'President' for he has outstayed his time and not forgetting his new acquired title of chairmanship of the African Union (AU),therefore in this paragraph I will refer to him as 'uncle Bob'. And for those of us that do not know Uncle Bob then I will explain who he is. Uncle Bob is the anointed leader of Zimbabwe who celebrates his birthday by spending close to a million dollar of tax payers' money in a country that is undergoing economic recessions and sanctions.

Controversial as it may seem, Uncle Bob is indeed one true African hero who has always impressed and lost us in speechless and tears due to his appetite for words, but yet again he has impressed us at 91 years with a sensational 'Mugabeing' pre-birthday dance. The 'Mugabeing' pre birthday dance is not really a dance but the most Uncle Bob fall down due to undisclosed reasons leading to the suspending of his seventeen security entourage. Correspondingly, after uncle Bob's fall went viral on social media with twitter coming up with a hash-tag of 'Mugabeing'.

Generally speaking, I think the world loves uncle Bob looking at all sorts of hilarious memes that was attribute to his legendary fall and as for 'Juju' and President Zuma I think 2015 is indeed a great year, for we watch at a distance as you battle it out while improving people's standard of living.  

Written and Edited by:

Sishumba Musanda     

How Much Does It Cost To See Off The President?

I received this message through my Facebook inbox:

Gershom, you're the man to write about this: How much does it cost in money, manpower and man hours wasted when all those ministers, Permanent Secretaries, military, cadres, etc, go to see off or receive the president [at the airport]? A rich country like the US doesn't do that. Obama just gets into Marine 1 and is met at Andrews [Air force Base] by the commander there and the crew. Same on coming back. When he lands at the White House, it’s his dogs and a few members of staff. What's your take? Blog?

I was clearly taken aback by this message and I immediately surmised that it came as a result of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s recent trip to Namibia whose departure and arrival must have been shown on local Television with a whole retinue of people sending him off and receiving him.

President Edgar Lungu flanked by Vice President Inonge Wina at Kenneth Kaunda

 International Airport.

Obviously, the blame cannot be placed on the new president’s shoulders. This is something that has been embedded in the nation’s political culture right from the first president, Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s days when everybody who was anybody in both the party and in government had to be present at either the airport to send him off or receive him or at any public function where he officiated.

 

Growing Up In Kitwe

I remember when I was growing up in Kitwe how we were made to walk long distances as school kids to go and stand by the side of the road in which Dr Kaunda would be driven past. We were often hungry, thirsty and exposed in the sun, waiting for hours on end. When the motorcade sped by, all we could see was the man’s white hanky being waved at us.

This was mostly when he went to open the Copperbelt Agriculture Show in Wusakile, quite a distance from Kwacha, after landing at South Downs Airport in Chibuluma. But there were other times he could address meetings at Buchi Hall, a manageable walking distance.

All we were left asking ourselves was “wachimumona Kaunda [did you see Kaunda]?” For fear of being ridiculed by your friends who also probably saw zilch was to say “yes, I saw him, I saw him!” Then we dispersed in a more disorderly manner than when going to the place we would line up at as a school.

But more vivid is the memory I have of UNIP youths kicking pots off charcoal braziers shouting “bamayo nabatata tiyeni ku meeting'' [mothers and fathers let’s go for the meeting]. I remember this because my mother had a stand in the local market and she would announce to us that she was going for a meeting to be addressed by President Kaunda.

 

President Chiluba’s New Culture

Then came second President Frederick Chiluba with his “new culture” which was somewhat different from the Kaunda era. School children were no longer required to go and line up for him and neither were businesses required to close in an area where he was visiting. However, politicians of all shades and position, senior civil servants as well as defence and security officers of all rank usually gathered to welcome him.

I must say that I covered President Chiluba a lot when I worked for the Zambia Daily Mail on the Copperbelt and I came to know the type of people that welcomed him. In this scheme of things, parastatal companies usually provided trucks that ferried cadres from the compounds to go and throng the airport or a place at which a public meeting would be addressed.

I am very sure that this political culture carried on to the Mwanawasa administration and onwards to President Lungu. Political appointees of all manner and equally those seeking appointments want to be seen to be rubbing shoulders with people rubbing shoulders with the president as one never knows when an appointing finger can land on one.

Is it President Mwanawasa? He tried something of a novelty by travelling to the airport on a Marco Polo bus, carrying all the ministers with him on the bus. What I don’t know is why it was discouraged. Was it for security reasons or was it that it took the shine off the ministers who wanted to be seen to be flying individual flags on individual Mercedes Benz cars or those super expensive Prados?

But as the writer of the message above alludes to, at what cost do these jaunts to and from the airport come? Let us assume that all ministers and their deputies within Lusaka, permanent secretaries, top defence and security officials and other government functionaries, troop to the airport, covering a total of 60 kilometers, imagine the fuel burnt plus the man hours lost and missed business opportunities for cancelled or rescheduled meetings.

Maybe if it is whispered that minister so ‘n so wasn't at the airport, it would be seen to be insubordination and could face the chop at the next reshuffle. Similarly, cadre so ‘n so doesn't like you Mr President, he doesn't deserve to be appointed into the diplomatic service or as District Commissioner. See, he wasn't even at the airport!

Maybe it is as they say, “there is no hurry in Africa!” One can go and stand in the sun for hours just to catch a glimpse of the head of state and be satisfied regardless of the cost.

[Picture credit: Times of Zambia]

Written and edited by Gershom Ndhlovu

read more at:

http://gndhlovu.blogspot.co.uk/

Has President Lungu’s Humble Mask Falling Off?

Cartoon used with permission of Kiss Brian Abraham

Written and Edited by Gershom Ndhlovu

Is Zambia’s President Edgar Chagwa Lungu morphing into a dictator that some of us feared on social media he would do once elected President? His statements from the time he was sworn in point to that unsavory fact.

Three of the most stunning statements that should worry Zambians are where he warns the citizens that those who do not accept him as President should leave the country, the second being that he would fall on his detractors like a machine (ton?) of bricks, and the third in which he directly warns opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema not to dare him.

“Those who accept me as President,” Lungu declared, “I will work with them and give them support. I am head of the state, I am head of the Republic of Zambia. Those who don’t accept me as President should go away from Zambia. The reason is simple, because if you don’t accept me as President, you are likely to offend me by breaking the law of the land and I will tell the police to pounce on you.”

At another occasion, referring to those that did not accept the appointment of Inonge Wina as Vice President, Lungu said: ‘’There are some critics who are planning to make it difficult for Madam Vice President and others, they will debate contrary to what we stand for to make you appear as if you are not fit for the job … some of them have already resolved that they will move to the opposition as soon as Parliament is dissolved. I will be watching them and I will not hesitate to fall on them like a ton of bricks when it is appropriate to do so. If you have been left out, either you toe the line or you get out, that is what democracy entails.’’

“Don’t Dare Me”

Not the least shocking of statements, Lungu warned Hichilema, the man who nearly upset the PF apple cart during the January 20 elections, President Lungu said: “I want to warn politicians to desist from politicising the killing of the cadre. Let me be specific, especially Mr Hichilema should not dare me too much by mobilising cadres and start protesting in Lusaka.”

This was on the day police tear-gassed UPND cadres who were on their way to bury their fellow party member who had allegedly been killed by members of the ruling PF. Obviously it is wrong for any politician to incite lawlessness but whether the reasons given by the police for their action are genuine or not is another matter.

Interestingly, Lungu told the SABC in a televised interview that he nearly lost the elections because he was naïve. The point gleaned from this statement is that Lungu, who had been left with the instruments of power by President Michael Sata at the time he left the country and, unfortunately, dying in the process of the treatment he went for, controversially lost them to Dr Guy Scott, the then Vice President.

Seemingly a student of veteran Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Lungu is not ready to lose an election—or easily give up power like was the case when he was threatened with a treason charge by the then Attorney General Musa Mwenye. We do not know what lessons Lungu has learnt from Sekuru whom he visited shortly before and shortly after elections. Mugabe himself has been at the helm of Zimbabwean politics for three and a half decades.

Catholic Priest Deportation

All these in the first five weeks of Lungu’s presidency, but anyone who cared to follow Lungu’s political ascent particularly when he became Home Affairs Minister, knows that it was under him that a Catholic Priest, Father Viateur Banyangadora was deported to his home country, Rwanda, for simply preaching the shortcomings of the PF government which had neglected to pay farmers barely 14 months into government.

It was also under the man as the political head of the home affairs portfolio that opposition parties were suppressed to an extent that nearly all opposition leaders were at some point or other, arrested for holding meetings even indoors, visiting markets or chiefs. At some point, Hichilema, MMD’s Nevers Mumba and NAREP’s Elias Chipimo were busy trekking to court to answer charges related to their political activities.

Lungu went on to simultaneously hold the portfolios of Defence and Justice in addition to the position of the ruling party’s national secretary barely two months before President Sata died. It is his ascent to the party’s presidency and with it, the party’s candidate in the national presidential candidate that went without controversy. It is probably from this controversy that he was to declare in the SABC interview that he was naïve not to have won the national election with a wider margin.

School Playground Bully

Shortly after being elected, President Lungu declared, like Francis Fukuyama of the end of history fame, the end of politics, at least before the 2016 elections. Some cynics likened Lungu to a school playground bully who calls off the game because he is tired. The nation is, nevertheless, going back to the polls in the next one year six months and political parties need to constantly register in people’s minds about alternatives and programmes if and when they form government.

It appears that Lungu, who acted as a president in the absence of Sata a couple times, has just realised how much power he wields as an elected office holder. At every opportunity, he is now reminding citizens of that fact and how he can order the police to pounce on his detractors if he so desires.

In the run up to the presidential elections, Lungu was touted as a humble person but whether as republican president that humility is holding now or will hold in the future, is yet to be seen considering that the election season is not really over with next year’s presidential and general elections and someone is likely to step on his toes.   

To know more about the writer of this article Gershom Ndhlovu, visit his blog at http://gndhlovu.blogspot.ru/ or @GNhlovu

Poem Of The Week

Written and edited by Natasha Lwesya  If I died today? What would people say about me? Would they miss me or be happy am gone? Would they mourn or rejoice, Cry or smile, Be grieved or excited all because of my departure? If I died today would they say? If I died today, would my relatives remember me,or would they easily forget me because in the first place I really never was there. Would they miss my presence or would life go on with no sorrow that am gone. Would they count it a blessing or would part of them cry "Why Lord" yet trust him that he knows best? If I died what would they say? If I died today what would my friends say? Would they know I was gone because nobody could fit my shoes anymore or would someone easily replace me, because I really left no value? Would they say I was everything to them or would their mind say "eish,Good riddance"? Would they cry for me if I left? What would my parents say, would they say I pleased them or caused them more hurt than they could bear? Would they cry because I was no longer there or because somehow the number of children had reduced to one and that was too good to be true? Would their hearts be broken or would they only then start to heal? Would my church feel my absence because I was always in their presence? Would the guard on the street or the lady in the market miss my smile, or not even care because of my frowns that made their days gloomy just from staring at my face? Oh if I died today,where would I go? Most importantly if I died today what would God say? Would he run to hold me and say "Welcome Home, I missed you" or ask me "Do I know you?" Would he say you work is finished or say i was just useless? Would he give me that crown or say am sorry your name is not here? Would he give me a smile or sadly show me the door out? Would God recognize me even though i recognized him? Would he say I created you, yes, but we were never intimate? Oh what would happen if I died today? Though I think this,I realize am breathing, his grace is still sufficient allowing me to still make a difference. To my Parent,my friends, my church, those people I don't know but especially with my relationship with him.. He gives me a chance, to in my heart go home, even though my body is here.. But this is all just for now! I breath.. & I ask myself,  What do I now do with my "today".?