Zambia today is confronted by immense challenges. 80% of our people are living below the poverty line, which means they lack basic human needs. This is a shame and an aberration on the leadership of this country of great wealth potential. Why are we in this position of despondency after a bright start in 1964?
The answer is LEADERSHIP. Our country has suffered from NEGATIVE LEADERSHIP. Eugene Habecker, a Christian writer, in his book “Rediscovering the Soul of Leadership” made a great observation about leadership, he said: ‘it can be positive or negative; it can be slanted toward God’s divine purpose or in another direction. It is leadership just the same.’ He goes on to identify four characteristics of a NEGATIVE leader based on Chapter 34 of the Book of Ezekiel in the Holy Bible.
These characteristics of a negative leader are:
1. Selfish Ambition: The leaders’ priority of taking care of themselves and their own needs rather than expressing care to and taking care of their people.
2. Lack of Caring: The verses quoted in Ezekiel point to the need for a leader to be caring for the ‘flock’ (people), such as, strengthening the weak, healing the sick, and binding up the injured and bringing back the stray flock. In Zambia this would translate to the fact that pensions are not paid on time, hospitals do not have enough drugs or beds and if they do have drugs these are expired drugs; and no proper emergency disaster facilities. More significantly, we have allowed our best brains to ‘stray’ out of the country for greener pasture.
3. Brutality: According to the Bible leaders are instructed to lead with a quality of gentleness and not cruelty. This means ensuring the rule of law and not imprisoning or denying bail to people who are innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law.
4. Inability to Unify: Negative leadership has consequences for the nation. As a result of negative leadership the flock wanders and becomes separated as we have increasingly become in Zambia. Political leaders are appealing to the masses on the basis of tribal allegiance. Major LEADERSHIP POSITIONS TODAY ARE ALLOCATED ON THE BASIS OF BLOOD RELATIONSHIPS OR LONG TIME FRIENDSHIP.
From the above characteristics outlined it can be concluded that Zambia has suffered negative leadership from the top at varying stages of our country’s history. During the beginning of the first republic we had a selfless young leadership dedicated to the independence struggle and development of Zambia as an African nation. As the years went by and power corrupted their minds that same idyllic leadership became ever more brutal towards its own people who dared to show any dissent.
Hence the first unlawful detentions of many Zambians from Northern Province (i.e. all alleged members or sympathizers of the UPP) took place in 1971 ordered by the then President of Zambia, H.E. Dr. Kenneth Kaunda. These detentions included Kaunda’s closest friend and confidant Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe. This heralded the beginning of the end for Zambia’s nascent democracy.
From 1971 onwards Kaunda showed his brutality, selfish ambition and inability to unify the country by declaring a so-called ‘one party participatory democracy’ that saw him rule unopposed for 27 years. Those were the days we began to be told that Kaunda was ‘Wamuyaya’, symbolizing the vanity of power. Today Zambia continues to suffer the legacy of this negative one party state economic and political policy that saw our country move from a middle income economy to a less developed country and today into a Highly Indebted Poor Country.
Then Lo and Behold came the ‘Great Orator’, Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (simply FTJ) in 1991, exactly 20 years after UNIP declared the one party state. Here was a man who professed biblical principles and managed to unify the country under the slogan “The Hour Has Come”. The hour for many Zambians came and went away like a flash as all their hopes and dreams were shattered by a leadership consumed with selfish ambition, lack of care for the people and brutal treatment of all those it perceived as enemies of Democracy! This negative leadership of 1991 took the country further back than where Kaunda had left us.
What is the status today after 40 years? Today Zambia is left with the remnants and discards of the last 40 years of leadership in Zambia. In Zambia today we have a leadership that has selfish ambition (both ruling and the opposition), lack of care for the people, brutal and with total inability to unify our people towards a single vision and purpose.
Leadership in Zambia today is devoid of any reality. We have a President that talks good intentions but cannot deal decisively and fairly with the corruption and malpractice of his own administration. We have a Vice-President that professes to be a Man of God but sits in a Government that denies bail to citizens selectively and bans civil society groups, including, churches from advocating for a good constitution.
Worse still you have an Opposition Leader that used to send machete wielding hooligans to hack and beat anti-third term campaigners now becoming the front runner to lead Zambia as President after 2006. The whole Government is now in overdrive spending precious time and resources in fighting a man with a simple message of promising to make life easier and better for the ordinary Zambian to cope with the current harsh environment.
A true leader would implement those same proposals as a way to counter negative criticism. Instead the Government attacks the man rather than substance of what he is saying. Selfish ambition is the problem! Everyone in Zambia wants to be President at all costs even if for some it may mean ending up in hospital again.
Worse still is that all those surrounding the “Great Leader” are reliant on handouts and jobs for the boys and thus dare not tell the truth or advise objectively. Fellow Zambians are we going to sit still and allow our beautiful country to go through another 40 years of suffering from this level of mediocre and negative leadership? Every God fearing Zambian from all religions should take note and remember that:
“Leadership that honours GOD and which comes from the SOUL is leadership which will be effective”
How many of these so-called leaders can aspire to the above. Let us be very careful in our choice of leader otherwise we shall put our children’s future and the future of our nation in doom. It is time for all of us to take a stand and do what is right for Zambia. NO MORE INDIVIDUAL LEADERSHIP CULTS. ZAMBIA IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY INDIVIDUAL.
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