More random thoughts…

Slogan power!

President Edgar Lungu clad in a top with the slogan 'My tribe is Zambian'

You've got to love the minds at ZNBC.

In the wake of all the tribal talk that has characterised the Zambian political and social realms following the January 2015 elections, ZNBC decided to contribute positively by introducing the recital of a slogan before and after every news bulletin.

"One Zambia, one nation!" goes the slogan.

Genius!

I wish I was closer to the minister of Information and Broadcasting Services who is also the chief Government spokesperson. I’d tell him to recognise the great minds that came up with this idea. I mean they just solved the problem of divisions in the nation. Better still, I’d come up with a follow-up brilliant idea of mine too. I’d ask the minister to go a step further and direct ZICTA to make it mandatory for all phone users to replace "hello" (hallo, harrow, allo) , or whichever way people answer phones, with the slogan: "One Zambia, one nation!"

I know for sure a lot of people don’t watch ZNBC news but they do answer their phones a countless number of times in a single day. The more people keep reciting these slogans, the less we will hear tribal talk. It will not end just at talking but translate into voting patterns. Southern province will not vote for UPND while Northern and Luapula provinces will also not vote for PF. Even Rhupiah Banda’s political clout in Eastern province will wind-up and it won’t matter which political camp he will support green or blue, the people of the east will still vote for the other camp.

The slogan is such a brilliant idea that Davies Chama can go to Monze, Choma or Mulobezi and refer to the Tonga people in whatever way he wishes and they will not be offended. Consequently, the likes of Mr Vincent Malambo, Mr Edson Hamakowa, Dr Kabeta Muleya, Prof Benjamin Mweene and Mr Cosmas Michelo would not need to call for any meetings. Since there would be no Chuundu Chaitwa, there would be no need for Chishimba Kambwili and Mumbi Phiri to issue threatening statements against such people.

There is definitely power in slogans. In Zambia there is definitely enough evidence to show that slogans have power. A lot of people can remember how a slogan as simple as ‘donchi kubeba’ was instrumental in changing government from MMD to PF in 2011 and the nation celebrated at the fall of the arrogant MMD, even though the same people from MMD have now resurfaced in PF. They actually resurfaced in different colours without announcing to anyone that the philosophy and ideology they propagated before was wrong hence they are changed people who believe in the new way of doing things. They haven’t told us what they did wrong in their previous colours, unless they really believe in the ‘donchi kubeba’ slogan they have literally followed it to the latter.

I just hope they are up to date with the times and the reality that slogans have since changed and ‘donchi kubeba’ is not applicable any more in the new colours they are donning today.  What is applicable today is kolopa.com. In fact there are two slogans now applicable in the new colours, the other one being ‘ífintu ni lungu’. So those that were in the old colours should not be living in the past but should know what time it is, ‘ifintu ni lungu or  kolopa’.

I met a man in the bank the other day who knows what time it is. I was waiting for my turn to be attended to when the man came closer to where I had been seated so that he verifies the exchange rate for the kwacha against the dollar on that day, and upon confirmation he just blurted; “ah K7.80!, ‘kolopa, ifintu ni lungu’.” As he walked away I was left bewildered but largely impressed with him. He knew what time it is. I took a leaf from him and that very day when I got home and found there was no electricity power supply as a result of intermittent load shedding, I knew the best thing to say was ‘kolopa, ifintu ni lungu’.

There is definitely power in slogans. It doesn’t matter what activities take place after the slogans are bellowed out, the results remain the same. The key is to recite the slogan. Not that it really matters but on this one, I give an award to ZNBC management for the genius slogan. It’s just a pity the management may not be there by the end of the month as the ZNBC unionised workers have demanded, or the workers themselves may not be there as the minister has warned.

For now, power to the slogans!.

Incarceration power!

President Obama speaks to El Reno Federal Correctional Institution prison guards

Michael Sata is famously quoted as saying that Zambia and the United States of America were the only two countries in the world with a black president and a white vice president. A lot has changed since, but because the USA is such a powerful country we always seek to find comparisons at any opportunity.

So when President Edgar Lungu went to Mukobeko Maximum prison and later on addressed the prisoners and warders it was not a big moment until he mentioned that he had two days earlier signed a document to release musician General Kanene from jail. While the president was still trying to figure out what the real name for General Kanene really is, I saw pictures released by the white house of president Barrack Obama visiting El Reno Federal Correctional Institution near Oklahoma city. Again, maybe only Zambian and US presidents go to the inside of jail.

The two presidents care for their citizens. I mean, Nelson Mandela famously said that; “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” You know how a nation treats it citizens by the way they treat its lowest citizen, the prisoners”.

The two gentlemen, Barak and Edgar are concerned about the ‘lowest citizens’ of their nations - according to Madiba - the prisoners.

However, while president Lungu’s signing of a release document for General Kanene was generating debate in Zambia, this was not the case with president Obama’s visit to El Reno Federal Correctional Institute. President Obama too signed documents to release prisoners. The difference really was that for president Obama, he also carried a message of reform for the American criminal justice system. Obama’s calling for legislation to permit lighter sentences for non-violent drug offenders and other changes, even attracted support from Congress irrespective of party affiliation.

The message that Obama was carrying received bipartisan support because as a society, the Americans are trying to cure the problems of their justice system. The recent cases where black men have been killed by white police officers, has exposed the solecism that exists in their justice system. To start with, the US police officers are some of the most armed in the world and in addition they have shown in recent past what many activists have always fought against – racial discrimination in the execution of justice.

Besides the killings, statistics clearly show that a big percentage of the black and Hispanic population is in jail despite them constituting a smaller percentage of the overall population. Black people constitute about 12 percent of the US population but the prison population distribution in America is 43 percent  black people. About 4 percent of the American black population is incarcerated, translating to just over one million from the total black population of only 33 million.

Many of these jail birds are serving long prison sentences for crimes such as possession of marijuana and other related ‘small time’ drugs. Therefore president Obama’s call for America to distinguish between young people who make mistakes and those who are truly dangerous is a step in the right direction and America has responded to his call the right way. Many a young man make the innocent mistake of trying out marijuana or other drugs and are lucky not to face the full wrath of the law while others are not so lucky as they face length sentences.

Incarceration has the power to either make or break an individual and as such the justice system should distinguish the hard core criminals from youths who make innocent mistakes. The need for reform and corrections of inmates is therefore a very important aspect in the operations of prisons. The American prison facilities are also referred to as correctional facilities, while the Zambian prisons are also supposed to be reformatory facilities. However, many a time these facilities have served to ‘cook’ youth who go behind bars for youthful mistakes into full blown criminals.

This is the power of incarceration. It may serve to rehabilitate or nurture youths who make mistakes into becoming hard core criminals. This is the message of Obama - let's help these. In order to help these, we need first of all, to identify who they are in various prisons where they are incarcerated. 

In appreciating Mr Obama’s overtures, I also note that Mr Lungu's visit to prison too had a positive other than the controversy of the release of General Kanene. Mr Lungu commuted all the death sentences to life sentences. I hope once the new republican constitution is eventually adopted, the clause regarding death sentences will be done away with. This is an archaic law and it has no place in modern day Zambia. Like their American counterparts, Zambian opposition politicians should support this progressive clause.

As all the pardons and commutations of sentences are taking place, the rest of us ordinary citizens should embrace the progressive steps by politicians as we reflect on the power of incarceration. It can either build or destroy the spirit of a human being. We should as society, be able to distinguish justice from punishment and from retribution.

For now, it is power to true justice! power to rehabilitation and correction, and not unjustified punishment!

Political Power!

Iris Kaingu poses for a 'selfie' with a Radio Phoenix presenter
shortly after announcing that she intends to join politics

It appears prisoners have also realized that there is power in political correctness or endearing oneself to the ruling elite. Musician General Kanene is a living testimony of this. Serving just the first year of an 18 year sentence handed to him after the high court upheld the decision made by the magistrate court upon finding him guilty of having canal knowledge of a minor under the age of 16, the man decided to release a song praising the head of state.

The song was widely thought to be a reply to Pilato’s song thought to be critical of the head of state, a song which landed the unkempt Pilato in police custody until bail was paid a day later after attending court. Once Kanene’s song had hit the airwaves (I don’t know how that happened since he has been in prison), some prison official wrote a good report regarding Kanene’s stay in prison and he soon found himself on the receiving end of a presidential pardon.

Forget the coincidence of the release of his ‘praise song’ and the forwarding of a good report about his prison conduct and consequently release. In many ways it points to one thing why it is not surprising anymore that a lot of people are getting into politics lacking ideologies and principles but merely on the basis of personal gain. It seems to have a good life in this country you have to endear yourself to the political powers that be.

This however is the wrong way of doing things. For this reason I believe there should be major remodeling of how we do our politics and that means having new players in our political landscape. In having new players, there is need for even younger players. However there has to be involvement of the right kind of youth (not jokers like Cosmo Mumba or an old man by all means yet still clinging to the title of youth, like Kennedy Kamba prefers) so as to change the way we do our politics.

So when I heard that Iris Kaingu intends to seek political office I thought I should express my opinions on her impending grand entry onto the Zambian political scene. I really like iris hence I will be blunt and say a few things regarding her decision to join politics. She may never read this open letter but I hope the message in it is fathomed by others who will find time to read this.

Dear Iris,

When I first heard you had intentions of joining politics and running for political office, I initially thought it was the media’s penchant appetite for your body since that unfortunate sextape was leaked. However, when I watched your interview on Muvi TV’s assignment program, I realized this was a serious decision on your part.

First things first, as a citizen of Zambia you are free to express your wishes and no one should stop you for any reason. If you want to pursue a political path at any level, you should actually be encouraged and not discouraged based on that unfortunate expulsion you got at college.

However, politics is serious business and should be taken as such hence you have to first of all express your opinions and plan regarding many national issues. You could for instance champion girl child education (this is still a big issue in Zambia), seeing that you were expelled from college and subjected to a court case and generally public ridicule while your boyfriend [then] went about his life freely.

Politics is not just about having numbers on the polling day, but having a message that resonates with the people you strive to serve and then fulfilling that message. For this reason, avoid picking fights with the media. Do not deride media houses every time they publish negative stories about you, make them your partner. You need all media houses on your side my dear. This is not the easiest thing as naturally you should get bad publicity once in a while. But, do not fight back tooth and nail.

In fact since you are now giving interviews to media houses, please visit those you feel are negative towards you and give as many interviews as possible-it is free advertising for you. Michael Sata had tried picking fights in his early days as opposition political leader until he realized this grave mistake and made amends. Hakainde Hichilema has not yet learnt this lesson and the truth is that unless he learns this, his political fortunes may not change much.

You have been a ‘public figure’ for a while now, therefore, you should not expect that you can go to any beach clad in bikini and post the pictures on social media without the media picking on that. It is the same for Kim Kardashian, she is ever making headlines - because of her bikinis. There is nothing wrong in you posting racy pictures on social media if you are comfortable in them. It is also very okay especially if you intend to venture into a career as a reality TV star. 

However, some of these pictures may come to bite you in time especially if you intend to continue with your professional career in line with your studies or even a political career as you have openly declared. For Christ's sake, society does not expect you to go to the beach in Dubai dressed in the longest chitenge material (wrapper), or go to a night club in London sporting a ‘Dorcas mother’ dress.

However, do not attack the media once they publish any pictures of you, especially those which you yourself posted on social media. In addition use your found fame for good causes such as fundraising for various events and campaigning for good causes too. You should also be in the fore front showing the world your witty other side which the world does not know. The world needs to know what you stand for in terms of your position on various national and global issues. You should not be known only as the girl with the ‘nice ass’ and ‘sexy cleavage’.

You may be forgiven for posting racy pictures on social media now and in the past, as that may be deemed as innocent youthful expression. However you are 24 years old now and you are not getting younger hence if you want a political career you had better start positioning yourself now. And as you say, it may be as soon as 2016 when you decide to run for political office so now is the time for positioning. Look the part, dress the part and post updates on social media that portray the part.

Of course there are some politicians who climbed podiums and asked people to vote for them because they have ‘soft bums’, and still became successful when election day came. But their luck may not be your luck, therefore try as much as you can to stay politically correct. The prisoners know the value of political correctness hence for you who is an MBA student this must be common sense. Of course some people love a sexy politician, but others expect politicians to be conservative and conformist in nature so you are better off keeping the middle of the road. 

By the way gay rights are still not widely accepted this side of the world so avoid that question by all means. By you promising to support and even possibly pass gay rights laws, you may be exposing your political naivety, to borrow words recently used by Jose Mourinho in reference to a Chelsea Football club team doctor Eva Caneiro.

Please, go for it and show the world what you are made off. You are a unique individual and the world expects you to share your uniqueness. Do not be afraid to be yourself and do not let your dreams die a natural death.

Good luck and please remember the power of political correctness.

A print screen from the UK's daily mail showing racy pictures of
former TV presenter now pursuing political interests