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Free To Praise, Free To Complain"
As Zambia turned
40 recently, I was pleased to hear about all the festivities,
pleased that people were pausing to recognize some of the country’s
achievements. While much still needs to be done to combat poverty
and AIDS, I’m happy that progress has been made in some important
areas. Here are just three examples that have helped strengthen
Zambia’s democracy:
- Freedom of the
press: It’s still not ideal, but has certainly come a long way. For
the first 25 years of independence, every newspaper was merely a
mouthpiece of the government, striving to convince people that the
president’s actions were always wise, always right, whether he was
appointing his friend as Minister of Health or himself as Minister
of Wealth. These days, the current president, as he admitted in a
recent interview, gets his wife to read the newspapers, so he
doesn’t have to agonize over everything people write about him.
That’s a good sign, but I hope she tells him some of the negative,
not just the positive.
Mwanawasa:
“Anything interesting in the papers today?”
Maureen: “Nothing
much. Just a few editorials praising you, saying you are among the
top three presidents
Zambia
has ever had.”
Mwanawasa: “Top
three? That’s wonderful! I must be doing a better job than I
thought. Can you cut the editorials out? I want to show them to my
friends.”
Maureen: “Don’t
let it go to your head, dear. After all, Zambia has had only three
...”
Mwanawasa: “Three
what, dear?”
Maureen: “Three
years of progress under you. We need to have seven more.”
- Multi-party
democracy: Gone are the days when Zambia was a so-called one-party
participatory democracy, when all parties except UNIP were outlawed,
when running for president was reserved for people whose initials
were K.K. That wasn’t democracy - that was demo-crazy. These days,
all kinds of parties are flourishing: socialist parties, republican
parties, beer parties. If you want to start a party, just recruit a
few members and choose a good name, especially one that has the
words “democratic” and “development” in it.
- Term Limits: If
you’re ever inclined to feel sorry for KK, just remember that he
occupied State House for 27 years, longer than most of the
furniture. His successors are thankfully limited to two terms in
office, which keeps them from getting too comfortable, keeps them
from deciding, as Chiluba almost did, that Zambia deserves more of
their leadership. Term limits is a great concept, one that Zambia
needs to export to Zimbabwe and other African countries:
Mwanawasa: “My
friend, did you know that our constitution limits me to two terms in
office?”
Mugabe: “Only two
terms? On behalf of the Zimbabwean people, please accept my deepest
condolences.”
Mwanawasa: “Yes,
it’s too bad, especially since I’m a good president. The newspapers
say I’m among the top three presidents in Zambian history!”
Mugabe: “Top
three? That’s nothing. My newspapers say I’m the Number 1 president
in Zimbabwean history! You can’t beat that!”
 Melvin
Durai is a U.S.-based writer and humorist who grew up
in Zambia. His weekly humour columns are read by thousands of
people in more than 90 countries. For an email subscription
to his columns, please visit his
website
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November 2004