CELEBRATION OF KABIMBA’S EXIT ONLY SHOWS HOW EVIL ZAMBIA HAS BECOME THURSDAY August 28 was indeed a very cold day for Mr Wynter Kabimba. This is because on that day, republican president His Excellency Mr Michael Sata fired him from both his party position of PF Secretary General and Justice Minister. Apart from that, Mr Kabimba lost his job as PF spokesperson and also his parliamentary seat (nominated). This indeed was one of the saddest days in the life of Mr Kabimba. He will probably live to remember that cold Thursday afternoon when he received the news while in the midst of campaigns in North Western province. Yes, nothing is as painful as being ejected by someone you thought would defend you till the very end. Not many of us really know why Mr Kabimba was fired in that manner. And it is not our business as The Church Newspaper to establish why our beloved President made such a decision. In fact, it is not even our business to talk about the firing of Mr Kabimba. But it is the unchristian events that followed Mr Kabimba’s firing that really concern us and cannot pass without a comment. As soon as news of Mr Kabimba’s firing filtered through, PF cadres appeared from nowhere and started blocking roads as they celebrated the exit of the man they claimed “aletu chinga insansa” [he was blocking our happiness]. The following day, the celebration continued. They were all over town carrying mock coffins with the full names of Mr Kabimba and the words ‘Rest in Peace’ inscribed on it. In fact, these celebrations were not just held in Lusaka but all over the country. Further, it is not just cadres who held these celebrations. Even ordinary citizens joined in the celebrations. Social networking sites like Facebook were flooded with posts that directly mocked, ridiculed and insulted Mr Kabimba. On Whatsapp, messages which not only mocked but celebrated Mr Kabimba’s exit were circulated thoroughly. The celebratory mood among Zambians wasn’t so different from the one we witnessed when the PF won the elections in 2011 and later in 2012 when Zambia bagged the Africa Cup. Like a few other morally upright Zambians, we as a newspaper are concerned with this sort of behavior. Just why would people celebrate the misery of their own brother? Yes, Mr Kabimba may not be a perfect guy but honestly does his firing warrant all this celebration? As a newspaper, we are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that the celebration of Mr Kabimba’s firing only shows how sick and evil our society has become. What has happened to our Christian nation whose people are known to sympathize with those who are in trouble? Where has our patriotism and love for one another gone? What is happening in this country really leaves much to be desired. We have become a society that appears to agree and work as a team only when we want to champion petty and stupid things. There are so many wrongs happening in our society but we don’t work as a team to speak out against them. In 2012, the life of a young lady Ruth Mbandu was savagely ended by some ruthless and Satanic people. How come we didn’t see some people marching about in town and strongly speaking out against the crime? Sometime this year, some evil, senseless and hopeless character on the Copperbelt impregnated a girl as young as 10. Again, we didn’t see anyone marching or protesting against this sort of evil that has since become rampant in our country. As you read this, our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East and Nigeria are being butchered by ruthless Muslims simply because they are believers. To that, add those 200 and something Nigerian girls who are still missing following their abduction by the Boko Haram militants. Again, we Zambians have been almost quiet on this matter. Then, there is the issue of KCM where its owners recently shamelessly boasted that they were now making abnormal profits despite buying the mine at a low price. They are mocking us right in our face. But what was surprising about this matter is that instead of Zambians protesting or demonstrating against the KCM owners’ unfair business practices in our country, it was actually people in London who were doing so. Zambians just didn’t care. So, as a newspaper, it really shocks us to see people hold match pasts, block traffic and generally celebrate the firing of Mr Kabimba. Why should we only co-operate and organize ourselves when we want to do petty things? Look at the manner in which we react when it is rumored that our head of state or any top politician is not feeling very well. Instead of praying for that sick person, some of us literally celebrate. How can such bad news be good news? As Zambians, we need to realize that our country will not go anywhere if we will continue being the kind of people who only co-operate to do evil, petty and stupid things. We need to learn to re-direct the energy we spend doing petty things to issues that will benefit this country. When something bad happens in our country, let’s stand up and speak with one voice to condemn it. Further, when something bad happens even to an individual Zambian like in the case of Mr Kabimba, we shouldn’t celebrate but offer encouraging words. That’s how our friends out there who are serious with national development behave. Further, we need to abstain from this behavior of always condemning each other. We are talking about the behavior of seeing negatives even in a place where there are just positives. That behavior is really evil. Infact, it is Satanic to say the least! And coming back to the Kabimba issue, this is not the time to celebrate his firing. This is time to console the man and remind him of the great things he did in line with the development of our country while he served as Minister of Justice. Yes, we understand that Mr Kabimba is not an angel. And he isn’t the devil’s envoy to Zambia either. He is just somewhere in between…just like all of us. In fact, with most of us in this country being professing Christians, this is probably the right time to put our faith in action. Let’s comfort Mr Kabimba with those warm scriptures from the Bible. Let’s remind Mr Kabimba of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which teaches us that in life, there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. There are dozens other scriptures in the Bible which we can use to comfort our brother and father Mr Kabimba. Above all, let’s remind him of God’s love for all of us including him. Let him know that no matter what is happening, God will never leave him. Scripture tells us God knows what is going on in our lives and is faithful. Let’s also remind Mr Kabimba and his sympathizers that this not time to point accusing fingers or let alone blame God, let him remember that the Lord is good and kind and that God is his ever-present protector in times of need. As we conclude, we beg you not to misunderstand our opinion on this matter. We are not siding with Mr. Kabimba or his perceived camp. Like we stated earlier, the happenings in the PF do not really concern us. We don’t poke our nose in such petty political squabbles. We are above that level. We are only concerned with the ‘not so Christian’ manner in which some of our people (who claim to be Christians) have reacted to this matter. [This editorial comment appears in this week’s 78th edition of The Church Newspaper]
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 06:53:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015