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Author: Sishuwa Sishuwa
Ironically, O’Brien Kabba, a law lecturer at the University of Zambia, who had claimed that Attorney General Muchinde was corrupt and had evidence ready to present in court, has now joined forces with President Hichilema to protect the very people Kabba had told Zambians were corrupt. Why would Kabba make a deal with someone he called corrupt? Kabba, who had criticized consent judgments as a form of legal corruption, has now signed an agreement to protect the very people he had told Zambians were taking kickbacks.
Furthermore, a consent judgment is not necessary. If Marshall wanted to end the lawsuit for some reason, he could have done so without Kaaba’s consent. Kaaba could have simply insisted that he had evidence to prove his claims and let Muchende end the matter on his own. That way, the public would have concluded that Marshall’s defamation lawsuit against Kaaba was nothing more than a scare tactic. By agreeing to end the matter via a dubious consent judgment, Kaaba has already cast doubt on his own character.
Kaaba’s behavior means that he either (i) had no evidence that the Marshal was corrupt and was simply acting out of spite; (ii) was dissuaded from exposing the Marshal’s corruption by the Marshal himself, Hichilema, or other senior leaders who may have believed that a court trial would expose the extent of corruption and bring shame to the president, the government, or the ruling party; (iii) was intimidated by Hichilema, who showed extraordinary determination to protect the Attorney General; or (iv) was ultimately compromised and drawn into the corrupt network so that he could also eat with the group. In either case, it does not reflect well on Kaaba’s character. This outcome portrays him as an unprincipled man and a coward who cowers in the face of intimidation or pressure.
It is fair to assume that we will not hear Kabbah strongly criticise the government any time soon. He is more likely to remain silent in order to win over the support of those he has all but alienated by criticising their mistakes. It is worth noting that Kabbah, like Mashall and Hichilema, is a Tongan speaker, and his decision to reach a settlement judgment with officials he insisted were corrupt just days earlier may also be interpreted by some as being motivated by ethnic considerations. In Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower, Michela Long argues that, despite the destructive nature of corruption, it is more difficult to root out in multi-ethnic African societies because many people both inside and outside government find it easy to reduce decision-making to selfish calculations about which tribe gets to “eat”.
Set in Kenya, the book tells the story of John Gitongo. Gitongo is a member of the Kikuyu ethnic group, to which then-President Mwai Kibaki belongs. Gitongo comes to government to fight corruption. Gitongo finds that corruption is just as rampant under Kibaki as it was under his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, a Kalenjin, and he exposes it. Gitongo’s anti-corruption efforts draw the ire of (mostly corrupt) Kikuyu government officials, who are frustrated that members of their ethnic group have “betrayed the tribe” and effectively undermined the ruling party at a time when they (the Kikuyus) should be united over a meal, just as the Kalenjin they ousted did.
Considering this, it is reasonable to assume that Hichilema, Machel or other Tongan elders might have sat the Kaaba down and rebuked him for “betraying the tribe and effectively undermining the ruling party at a time when they…should have united for a meal, just as those they had ousted…had done.” For those who place narrow ethnic considerations over the wider national interest, the pressure of the ethno-regional cabal is almost unbearable and weak souls are more likely to bend to their will. In fact, I would not be surprised to hear that the Kaaba reaches another consent judgment with or apologizes to former ACC Director General Thom Shamakamba and retracts his deliberate assertion to Daily Revelation that Thom also took kickbacks! Politics can reveal the truest character of those we respect from afar.
This is my unsolicited advice to the Kaaba. If your beliefs do not align; if you are not prepared to risk everything – including your life – to follow your conscience and to give full expression to your convictions, stick with Hichilema and the United Nationalist Alliance, or consider withdrawing from public comment and living a quiet life until Zambia has a different, non-Tonga leadership. This is the easy way out, provided you are prepared to ignore the answer to the troubling question that will most likely be asked by future generations: “What did you do when these things happened in Zambia, when those in power destroyed the country in this way?” The cost of dissent, of challenging the government, of being in the minority is very high. I know this from personal experience with this government and those before it. It is much easier to abandon Zambia than to fight for her.
Speaking truth to power is a lonely enterprise, but someone has to take on the responsibility and make the sacrifice. If I have learned anything along the way, it is that sometimes, in acting on our beliefs and staying true to principles or convictions, we lose friends and end up alone. However, I do understand – and even sympathize with – the primary impulse that leads individuals, including those in civil society today, to betray the public interest and identify with the ruling elite. In a poor country like Zambia, where the state is the primary employer, a connection to the current government is necessary if one is to survive.
Yet, I believe there must be others among us who should do the right thing and work to promote the common good. There must be some among us who hold our leaders accountable, whatever the consequences. It would be great if more people, especially from my region (because the leaders who are now dividing Zambia are from there), really stood up against corruption, defended democracy, spoke out and opposed the erosion of democratic institutions. But even if there are only one or two of us, we must find comfort in the fact that we are enough. We are enough because, at its core, our job is very simple. It is to be the tip of the needle of justice and clean governance. Our job is to give courage to those who are afraid. We don’t need to be many, we are enough. The cowards will eventually join, they always do.
We are witnessing and going through a very difficult period in Zambia’s history. With so many people, including those we looked up to yesterday, now betrayed, and those in power having supporters who strongly oppose the few remaining independent voices, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and either break down or succumb to defeat. Mistakes are inevitable, sometimes very serious ones. It is imperative to learn from all mistakes quickly and effectively and to move forward: because victory is certain, because for those who stand firmly on the right side of history and always fight for what is right: the true dawn is very dark indeed. As always, I choose to continue fighting on all fronts, win or lose, until death or victory, whichever comes first.
We learn and grow every day, and our fighting capacity never stops developing and growing. On the surface, we appear to be a minority. In reality, we are a majority; it’s just that many are cowards who know and understand the truth and the path to justice, but are prisoners of fear and afraid of many things. When the time is right and their fear can be overcome by numbers, they will support the cause of justice. This has always been the case historically. I am really worried about the health of democracy and the direction of political life in Zambia. “Sometimes, democracies die with a bang. But more often, they die slowly. In plain sight, at the hands of elected officials. Through the gradual erosion of political norms and institutions,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt wrote in their book How Democracies Die. I see this process unfolding steadily in Zambia, and I recently explained it in the article linked below.
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