{"id":21980,"date":"2022-05-02T20:17:57","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T20:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/the-collapsing-zambian-morals-often-citizens-follow-their-leaders-model"},"modified":"2022-05-02T20:29:48","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T20:29:48","slug":"the-collapsing-zambian-morals-often-citizens-follow-their-leaders-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/the-collapsing-zambian-morals-often-citizens-follow-their-leaders-model","title":{"rendered":"The collapsing Zambian morals: Often, citizens follow their leaders\u2019 model"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>The loud knock on my study room door woke me up from a rare slumber I was enjoying while asleep for almost one hour. It was Toto, my stepson who was disturbing my sleep. He had the wisdom to come in response to the request I had made the day before.<\/p>\n

After thanking him, I began by asking him, \u201cSon, this country has a serious problem concerning decaying morals. Look right, look left, look forward, look backwards, you\u2019ll notice a string eroding those morals. The decay has touched every nerve and blood cell. It is in every department of our society. It is seen in public institutions, private sector, workplaces, private life, in children, in adults, in women, in men, in leadership, in the led, in street kids, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

My son responded, \u201cEveryone cheats. People are being killed, robbed, raped, divorced, recklessly drinking, pinching, robbing, driving carelessly, disobeying traffic rules and driving at red traffic lights, leaders amassing wealth from public resources, forging official documents, etc. Look at the roads, Minibuses drivers are controlling streets and roads. They don\u2019t respect road rules. Cars are driving at red lights instead of stopping. You\u2019re a driver who respects road rules, is driving and suddenly, another car overtakes you without asking you. Car drivers drive with their phones in their ears. What\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is exactly the question I called you to answer. You were old enough during President Kaunda\u2019s rule. What lessons can you draw from that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood point dad. Many good lessons. Kaunda married once. We don\u2019t have stories about his secret indulgencies except for one daughter who was my neighbour at Bank of Zambia flats in Lusaka. Neither do we know whether she came outside marriage or was born before. Notwithstanding, he had wise character. Perhaps more importantly, his public life was exemplary in that he is not associated with corruption like thefts. His Ministers and others appointed by him were not corrupt. He was a firm and strong disciplinarian. We hardly had thieves, generally, men respected their wives and women, children walked the streets without harm, and no child was seen drinking Kachasu or other dangerous drinks. As a result of this good leader, most Zambians were well behaved. Many things were in order.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd President Chiluba\u2019s time?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe divorced his wife for another woman. That was the genesis of moral decay in the country. It opened a pandora box or a prolific source of trouble in the country. Corruption was introduced, public thefts began, divorces increased, overly-womanizing by public officers began, abuse of public property and resources began, hunger and hatred became part of us, we began to see people involved in road accidents beaten, even killed simply to rob them of money, personal items, etc instead of saving their lives. Lies increased in homes, offices, among adults, and even children. That largely explains why many Zambians, not all have lost morals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Mwanawasa came.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tried to restore good morals but they were too deeply implanted in us. He tried to stamp out corruption and public stealing of funds. As President, he had one wife and we never heard of stories about his misbehaviour with other women. But he operated under an already corroded system with corruption. His predecessor, President Banda, his successor also had one wife during his Presidency and we don\u2019t have bad stories about him. Corruption was present including inside the State House. He did not change our way of life even if they were bad because lies, misuse of public resources, household moral decay, abuse of children, thefts of public resources, etc continued.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the Lungu Presidency?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe ruled with a legacy of many bad things. There was no state or rules at all. If \u2018elite capture\u2019 often runs government and controls citizens\u2019 lives, under Lungu\u2019s rule, \u2018cadre capture\u2019 reigned. Our lives were largely controlled by unruly cadres with little or no education. Was there a state when cadres could simply grab innocent peoples\u2019 land, property and other things unabated? Was there, when cadres simply fed on public funds unstopped? The President literally divorced his wife for a foreign woman and his Ministers and others followed a similar route by overly-indulging unbridled. He and his team simply walked into the Ministry of Lands and altered books in order to award themselves state land. They overturned rules and grabbed chiefs\u2019 land unchallenged. Although a large part of the citizens remained steadfast with good morals, many lost it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the new leaders of President Hichilema?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not fair to state anything so far because they\u2019re still very new. He is preaching good values, good governance, zero tolerance for corruption and respect for rule of law. We have a lot of time to study and understand them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs usual, many thanks my son for these insights.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. The loud knock on my study room door woke me up from a rare slumber I was enjoying while asleep for almost one hour. It was Toto, my stepson who was disturbing my sleep. He had the wisdom to come in response to the request I had made the day before. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":21978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-21980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nThe collapsing Zambian morals: Often, citizens follow their leaders\u2019 model - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The loud knock on my study room door woke me up from a rare slumber I was enjoying while asleep for almost one hour. 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