Most of Zambia’s misfortunes are self-imposed. Unless we learn to deal with our adversities differently, we will not find solutions to even our most basic problems. Take, for example, the reasons being advanced as to why Evelyn Hone College was closed. If we had public servant leaders who drew from the biblical models of parenthood and servanthood they would have instead advanced something like this:
“Tomorrow, we are closing the college because of poor water reticulation and sanitation. As I parent who is concerned for the welfare of our children, I will not accept a situation where our children study in an environment that exposes them to sicknesses. Now is the time to make real my promises to transform the infrastructures at Evelyn Hone College. Never again will a child line up at the US or UK embassies for education visa for courses that she can take at Evelyn College for fear I will close the College. At the moment we have K2 billion for the first phase of our exercise. I pledge to the nation that come January 2008, we will open the Evelyn Hone College and we will have running water in every dormitory. I appeal to all students who will be returning that they come with a heart to study and with determination to lift our nation from the quicksand of corruption, nepotism, tribalism, aristocracy and racial class to the concrete foundations of loyalty, justice and love for the nation.
“I sympathize with the situation our children are being subjected to. Practically, it is difficult to concentrate in class when one spends half a day looking or begging for water in the neighborhood. As a government, we will work overtime to ensure that water is restored to the school.”
How did our leaders respond? The government indefinitely closed the College. The reason given was that students were boycotting classes and behaving in a manner threatening the peace and stability of the college. The Principal and senior staff should not have waited until the students protested. They should have known of the dangers of not having proper water and sanitation for their students, and worked proactively to rectify the situation.
At the root of this problem is leadership who use their position to accumulate wealth for themselves, their family and their clan. They own the government and manage it as if we were in an autocratic nation where leaders cannot be criticized. If this water problem were properly investigated, we would likely discover corruption in the allocation of contracts for water reticulation and sanitation. The church is doing well in encouraging Christian engagement in business and public affairs. But the church must not lose sight of clear biblical principles in preparing our leaders for service. Unless the church takes the training of public leaders as seriously as it does for preachers, we will contribute leaders in the public affairs who desire to gain from their power, instead of to use their power in service to the nation. Let us not only demand leadership modeled after biblical servanthood, but train all of our leaders – those in our churches and in our government.
Lawrence Temfwe
