A cabinet minister recently charged that those who have attained an educational level of up to grade four have no capacity whatsoever; to advice the government over the credit crunch that is facing the world. In any other nation such a statement would have ended the political career of such a cabinet minister.
The statement by the minister infers that if you’re not educated then you can’t participate in any decision-making process including voting. This may also mean that the government is not obligated to explain to people with limited education the consequences of the credit crunch on the nation. Why should the government waste its precious time explaining the world’s huge financial mess to an ignorant grade four citizen?
Why is the cabinet minister insulting a certain section of our people that they have no capacity to understand the economic woes that have besieged our country and other nations? Sadly, most people whose education is only grade four did not read the particular article partly because they can’t afford the newspaper that carried the article and partly because they cant read? So what can we learn from the statement by the cabinet minister?
First we learn that the uneducated, the poor and the marginalized are regarded as non-players in the development of our nation? Second lesson is that the government has accepted the common stories in our society about poverty that suggest that its causes are external and therefore, the poor in our communities should be objects for hand-outs. This kind of thinking causes us not to ask deeper questions about safety nets for the poor, the greed of stockbrokers, the wickedness of wealthy people, recklessness of our government in not ensuring that appropriate controls in the privatization of the mines were in place and other related issues of justice and ethics.
However, when you discard the contributions of one section of the population at this time of great need you weaken the strength of a nation to overcome. Zambia needs people in leadership who recognize and affirm the fundamental principle that the poor and needy are not the objects of charity but truly subjects of their own destiny. Until then, Zambia will be confronted with cholera, pot holed roads and flooding each year.
Naaman a successful commander of the Aramean army received his healing because he was humble enough to receive instruction from an Israelite slave girl? Israel won the war over the Philistines because a shepherd boy called David was allowed to participate in the affairs of the nation. Are grade fours in your leadership team? Are the poor, the marginalized, the youths, the children and the widows consulted in your church? Is your church sharing God’s concern for justice for all those grade fours that are losing jobs because of credit crunch?
Lawrence Temfwe
