COMMENT
They are drunk with illusions of power and grandeur
Carl Sagan once said, “Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe are challenged by this point of pale light.”
We have seen how self-importance is causing trouble in the new dawn administration.
Today is exactly one week since Minister of Information and Media Cornelius Mweetwa made that bizarre revelation that: “We expected by now Mr [Edgar] Lungu to see through his political schemes. And I can now begin to disclose that we worked well with Mr Chishimba Kambwili to bring down Edgar Lungu. That’s the reason why he didn’t go with his party into PF, he left it. He said ‘no, remain here, me I will just go and issue tribal remarks. The person I’m representing will be hated by the citizens’. And that’s what happened,” said Mweetwa.
Since then there’s been calls for Cornelius to resign on moral grounds. And that if his conscious doesn’t move him to resign, then President Hakainde Hichilema must fire him. Notable also is that the new dawn government has not moved to distance itself from Cornelius’ reckless remarks. That alone speaks volumes. But one thing for sure is that these fellows are green, too green and naïve! They are drunk with the illusions of power and grandeur. They lack the ability to be self-conscious, to be aware of their ugly reflections in the wider Zambian context. As others have observed, it’s typical of fools saturated with a sense of self-importance. Time and again, they have been reminded to be humble. To remember that they’re servants of the people. That leadership is “an opportunity to serve and not a trumpet call to self-importance!”
Tom Hodgkinson said, “Self-importance is a trap, because the moment we start to think that we actually matter is the moment when things start to go wrong. The truth is that you are supremely unimportant and nothing matters. All of man’s striving is for nothing; all effort is wasted. To realise that everything is meaningless is tremendously liberating, since it then leaves us completely free to create our own lives and ignore the plans that others have for us.”
What comes out clear from Cornelius’ statement is that it is likely that this is the official position of the UPND administration. It also implies that Hakainde a part to that statement and is proud of what Cornelius said, and that it is exactly what they were doing ahead of the 2021 general election. But they should know that one day they too will be called to account for this criminal act. The way they punished Kambwili after using him is the same way they shall be punished. They will not be in government forever. Indeed, it is said that it is almost impossible for a novice to keep quiet after testing of even a little power[The Mast]