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Deeds not words is the elementary code that those amongst us that attended Matero Boys Secondary School lived by. The framers of this mantra could have settled for anything more complicated and perhaps impressive to the next person but simple as it was, it set a high code for which we are grateful years after leaving Matero Boys. If you live by this code you may never need to worry about anything else. Did not late President Michael Sata win over masses with his man of action operative word? Now to have seen political commentator Laura Miti and musician Chama Fumba raise a social media storm on the allegedly corruptly procured 42 fire tenders at US$42 million one may have thought they were merely blowing hot air. After all we live in a country where people are accustomed to making pronouncements that are hardly followed up by action. We live in a country where the last sensible thing the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions was in 2003 when they gallantry challenged the wage freeze. Everything after that has been embarrassingly treacherous for a union that once carried the hopes and dreams of an entire population. They take pleasure in cheering on leaders once they declare wage freezes, retrenchments, exploitative conditions and many other transgressions. Anyway on Friday at parliament buildings something worth of resuscitating the spirit of people power occurred as Fumba otherwise known as Pilato and Miti led a demonstration against the infamous fire tender deal. It was not that Pilato and Miti were right that concerned us most but the fact that people have a right to protest when they are unhappy about something. So often the citizenry have chickened out of a well-intentioned protest at the raise of a threat by police. The police have become the custodians of the citizenry’s rights. But with that little action by Pilato and Miti maybe Zambians should begin to believe that their rights will not be willingly given by the police who unwittingly seem to have assumed the role of distributor of people’s rights. Well done Pilato and Miti for walking your talk. The post OPINION: Kudos Laura and Pilato for Walking the Talk appeared first on Zambia Reports.

source: Zambia Reports