6 March 2001
opinion
Lusaka — We rejoice with exceedingly great joy that at long last, former President, Dr Kaunda, is now playing his patriarchal role in the nation.
This is as it should be. It was demonstrable over the weekend during his much-publicised interview on Radio Christian Voice.
For the first time, he endorsed the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation and spoke respectfully and glowingly of the Government of the day.
He came out smelling sweet.
Famous and glamourous, Zambia's first President should have done so sooner.
It is a position this paper has always desired of him.
We bet, his predecessor too.
For, if noble Statesmen of our time don't leave the overcrowded profession of politics to assume the role of patriarchs, who will be left for the nation to fall back on in its hour of need?
Using the just-in-time principle, they save time, effort and angst when they do the most needed thing.
Former American President, Bill Clinton, aptly summed it: 'it's nice to leave when people still want you!'
For instance, in the KK example, Zambia need not have been this frazzled had he assumed that father-figure role much earlier.
Had he quit long ago to start speaking words of wisdom into the life of this nation, the next reign would have written itself.
However, it's better late than never. We prostrate ourselves before him in his golden afterglow.
Gone is that insurgency that once characterised him. Now he is too cute for the taste of his critics. After all, it was he who once acknowledged the faith of his father in 1964. In later years, however, he appeared to lose it in the embrace of splintered faiths.
His late father, the missionary, Rev David Kaunda, must have ouched. Thankfully, KK may well be back in the fold of his childhood simple Christian faith. Over the weekend, his words were breathtakingly entertaining, endlessly instructive and irresistibly enjoyable.
To that end, 19th century poetess, Anne Cousin wrote: 'The sands of time are sinking, The dawn of heaven breaks, The summer morn I've sighed for, The fair sweet morn awakes; Dark, dark hath been the midnight, But dayspring is at hand, And glory, glory dwelleth In Emmanuel's land.'
KK must feel likewise. Cometh the man, cometh the hour!
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