Sampa must uphold integrity

MILES Sampa should have known when he applied to contest the Lusaka mayoral by-election that he was eyeing a hot seat, literally. Politics are not for the faint-hearted and it is good that the mayor of the capital city has now realised this following a barrage of criticism against his antics on social media

Mr Sampa, after a confrontation with cadres, took to Facebook to attack the youth that had dared to confront and threaten him.

However, in his personal apology to the public, the mayor said in hindsight, he may have gone overboard with his reaction. He has asked for forgiveness from everyone including the republican President, Patriotic Front and Government officials.

We think that the mayor definitely overreacted and went over board by posting images of himself with a pistol and threatening to shoot anyone involved in illegal land allocation or grabbing land from lawful owners.

He was obviously warning the party cadres who had dared to confront and threaten him for interfering in their shady land deals.

While the actions of the cadres was wrong and should be condemned, the mayor should have found a better way to handle the unruly youths. Besides, we want to believe that the youth are known to him as they claimed to be PF members who voted for him.

In their wisdom, they expect Mr Sampa to allow them carry on with illegal activities, including grabbing land from marketeers.

Perhaps, inspired by Lusaka Minister Bowman Lusambo’s crusade to instil discipline not only among civil servants but the general population in the province, Mr Sampa felt duty bound to follow up on complaints from marketeers who claimed they had been displaced from their trading places.

This was a noble mission but the mayor took things for granted that the other party involved in the land grabbing issue would meekly walk away.

This did not happen as some youths, who were drunk confronted and threatened to beat the mayor. Mr Sampa, who at the time had no protection must have felt so insecure that when he was free, he rushed to post threats on Facebook.

Unfortunately, the public took exception to his posts and a barrage of criticism ensued. Like the UPND losing candidate in the Lusaka mayoral by-election Kangwa Chileshe said, the office of mayor was too important to allow for irresponsible and embarrassing behaviour as exhibited by Mr Sampa in his Facebook posts.

Mr Chileshe rightly advised Mr Sampa as the father of the city to exhibit traits that were admirable.

As Mr Chileshe said, there was no need for his worship the mayor to show up with a gun on social media.

As the father of the city, he has been advised to put a human face to the city and do the right thing.