A Review of "The Musakanya Papers"

First off the book's negatives: I'm not sure that the late Mr. Valentine Musakanya (VM) would be overly impressed with the quality of this book, both esthetically and editorially - in the sense of proof reading, not the quality of the content itself. Esthetically, the book looks like it was printed on a home printer, even though a Zambian commercial publisher is listed, and it has the most plain and unattractive cover design: This would bother a man who once distinguished himself as a rising star in a company known for its impeccable packaging (IBM), especially since it is written for a popular readership. And most unforgivably, the book even has some important appendix pages missing (at least from my copy), from page 103 to 118! (When I tried to take the book back to the shop to see if I could get an explanation or an exchange, I was told, in typical Zambian service fashion, that there was only one person I could talk to and he was obviously not available; I was advised to keep randomly checking for him - I could be lucky to catch him one day!)

Editorially, it seems there was not much proof reading. Even something as concrete as his year of death could not be kept consistent: in the first sentence of the editor's introduction, it is given as 1994; by the second paragraph of the same page, it has mysteriously changed to 1995, without any account of an interim miraculous resurrection!

Typos can be seen even at the back cover before you open the book ("This volumes [sic] is the first in a printed series …," we are told). The acknowledgements are written in the first person but do not identify the writer, even though it is neither the editor nor the subject (VM). One has to guess that it is one of his children, but only after reading through, because it ends with the words "...my late father" in reference to the subject. The publishers should have noticed that a name was missing instead of leaving it to the reader's deductions. If one reader can notice these omissions and discrepancies only at first glance, how could the publisher's editing team miss them when detailed inspection is their specific job? Only in Africa.

The sad irony here is that the book itself relates how seriously Mr. Musakanya took the issue of competence and professionalism; it was clearly an obsession of his throughout his life. It was in fact his biggest vision and legacy in his work as the first head of the Zambian civil service. So one would expect that at the very least a book dedicated to his memory would deliberately attempt to reflect his own ruthless attention to detail.

But these shortcomings should not detract an honest seeker of truth from the precious gems found in this book. Perhaps one might even rationalize that these conspicuous weaknesses are a faithful embodiment of the most tragic truth about his life: Mr. Musakanya's vision of a competent and highly professional Zambian culture and workforce was never fulfilled, not during his life and not even a decade after his death (evidently).

But enough with the negatives. The reason I went out to buy the book in the first place was because I had read a positive review by Dr. Guy Scott in the Post that suggested that Mr. Musakanya's memoirs contained some rather revelatory things against Kenneth Kaunda's despotic rule. Having felt like a lone voice after writing some articles of my own against our inexplicably resurgent first president, I wanted to see if indeed there were some honest voices from the grave that wanted to keep Kaunda in his rightfully discredited place in Zambian history. In that regard alone, this book is an invaluable piece of treasure. I've obviously never had any personal acquaintance of KK, but the articles quoted from in this book were written by a man who knew him quite closely (the book even has some pictures of them together).