In Part 1 we analysed the personalities of the people who have led Zambia so far.

First president Kaunda was an idealist, rebel type. The way he fought the British colonialists was so legendary that they were convinced this man was mad. He was so passionate about his idea of independence that it seemed he didn’t care about his own life. Kaunda thus became president but unfortunately, after being in power for too long, became a dictator.

Chiluba was one of the few people who dared to defy president Kaunda even when the man had a perpetual "state of emergency” in place, which meant that he could lock up anyone he wanted without explaining anything to anyone (and he did, in fact, lock up Chiluba). Mwanawasa, likewise, although he was given a high government post by Kaunda, managed to defy Kaunda and he was even fired from his position. Mwanawasa later worked with Chiluba in the MMD, became his vice-president, but later resigned citing corruption in the Chiluba administration.

In spite of the many weaknesses of these three presidents, they are men of soul, in many ways. They are men who believe in sticking to their minds rather than denying their own ideas and convictions for the sake of pleasing another man, or even for the sake of their own safety and livelihood. The worst form of corruption is the corruption of the mind and there are so many people whose minds are corruptible even if they are not financially corrupt. Our three presidents are men whose minds have never been corrupted by anyone. The British colonialists could not buy Kaunda. Kaunda could not buy Chiluba. Chiluba could not buy Mwanawasa. Gifts mean nothing to these men, even if it is a gift of power itself, as Mwanawasa received from Chiluba (first as Vice-president, and then as MMD presidential candidate which led to his republican presidency). Nothing can buy the souls of these men.

I think General Miyanda is also completely in the class of our three Presidents. He was jailed by Kenneth Kaunda when the president had become a dictator; he was fired by Chiluba when the president had become corrupt.

Fortunately, Mwanawasa has learnt lessons from his two predecessors and it seems he will finish his term without becoming a dictator and without stealing, thus restoring some of the honour that belongs to this high office. If he truly wants to leave the nation in the hands of someone who will not reverse this achievement, President Mwanawasa might have to completely "swallow his pride” and anoint someone who truly reflects his own soul as an independent man, a man of his own mind.

Mwanawasa knows that Miyanda is one of the few eminent politicians in the country who have never tried to get favours from him or tried to meet him secretly to discuss some kind of moral compromise. In spite of his publicized financial woes, General Miyanda still keeps his own soul intact, never ever thinking of selling it for wealth or survival. He can very easily make a lot of money by just putting a price on his political silence, for example, but he has refused to do this, preferring to suffer instead. Such a man is more proud of the wealth of his mind than all the riches that the world can give. There is no treasure greater than an independent, incorruptible mind. Young and shallow people who admire the rich merely for being rich might not respect you, but real souls will admire you for achieving something that is much harder than making a billion dollars: the ability to always be yourself – a clean, transparent soul that is free of guilt, free of fear, and free of painful regret.

A few months ago, there was a story in the newspaper that some people approached General Miyanda and tried to take him into the MMD so that he could be groomed into replacing Mwanawasa after his term of office ended. Miyanda revealed this meeting to the press simply because he was warned by someone that his enemies within the MMD (probably those that also want to become president) were planning to tell the public that it was Miyanda who was begging for a job from the government!

This shows the soul of the General. He completely believes in keeping his own pride no matter what. I know that as a devout Christian, the General would not like to be associated with the connotations of the word ‘pride’. But pride is one of the greatest virtues a person can possess, if it is pride that is based on intellectual independence and internal moral integration (Zambia’s national anthem uses the word "proud” in this positive sense). All our three presidents have been proud men who did not want to become or be perceived as beggars for power or money from anyone, including the most powerful or most wealthy in society. Their ideals were primary; everything else was secondary. Kaunda was obsessed with the idea of an independent Zambia, Chiluba with the idea of a democratic Zambia.

Mwanawasa has achieved something in the area of corruption. The fight is very difficult because he does not have any precedent to fall back on since the previous administration never took this seriously; indeed, they even encouraged it. He is therefore working from scratch, and he is sometimes being helped by people who are part of the same corrupt system, which is why we have to appreciate the little that he has achieved under the circumstances. I think that the main achievement of Mwanawasa in this regard is just to disassociate the presidency from perception of corruption. People do not generally think that the president is involved in the acts of corruption going on in the country, and if anything, that restores some confidence in the people that the president is on their side against the thieves. It can be a source of a feeling of total hopelessness when you think that the highest authority in the land is a friend of the thieves and therefore your enemy, but Mwanawasa has at least changed that perception by his own conduct and attitude.

It is my belief that General Miyanda could carry this fight to a whole new level by building on what Mwanawasa has achieved so far. Miyanda has an insane sort of "principledness”, and when you have the kind of situation we have in Zambia right now, you need to call for drastic measures – by putting just such a man in office.

Some people keep selling the story that Miyanda would be a dictator if he became president, but these are usually those people who fear that they would no longer be able to make shady deals with government when Miyanda comes in. They know exactly what his attitude is to this vice and they fear he might use his military experience to devise strategies of completely preventing corrupt deals from ever happening. So, they spread the fear of a dictator to innocent people who need not fear such a man.

It’s like the people who spread lies about Inspector-General Ephraim Mateyo, arguably Zambia's best ever police chief. They claim that he is a political pawn so that they can make people hate him and distrust him; but Mateyo is just a man of his own soul, and his biggest enemies are just those whose plans are threatened by his ruthlessly uncompromising integrity. There is not enough money in the world to purchase his "friendship."

General Miyanda is therefore not the only man of such high moral character in Zambia, but I think he is one of the few who can combine this virtue with an ability to lead the nation forward, not just in completing Mwanawasa's courageous fight against corruption, but also in leading the nation to economic prosperity, as I hope to demonstrate in the next part of this series of articles.